The Washington times., 1914-05-29
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
) sharp Criticism OF
Poor Film From
Photopldy
Papers

A very determined effort is being
made by the men who have the best
interests OF the photopl0y at heart
to clean il up-to eliminate the gross
ly improper. films from the market
along with the producers who make
them. II is a very difficult thing to
make any Impression on the class Of
PEOPLE who are making such pictures
and more difficult yet to secure the
support Of the exhibitors-the organ
lied support that means business.
The attitude that The Times has
adopted toward the film and has un-
hesitatingly stated on all occasions,
In not original with this paper In
fact the biggest AMI best of the peri
odicals devoted 10 moving pictures
have been fighting poor film and
good film that is unfit for exhibition
purposes almost ever since the pub
hcation began. One Of these, Motog-
rsphy. has been a consistent believer
IN constructive criticism of this sort
and maintains a department in which
one of the editors, who styles him
self The Goat Man." delivers fire.
Quent pithy sermons on these sub
5ects that are constructive and help
full in subject and effect. The Goat
Man" has been wasing continuous
war against bad iilIn. He is a be-
lever in the principal that the pub
lie is entitled to clean pictures and
that the exhibitor who does not pav
attention to the public demand is a
very poor business man.
The editors of The Moving Picture
World are also lined up with the
forces that are fighting the poor film
ana working hard to obtain the best
Quality Of production for all the pro-
ducers. The World has gone much
further in its criticisms Of bad pic
tunes than The Times has ever done.
1t is supposed to be the great organ
OF the exhibitors throughout the
country and contains many of the
most authoritative articles on film
subjects published in this country.
And yet, with all the selfish inter-
ests that could be conserved by an
opposite attitude. its editors have
chosen to take the broad ground
that their mission is to advise and
improve the business. We are led
to state all this because of the mis-
understanding of certain of the ex-
hfbitors of the object Of the criti-
cfsms that have appeared In this
column and because of a paragraph
printed in the editorial columns of
The World IN its current issue which
gees even further than we have ever
gone. While this paragraph was
written with direct reference to the
with equal force everywhere else in
Tho country-as its writer was
aware. The editorial states:
We certainly have no desire to add
70 the perplexities of our Fifth avenue
board Of censorship, but It is pretty
hard to understand their attitude on
one OF the most disgusting of the
vnite slave films now running un-
noicsted by the police in a New
York theater which Is trying hard to
lose its reputation as a decent place
OF entertainment The film as il
came from the hands of its perpe-
traitor was too filthy and suggestive
for any normal person, and the
Fifth avenue censors ordered five
changes. such as reduce to a flash
the death Of the father and "elim-
mate the contemptuous look Of tri-
umph on the face of a procurer in
q Chinese restaurant scene This,
II seems to US is trifling with a
serious evil. You cannot cure a can
Ger by painting part of the diseased
surface, nor can a barrel filled with
room by putting a few drops Of rose
water on it. Our friends and neigh
bors ought to know that the white
slave films have been the cause OF
q hundred black eyes to the motion
picture in every part Of the country.
Decent producers and decent exhibit
tors have suffered not a little
through the exhibition of these vuI-
gar and nauseating films. We know
at first that much of the agitation
for official censorship is directly
traceable to the white slave film. Do
the Fifth avenue censors really be-
neve that sanitation cannot be
learned except through the STUDY Of
sewers and dumping grounds? These
same censors sometimes strain at
gnats IN the cases of reputable pro-
ducers and read an offense into a
film where none exists and none
was intended. The board now en-
toys an uncommon measure of pub
lie confidence. but few more de-
ctsions like this apnrovai OF a white
slave production will 60 good way
toward inpairing this confidence"
G. VI.