The Washington times., 1915-03-31
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
|. WASHINGTON
Film Maker Who Quit
Tells How He Finds
Industry AT The
Present Time

No. better idea of the improve
nsent that has been made in motion
pictures can be obtained than in Sc
curing from some one who has
been intimately associated with the
business and has then dropped out
or 1t, what he finds in the film world
when he again takes it up.
The things that have happened
during the time such man is out
OF touch with things make a very
pronounced impression on him, nat
urally. Within the past week film
manufacturer was quoted in this
column as stating that the business
was being revolutionized in the past
few months, and that it's future de-
pended upon the man who had long
been connected with 1.-THE men who
started it and watched 1t grow from
the beginning.
1t is interesting, therefore, to OBJ
tain from Edwin Thanhouser just
what he thinks of the business, now
that he has returned to the active
management of the Thanhouser COM
pany after having dropped out en-
tirely for two years. Mr.. Thanhouser,
by the way, is tho first man with
experience in the amusement busi-
ness who went into the motion pio-
trre industry on a large scale, and
he Is credited with being the first
man to start the production Of
dramas in film.
of course, I find conditions in
the film market very much changed
in the last two years." Mr.. Than
houser told Moving Picture World
man. Different methods are notice
able. For instance. there Is the ad-
yont OF the feature film and there
II the engagement OF tho best tai
ent-and, what Is perhaps even more
notable, the availability of the best
talent. These are some Of the fac
tors that make the business of pro-
ducing pictures today quite another
matter.
las to the relative merits of Euro
pean and American productions, l
will say that when left tho studio
I was firmly convinced that the
European pictures were better than
the United States my opinion has
altered. / think the American pro-
ducers have made wonderful strides
and that their work Is now on q par
with the best that comes from
Europe. The feature film PROPOSE
fson is and probably always will be
NOT necessarily constitute 1t q feature
that Is, where a subject has moth.
ing to recommend 1t but its length.
II always have advocated the nat
nral length film. believe was the
first one to produce a 1,5oo-foot SUBJ
ficniar story naturally ran Just mat
distance. It was too good to cut to
a thousand feet, and ! didn't think
1t good enough to extend to 1000 feet.
30 that II follows If q subject
runs naturally to 4'oSo 60 feet r It viii tas be
It Is the story that does not natural
~ run to that length that Is tiresome
and consequently hurts the feature as
Q market asset. don't think 1t Will
be disputed that the longer the nim
the better the story must be-the in
terest must be cumulative.
"Of course, the revival of old plays
has helped the feature film business.
but just as soon as these are eX-
hausted producers will have to look
for original manuscripts or adapta-
possibilities for adaptations Of novels
and poems and classical literature
has been touched-that is. as COM
pared with the approximately limited
Held Of plays. IT Is patent 10 every
ono, that plays are not being pro-
are being adapted for the screen.
"There is a great deal in liters-
ture, what is described as classic,
and that which Is not SO termed
that has not yet been used for the
screen. It may be remembered that
Tho Thanhouser Company. made
MANY adaptations when I Wa in
Oh&rge here, and 7 think these were
responsible for some of the kind
things that were said about our pic
lures.
I'VE were the first to put on Ibsen
and make the works OF that author
COMMERCIALLY acceptable. We were
among the first of the independents
to put on Shakespearean plays. 1t
js my intention to make more adap-
tations, because as l said the field
practically Is inexhaustible."