New-York tribune., 1918-12-15
What the MOUies
Stand or Fall By

, photography like that, where every
light and shadow, texture and surface,
every mystery here and revelation
there, carries the significance of the
emotion itself, till a pictures photog-
raphy is as permeative and as dramat-
ically essential as our muscular sys-
tenn is to our own motion. Remember
the incident OF the serving maids at
tackled by the Germans? And, OF
course, you remember ad nauseam the
regulation movie attack on the heroine
and the stereotyped wrestling match
Then let me remind you that here
you never see hand laid on the
girls-they lock themselves in a room
eand then you see the German soldiers
seeking entrance to that room. You
won't have forgotten the silent dark
ness of the chateau's old stairways
and corridors through which the
little American seeks it, afterward;
the cold velvet blackness of the huge
apartments through which, in dread
full suspense as to what has happened,
she makes her way. Nor the line of
light under the door and the shat
tered lock and the moment when she
opens the door. We never look into
that room with her; we simply see
her draw back from il and, very rigid,
sit down in a chair somewhere in the
black emptiness outside, holding her
self stiff and quiet so as not to feel
crazy. Then as she sits there
path of light streams slowly from the
opening door and on hands and knees
a girl creeps out, creeps to that chair,
grasps her mistress's skirt and lifts
herself enough to lay her head in her
mistress's lap. At that the quiet stiff,
ness breaks in an impassioned move
ment and the little American surges
down over the girl like a wave Of
desperate pity, of futile and impoten.
protection; they cling to each othe-
there IN a grouping that has the
nobility of sculpture with all the
warmth of life. Photography! I think
so! And the acting of those. women,
But want you to think of the dignity
and decency and mercy of such
presentation of our popular horror and
compare it with all the caIlous, ram
shackle go-bangs that have clattered
thousand crimes on crimes without our
!. now being able to remember one from
another! Is there any such vicious
folly as that of producers who persist
| IN playing down to what they consider
the public taste? Imagine Mary Pick
: ford herself, having gone back to
Christmas card pathos, to the comedy
7 that consists in shaking her curls and
putting too many spoonsful of supar
in the tea! What's the meaning of it?
Here were these perfect things. not
over anybody's head as simple as ce
: reals and as glowing as fire, just the
shlngs for people to come and warm
their hearts at, to come and feed their
eyes on
go on. Write it," cried the Movie
2 Fan. Shoot it off, I'm with vour
, I've always felt just that way myself
about those pictures. Only-if you'ra
Keen on representative successes-he
careful how you mention names. Mary
Plckford's all right, of course. but
take some of her films with the curls
ana TOO much sugar, or take some of
the callous, ramshackle go-bangs you
spoke about. Because I heard the 9th
er day-heard it from what YOUR news
papers call a reliable source'-that
these ideal movies, these God-givep
popular successes weren't successes at
ali-they were fat losses, dead ones,
, Even Mary Pickford's popularity could
not put 'em over The reliable source
said the movie public just wouldn't
have 'em."
| Well, who wins? Evidently not the
producers of movie masterpieces. Yet
somehow 1t doesn't quite seem to he Mr.
, Eaton, either. And certainly the nubli.
loses.
on revered, astute and ancient and
5 immortal public that was before +ha
moves or ourselves and shall be when
J not ourselves nor even the movies ara
. any more, what do you WANT For on,
part we refuse to believe that you sim
ply prefer to eat wind and drink sand
e and stare on insignificance. And if
hot' then, In that terrible and mighty
heart of yours of which, after all wa
are each pulse.
: Nan any one tell, can any one say
: why love begins or goes awav7
Goldfish and RothanfeI