Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-02-03
Make Movies
More Smooth.
Says Jeanne
Pretty Miss Eagles Points
the Way to Film
~ Artistry

MOT many know It, but Jeanne Eagles \
~ the extremely pretty young actress who
has replaced Margery Maude in The Pro.
fessor's Love story" Is an old hand at the
movie game. Considering that Miss Eagles
looks much like Edna May in her time OF
bossoming young womanhood. the title OF
veteran" may seen slightly strained as ap-
piled to her Nevertheless, she has gone
through the mill that grinds out our cellu-
loid for us. And she has come forth with
some definite theories about the silent
drama (as the modern Bunthornes Of the
silver sheet call ~.
Away back In 1918 Miss Eagles was
doing pictures" The Rhino Company Ga
firm now happily laid to rest) got her
services and she played parts under the
direction of John w. Noble. Since then he
has become prominent director. His work
with Metro has been part Of his artistic adj
yancement
"Of course. I wasn't featured at that
time" Thus Miss Eagles in her dressing
room at a matinee. II was. 1egitimately.'
with Billie Burke and her company. / used
up the daylight hours-four of them-under
the Cooper Dewtts. The other members
of the cast used to wonder audibly where
on earth put in my spare moments. They
wanted me to go to tea and what not
with them But ] was too busy. 1t would
be foolish to say that I have done an
enormous lot of work in pictures. Last
year l was in a big Pathe feature. And
just now | am considering two offers from
important concerns. In the time 1 have
given to photoplays l have come to some
conclusions. one is that never. never will
the movies equal or Danish the spoken
drama. | mean no disrespect to what iss
after all. tremendously enthralling form
of entertainment. / realize what pictures
can do-and what they can't. And am
confident that the future will find the
cinema a far greater power for art than
it has been.
zone reason why It hasn't made the
headway we'd like it to is the terrible ncon.
secutiveness of the thing Let me give
| YOU an example: In one film I did. ran
| out of a house three weeks before l acted
| the scene where | left the room to do so.
| II Is this huddled way of piecing together
acting bits that ! think should be done
away with. | firmly believe that before
| long our producers will be building their
| sets in continuity-ntricate buildings aping
| the real, and permitting the artist to play
her his scenes as they would logically
| take place in life, or on the stage proper.
Another of my indictments against the
| screen is the tendency to do every impress
sive scene Gin the sense of setting) on .
mammoth scale. You want cafe scene.
| SO you build stunning effect, and when
| 1t comes out in the completed feature the
| intimate emotions of the actors are quite
| lost"
| How about close-ups? Don't they carry
| over the registration of emotlon?" the in
| terviewer asked.
| sometimes. But not unless they are
quietly done. All great human sensa-
ton perception. is calm 1t must be played
| calmly. Nowadays, many times we are
| given only sensation in the mass-great
hordes of men, stupendous crowds of women
and children. The fine personal art of the
actor suffers"
Then you think the actor not the drec-
tor. the pulse OF the machine in motion
photography"
Indeed don't. The director Is the man.
| But he has got to give his histrlonic ma
terial a chance to expand, to fower--and
to think"
Which recalls d. w. Griffith's compli-
ment to Miss Eagles after she had played q
| bit" for him when he was with Mutual: !:
'She is one of the rare cameos with some-
| thing behind It,"
n