New-York tribune., 1918-11-17
By Harriette UndeYhill


Being efficient means knowing how
to do things for yourself. Being most
efficient means knowing how to get
other people to do them for you.
Therefore, we say shat we are efficient
in the superlative. for just look at
what William Nigli did for usI
Mr.. Nigli is director with ideas.
Not that that absolutely puts him In
class by himself, but Nigli's ideas
are esoteric, some people even say i'm
practical
One day last week we went up to the
Biograph studio to find out Just what
his ideas were, and instead Of grudg-
ingly giving US ten minutes of his
precious time he talked for two hours,
and when he had finished we had for
gotten all he had said at the begin
ming. So we said ingratiatingly:
"Please, Mr. Nigli, put it down on pa.
per-" he did. Here it is:
"The moving picture is the youngest
OF the arts. And it has suffered from
that lack Of respectful consideration
that Is always the portion of the
Youngest in any family. It's older
brothers and sisters-the stage, paint
ing, literature and all the others
grown up and established as they are
received the new member of the fam.
lily as rather an indelicate accident. sur.
prlsings regrettable, hcyaly to be toll.
Grated"
Personally. we consider this ter.
rlbly ss''ver way Of putting it, and we
wish We had said it. s.s Oscar Wilde
or some one said, Probably you will.'
"Now, the truth is that the movine
picture is no longer baby, nor ever
a child. 1t is already grown up-but
still growing. And it is no longer &c
much question as to what its elders
can teach it, as to what it can teach
, them.
Take the stage.
Many a so-called great artist accent
ed by the stage fails miserably
before the motion picture camera. TIL,
names of these are legion. And the,
fall--whatever their excuses may be
for one reason, they cannot act wei
enough for the screen.
The motion picture must create tn,
voice through the eye, by the powe
of suggestion. 1t can actually visualiz
the human voice.
"a motion picture actress, if she feel
and knows, can in playing scene 8
create the impression of having erie
out that her audience, on seeing Il
cries out with her. They hear the YER
tones of her voice. And afterwarc
when they are alone, they still hea
that voice, that silent voice that neve
was, ringing in their ears. The mov
can thus achieve a sound effect who's
intensity the real stage, with the actua
voice, can create only by some unusua
trick-perhaps putting out the light
and having the voice cry out from
I dark stage-having the ear alon,
played upon for second of time, a.
in the motion picture it is the eye
alone.
at is the optic nerve that is en-
gagged during the taking in of mo
tion picture, and its undisturbet
power is at its keenest. No gestur,
can be meaningless, or untrue, or un
necessary without being immediatel,
noticed.
"If the motion picture ever develops
stereopticon quality and finds practica
Bile some voice adjunct, then the NOV
ing picture actor can be as generally
sHpshod in his work as the stage actor
But not until then.
"a few weeks ago q motion pictur,
critic in one of the local papers wrote
an article suggesting that:
"'Producers should select persons O.
actual or potential pantomimic ability
rather than individuals whose talents
qualified them primarily for the spoker
drama
Nothing could be further from the
truth. Pantomime is not wanted in the
motion picture, but reality. The self
consciousness Of pantomime is imme.
diately felt. Realism is the essentia
quality of the motion picture, so much
so that I think in time we will be-
come so tired Of seeing ourselves Just
as we are that we will demand a stage
art something like that of the Japanese
the art of conventional gesture. Blu,
Of the stage-as it is. For an actress
swept along by the power Of climat.,
story, played upon by the tones of he,
own voice, sustained by the absorbed
attention of the hundreds Of sym
pathetic souls in her eudience-for thi!
actress to shed real tears is nothing
"But put her in the cruel glare O.
studio lights, without the impulsion O.
any consecutive story, with no prepare
tory scenes, no thrilling voice, no slim
ulating audience, and let her, when tn
emergency demands, out of her ow,
imagination and will create real tear