New-York tribune., 1917-07-29
Daylight and Bad
Taste

~ ONE of the motion picture pros,.
- are fighting death, others are A.. |
~ ing taxes, and all of them are e.. I
ing the more Daylight" movement n.
cations of motion picture men have ~
neyed to Washington to help ward "a .
proposed Federal daylight" bill. n.
attitude is disclosed by The Nov.
Picture World" which says:
"The members of the Senate and a.
House of Representatives who are a.
eating this measure do not realize VIA, :
will mean TO the motion picture bus,..
II is a menace which is not exceeded .~.
by heavy war tax-'daylght saving vo,,
mean the cutting in half Of the rs,...
from theatres and opeu-air parks
"In an interview with the Wssb,s,..
correspondent of The Moving pi.,,'
World a prominent, nationally known :,
hibitor said: 1 hope that the exhb,,.
of the United States will awaken to a,
fact that daylight saving" is pendinr-s,
if the Calder bill is adopted by the Sent,
or the original Borland bill, or its sub,s
tute amended, is passed by the Hou,. a.,
one or the other agreed upon by both :
will be found that the motion picture bp,i
ness will be hampered to an extent n,
dreamed of. Everywhere that they han
daylight saving and motion pictures "a,
will find that the former is aceomplishi,,
little, while the latter is losing much
At the same time the picture men an
in fear of special taxes on admissions q,
upon total earnings. But the biegss
fight which confronts them, according h
Aleister Crowley, is the fight against Ar.
tistic degeneration. Mr. Crowley saw in
Vanity Fair:
"It is bad taste-and not the world va,
which is killing the movies. Bad u,,
in every direction. In the first place. IA,
wretches in power, when they get u,.
fectly competent author-ssy a novelist q
great repute-will not trust him at ALL n,
great writer's story has always been
'movie'-on the screen of the authors mind
1t was complete in every picture, before h,
ever put pen to paper. But the prOdue
ing wretches do not know that They %
not realize that he has done the thins
right. They do not even realize this in IA,
case of famous novel-or play--wher
long success has proved it. These pre-
i L.. a.
they insult the public and make themsslyu
ridiculous into the bargain when they Offer
to improve Victor Hugo, to bring Dumas
up to date to put punch into ibsen OF
to alter history a bit in order to give
Joan Of Arc an earthly lover"
From Japan, from China and from Rus.
sia come reinforcements to the real art
side of motion pictures. A Russian CON.
pany proposes the filming of the great
Russian dramatic pieces. OF this move
ment "The Dramatic Mirror" says:
"The works of Tolstoy, Dostoivsky. Turs..
nieff, Sienkiewicz, Pushkin, 0strovsky and
Andrieff in filmed form will soon be as
familiar to the patrons Of American motion
picture theatres as they are now familiar
in book form to the cultured pubiics OF all
the European countries. The Russian Ar
Film Corporation has just started can
raign for the popularization Of these au'
thors in this country.
at is generally acknowledged that Ii,
Slav novelists tower head and shoulder
above any oTher national school Of fiction,
Great Britain and France alone excepted
Tolstoy has celebrated the glories OF Rus
sia rolling back the tide of Napoleonc in
vasion; Sienkiewicz, the martial grandeur
Of antique Poland in age-long wars viii
all its neighbors and with itself.
mo one can fail to realize the speetaeu'
lar possibilities of Tolstoy's War and
Peace or, on the other hand SienkieTezs
mighty trilogy, with Fire ard Sword The
Deluge' and Pan Michael"