Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-09-05
Operators Forced to Flee From War Zone, Leaving
 Valuable Films.
INVITATIONS ARE GOOD
Film Manufacturers of the States Are We'll Equipped to Reproduce Scenes of Battles Even Though
 Not Near Field,
By George Dufresne)


 l Paris, Sept. 1.-The war in EuroDt is playing havoc with the moving picture business. In all tarts of the continent movie operators were forced to flee for their lives and in most Instances they left their machines and 1 many valuable reels behind them. Then, too, the moving picture COL cerns of Paris and other French cities have been paralyzed by the war Their actors have been called to the l Colors and have gone to the front There are left behind only the women employees of the companies. These are good actresses and expert opera l tors Of the camera, but they cannol lmpersonate men and so the great French movie industry is at stand still.
 With only women left, tie firms cannot make the military, historic serious and comic reels that have for years delighted audiences all over the world and particularly in America.
 The war, therefore, will give a tremendous impetus to the movie business in America. The picture houses there will have to depend wholly on the local product 10 amuse their public, and the American producers will. therefore, reap a harvest by finding a field for tnelr entire output and not having to coln pete witE the foreign reels that here tofore have held a favorite place cr the American screens
 As for war pictures, that is a (I2ad the war cffice of Germany. Englanti. France, Russia, Austria and Belgium that no movie artists will be allowes with any of the armies in the heln reels of the fighting will be turned out in Aemrica by the mile.
 It is a well known fact that nov ing pictures of the Boer War were not seen for seven years after tha, conflict and then they were turned out by American movie concern with such accuracy and semblance to the real thing that the films were sent to England and viewed there by en- thusias-lc thousands, many of whom were veterans of the Boer War. The latter said that the pictures were wonderful in their counterfeit present. ment of the actual fighting.
 The movie company in question has in it's possession thousands of mil;- iary uniforms of every great power, weapons of all kinds, battle Tags etc. Tn making the Boer war plctures it employed two thousand men. It is to be expected that dozen or more moving picture makers in the United States have similar resources, and 1t is a certainty that as soon as any thing like detailed descriptions of the fighting in Europe are available for the newspapers, films of the battles will begin 10 be seen in ali the nov ing picture theatres.
 So far there have appeared no movies of reported fighting All over Paris, for many days, there have ap- peared hundreds Of moving pictures of the mobilization ol troops, Of tnelr revew Il London by Kng George. !n France by President Poincare and in Berlin by the kaiser. But these were all preliminary pictures, taken jus Dc1ofe the stern regulations o martial law were put into effect.
 One of the most famous moving picture men, who was in Europe wnen the war broke out but has since re- turned safely to America, was Burton been on the continent all summer ob- been nthe continent all summer ub taining material for his next winters lectures. In escaping from the war zone, Holmes lost almost all of His best reels, he said here.
 The great war therefore will prove great boon to the moving picture industry of the United States. Thd benefit will come about in two ways.
 First, there will be few ii any pc lures made in Europe. Tho Americ .r picture theatres will therefore have tc do without foreign reels and depend wholly on American films. Then there will be great demand in America for war pictures. This will give general boost to the movie business. The threatened decline of the movies, predicted time and again by the theatrical managers, will be starved off indefinitely. The people will want pictures, and also will want cheap amusement.
 In addition to this, it is probable that after the war, industry of every sort in Europe will be paralzed and when the picture theatres finally re- sume business, they will be depend ent on American films.