The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Jan-Feb 1923)

58 THROUGH GERMAN EYES. . (By HEINRICH FRAENKEL, Foreign Editor of the “* Lichtbildbuhne.”’) ” Reprinted from the ‘* Licktbildbubne,”’. ° -containing an article by a countryman of mine upon whiclt a 7: T must not fail to. make a few: remarks. _ spleasant task altogether, as this isn’t. really: a: countryman to -be proudsof... His hame is but:no;-T aniiot-going ‘to mention: it, as getting talked about is exactly whathe avants;-so let’s call him Mr. Nobody! piaphy _:Who ‘is Mr. Nobody? Well, Mr. Nobody is a nobody, and I _would certainly. hot take:the trouble of writing a single line about him if I hadn’t been told that there are still some people in England .who don’t know yet what. we knew-long ago, viz., that | the doings and writings of -Mr.-Nobody are, in these sad times of ours, one of the few sources of real amusement for any person d gifted “with a-sense of humour: At'the time when he was: still j allowed some space in German papers now and then, Mr, Nobody c used to write. rather boring articles very much on the lines. of the extime Conservative Chauvinistic ‘‘ Junker ’’ Party.. Later on,. being able to’ writeEnglish, he could not: see: his way. of : robbing the Anglo-Saxon world any longer of the benefit of his pen. It oceurred to him that, owing to the war, there seemed’ ta be still a great deal of anti-German feeling in England, and | that, therefore, anti-German articles might stand a good chance . of.being printed in English papers. -Thus he proceeded to launch {; an attack (not a criticism, but a venomous attack) against a ] certain well-known German. picture. He happened to find a : British trade paper which printed it, and now he had achieved | hig-ends. People talked about him for two or three weeke—not | exactly nice and kind things, but still he was talked (and even | written) aboul for a couple of weeks. What next? Should a man of Nobody’s standing be content with writing these tedious articles in the Junker style? No, he wouldn't! He would sit down and pen another English article deprecating a German picture, which he would send to England broadcast. At that time poor old Nobody must have spént a fortune on postages; most English trade papers are said tozhave been foreed to acquire special waste paper baskets for Mr. Nobody’s new article. As far as 1 know it was never published. But ona editor, not quite unknown to the readers of this‘paper, tcol it out of his brand new waste paper basket once more, wrapped it up carefully, and sent it -to the-writer of these lines, who took the liberty of publishing particularly amusing 4 | of publishing an anti-German article by a German writer?: } Mr. Nobody. got the sack at the other Berlin ‘trade paper, where he cecupied a modest but. decent little position, and now, just to have (and give us) some fun in-this winter of his misfortune, he started his third and latest little trick by assaulting another . German picture, aud a British publisher, who is also not quite a stranger to the readers of this paper, and who had had the cheek to buy said picture without asking Mr. Nobody’s advice, . yea, who had even gone to the length of being present at a banquet tendered by the producers of that disgraceful picture-| Nobody’s latest article, the banquet in question having been tendered not by the producers of the picture which had given such offence to dear old Nobody, but by the above-mentioned British publisher, who ‘has ‘been guilty of giving rise to such indignation on the part of Mr. Nobody. Upon reading in our friend’s article thet this wretched ‘publisher had bought as ‘many us 30 German pictures for the . | which, by the way, is one of ‘the’ many little mistakes in Mr: THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. a oe HAVE : received the latest copy. of fa British: ‘trade _paper, ae . Poor “old ‘England! ; ; throngh; the ‘ordéal this will certainly be too much for Mr. Nobody Not a very. parts of it in a German trade paper, along with’a rather out.” spoken letter of the above-mentioned British editor, who, to ~ the ,utter, amazement of. Mr. Nobody, had. refused that chance: " “Within-24 hours after his exposure'in the German trade paper, January 27, 1923.. British market, I could not help reproaching him a little for jeopardising in such a way the morals of his country by exposing it-to the depravity of so many German films; whereupon I was astounded, to hear that this was another one of dear old Nobody's ‘littlé mistakes, the publisher having only bought one German picture so far; but that he (the publisher) thought it to be quite a: good scheme, and, with due regard to Mr. Nobody’s fin suggestion, might'buy the remaining 29 before long. a Even if she is strong enough to live --God ‘bless his dear little soul—and now, let’s all be silent about him and return to work. Amen! " HOW EXHIBITORS MAY ‘‘ PICK POCKETS” WITH “ OLIVER TWIST.” » In connection with the release of ** Oliver Twist,’’ Associated First National have‘ prepared an Exhibitors’: Campaign Book, which .contains a-.mineof: information -relative tthe most effective exploitation. of this picture. . Illustrated information is given: about the -way: in which ‘‘ Oliver: Twist "’ has been advertised, presented, and’ ‘tied up ’’ with various enterprises in London. A large: partof: this exceedingly well-produced Guide’ for Exhibitors is devoted to the important’ subject of lobby display °and‘ hoarding publicity. First National. deserves the thanks .of-the ‘trade for the comprehensive manner ‘ini which. they have gone about the. work-of helping the exhibitor, whether in town or country, = to: get the utmost box-office value out of this splendid offering. * : ee ‘the shadow of the — world’s greatest criminal — the world’s detective genius pitted against the spider and his web of intrigue. Don’t miss John Barrymore ; “cago os Sherlock Holmes. | Moriarty | The Great Goldwyn Picture