Evening star., 1919-03-09

|. The intellect and capital that have
| concentrated to make the moving
q picture one of the marvels of modern
4 civilization admit no limitations. The
! intensity and directness of the
; screens appeal to popular attention
s give it an influence and prestige
| which leads it from time to time to
/ declare itself on terms of rivalry with
the speaking stage. Many examples of
the best moving picture art are un-
questionably superior entertainment
to the average production on the
! stage that employs spoken dialogue.
/ The moving picture, however, though
dispensing with the human voice, does
! not dispense with human speech. The
! literature pertaining to the screen is
voIuminous, picturesque and OFTEN
brilliant In the news circulated Dy
: the Universal Film Manufacturing
1 Company appears under the caption
: Shakespeare Scenarist. by Mary Mae
Laren." a very striking suggestion,
which brings the films squarely into
;, comparison with the literary classics
The silver sheet" says the ar
ticIe. "is Shakespeare brought up
to date. 1t is Shakespeare, shorn,
perhaps, of much beauty, but it is
essentially Shakespeare. and each
little scenario author is a Shakes
peare unto himself.
& s. IS
Ii has not hitherto been deemed
. necessary to bring Shakespeare into
moving picture discussions. Yet the
observations quoted call attention to
the fact that so far as construction Is
concerned each scenario writer re-
yerts intentionally or by design to the
constructive method of the Shakes
H.. .,szt. Il
never have dreamed of writing a
four-act play with single stage set
ting, as is now commonly done. He
permitted himself TO step abruptly
from scene to scene, showing widely
diverse locales in rapid succession and
jnterrupting the action for explana-
tory detail in a manner that the mod
ern dramatiSt would not think of at
tempting except for purposes of the
screen. 1t may be doubted whether
this revival of Shakespearean struc-
Jural method would warrant an i'm
preston that the screen can super
sede the viva voce drama.
The poetry of Shakespeare is held
in higher value than the plots, and
. if the Globe Theater of Eiza abethan
days had been moving picture thea
ter the world would never have had
Hamlet's Soliloquy. Marc Antony'S
Grafton or any of the other revela-
tions of poetry which constitute the
real and vital CndrTn OF the SNAKE
Spearean works. Everybody likes
the movies: everybody wants them.
10 develop to their highest possible
artistic efficiency Their highest ef-
fIciency cannot be attained by repre-
senting them as having Subordinated
10 a point of almost useIessness the
methods of stage expression catcu-
lated to promote and preserve ideas
and sentiments big enough to employ
hearing as well as sight in the
process of communication. Poor old
Shakespeare so unobtrusive that
there is yet lingering doubt as to
whether he wrote his own works.
seems destined TO serve as an eter-
nal topic of controversy. 1t is not
likely. however. that any Shake
spearean controversy will deter any
of the hundreds of thousands OF NOV
ing picture patrons from enjoying the
extraordinary list of screen attrac-
tions that are displaced at their CHS
posal by the Washington exhibitors
4 p &
aThe houses which accommodate
only hundreds at time are proving
alert and competent in securing Iaa-
terial., Those which accommodate
thousands do not overshado~ them
entirely and show no inclination 10
DO SO. The larger theaters nave the
advantage in priority OF produciloh,
nut do not assert an exclusion Which
prevents the popular price houses
from showing the same maierial
that has been done in surroundings
of splendid mural decoration ana
symphony orchestras.