The Washington times., 1916-01-18
PHOTOPLAYS AND
PHOTOPLAYERS
Film Patron Objects
to Changing Story
in Making Of a
Photoplay
BY GARDNER MACK.

when will molten picture pro-
ducers learn not TO deliberately
change the course Of n story t"ey
adapt in iiim form tc introduce some
big actor or actrcssT'
The question has Teen asked the
photoolay editor OF Tho Times b,
one of the patrons W the motion pic
lures in Washington 1t Is rather
difficult to answer, Tor several rea-
sens.
There does not seem to be a single
valid reason why producers should
do such a tnhi=. The matter was
brought up during the discussion OF
the production of '"!he l. oundling."
in which Mary Picl;ford is present
cd. The Founding offers Miss
Pickford one "f the hest acting op.
portunities she haa mad since iliG
was i'm the Eiograph company, Years
ago. under the direction of David
W. griffith. AID she shows more o.
the real actress than she has don. IL.
many of her later productions.
1t is a story in which the work ot
the actress, and not so much thc
character OF her personality, counts
for much. Miss Pickttrd 10 one OF
the most delightful personalities on
the screen and In this particular pic.
turc she combines with her delight
ful personality some real actinS
ability that makes the viewing OF
the pIctGres a worry pleasant and
agreeable task. Bot The Found
ling" as 1t appears in picture form.
is not the story OF The Founding
as the film company itself publish
ed It. except in a general way.
People who 81" many picture
read everything they can find that
is published ABOUT them. Most Of
them read the magazines and news
papers that devote much space to
found the stories Of the plays as the
Aim companies themselves prepared
them and there are several scenes
in The Founding" which would
have given Miss Pickford further
opportunities, that are not shown in
who have read the story the pic
uIre is Disappointing, for the very
reason that they want to see more
of Miss Pickford doing III things
she knows so well how to do.
There is no excuse for this sort
OF thing and in this particular in
stance an extreme case IS cited. In
the matter of the presenting of MIN
versions of stories that ore familiar
to the public, more liberties are ire
uuentlr taken by the producers with
out halr the excuse. The entire
>
changed I" suit the whi'n OF di-
rector-and apparently without rea-
SON Action ia inserted that does
not exist in the original story. and
the plot Is frequently twisted until
it is bent out Of shnp-;, ,,o ,,,,,.,
might be photographed. o. how we'll
the various characters might d"
acted. there s. nevertheless a fecl.
ing Of disappointment in the breast
Of everyone who sees such WORK.
A story that has become popular 's
popular because It was written eN-
actlv as it was written. When a
aim version Is made and the idea
is changed. the people who hhed
that story become indignant, Ard
they are indignant With reason. Imc
fact that change 60" aaoth"r
thrill to it or off"rod IN" leading
actor more opportunity Aoe> not aP-
neal TO the average spectator at aN'
We wants to see the story As ne
knows IT,
fer as an excuse for ma nhandling a
story that they are Comnclled TO
shorten II and condenSc tn" action
And there is Just enough merit III
their excuse 10 Justify its being
offered-but no more. 1t is fact
that the eXl%encics Of presentation
are frequently moro difficult to
anything that h"pp"ns in a novel or
= short story can h" reproduced In
motion nicfuroS. But the matter OF
showing tn" picture with all the de-
tails j. nn0the" thing entirely.
Griffith IS authority FOR the state
men; that he made more than 10000
feet. Of film in the taking of Tho
Birth OF a Nation.' the film version
OF Thomas DiXon's The Clans
man" # all Of that film We're to be
shown it would require about twen-
ty-five solid hours to put ii through
projection machine. 1t was necea-
sarv for Mr.. Griffith to cut the
lcn4th down te 12.00o feet--the limit
Of length that could be properly
shown in three hours-to make It
presentable to the public. As re-
suit n tremendous amount OF action
was lost.
Even three hours IL too long for
the average film. An hour, or an
hour and a half al most, Is as long
as the average patron Of motion pic
lures cares to see a play performed.
1t necessarily follows that produc-
tiOns of books and stories should be
gauged-not by what the director
and producer can get out OF them
entirely-but by the combined ele-
ments OF what the producer can get
from them and what can he prop
erly shown to an audience in rea-
Sonable length Of time.
The producers seem seldom to