New-York tribune., 1918-02-24

villain and OStraclZe the comedian, why
acherchez lie directeur!"
And then, after hearing all of this,
we went gaily along to our next pict-
urs and forgot even to find out who
dirscsso It. and It Is so with the ma
Jorl.y IF motion picture enthusiasts.
Our manicure lady, for instance, is an
ardent fan. She can and does tell you
how long each star has been with his
present company and just what year he
left the Biograph. She knows how old
Mary Pickford is and who is married to
who.
And yet when we told her the other
day that We had talked with Maurice
Tourneur she asked US il We didn't
mean Maurice Costello. But we used to
be in the same unenlightened state.
1t happened not so long ago-our en-
lightenment, We mean. We began to
notice that every time we went out of
theatre in hazy state OF romance
and restfulness and spoke enthusiasts
tcally Of the picture the publicity di-
rector would say: "Oh, yes, you know
it is a Tourneur picture" 1t hap
pened first when we saw the "Undying'
Flame"-that picture of romance and
charm, with its suggestion of rcncar-
nation. Madame Olga Petrova played
in 1t and Sam Rothapfel staged it, but
Maurice Tourueur directed it, And
he directed "The Poor Little Rich
Girl too, and Exile" and "Barbaray
Sheep that picture which had to de.
pend on everything save story. How
he brought out the haunting desert at
mosphere, the nostalgia of the great
sands, the lure of Saharan love to a
degree that entitled it to be placed
among the masterpieces.
So, after hearing again and again
that this Maurice Tourneur had di
rected pictures Just as We would have
directed them could We have directed
lhem at all, we decided to meet him
ana ask him how he did it.
we hurled our questions at him fast.
These are some of them. "Whv do
directors allow the guests at dinner
parties to go in and be seated at the
table while the host and hostess arc
puarreliihg IN the reception room .
why DO they trim millonaires' draw
ing rooms with cretonne piano covers
ana ninety eight-cent lace curtains :?
"hy DO they allow tho society leader
heroine to write q letter to her gen
ueman friend,' beginning Friend Paul
ana then sign herself Mrs. Brown q"
Yes retorted Mr.. Tourneur, "and
"hy do they insist on these well-dc-
lined characters, like an oldtimc stock
company tho villain very bad), the
nero very good, the vampire and the
"ronged heroine; the cowboy, who
never saw COW; the detective, with -
mustache and a cigar-all, all are
there! 1t is because they do not think.
Following beaten path will never cct
YOU anywherc-at least, nowhere that
is interesting. l myself never am sat-
1slied with my pictures. | sit and
groan mentally when | see them he
cause l see only what / might have
done. SO ! do not care for praise
But, then, | cannot bear for anv one
to decry my pictures either, so I never
am happy, you see, no matter what
they say"
Mr.. Tourneur is modest. He refused
TO talk about himself and he Wouldn't
tell us any of the things we wished to
know. But we frustrated him. We
sent hurry-up call to his p. a., and
this is what we got:
Shortly before his death Rodin ex-
pressed the belief that the motion pict-
ure was destined to become a great art
-orm as we'll as a universal entertain
ment. ut requires" said the illustri-
Gus sculptor, "a director with vision,
imagination, grasp of all the arts. a
Aeen sense of symbolic values, to carry
'he enema to the point where it can
.~press the evasive values of Maeter-
.''ck' the twilight harnonies of
neoussy, the subtle evocations of YER
,"'he. Such man will be the Pierre
'-o'l OF the screen" Curiously enough
''e director who most nearly ap-
"oaehes this ideal Of Robins was for
a time his pupil and is now among tho
'''e'nost of the art directors of the
world.
maurice Tourneur was born in Paris
''hce, IN 1873, and was graduated
A'0m Lycee Condorcet when he was