Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-06-06
By REX BEACH.

The critics of motion pictures are up
on their hind legs One OF them writes
in a current magazine that more than any
other force, the moving picture IN the
last half dozen years has SUCCEEDED
brilliantly in reducing further the taste:
the sense and the general culture OF
the American nation. He refers TO
laundering flood of bilge and scum, the
flapdoodle of the films, which has swept
over the country. Another critic. who is
also a state censor, describes the pro-
ducers as seeking the patronage OF the
curious young, of our adolescents ana
of older persons who are eager TO look
into usually forbidden fields. He pre-
diets that ''the future is dark with the
prospect of efforts. new yet ever the
same, of the discmblers who traffic IN
half veiled iDdecency in the name of So
cial service"
Misuse of Words.
The control of the films is described
by the critic first named as belonging
to the most ignorant outcaSts, to the
spawn of push cart immigration, hered-
itary tooth pick suckers and six day SOCK
wearers." The bushes in which men
in motion pictures are engaged is de-
scribed as crawling up alleys and SIDE
streets and for thirty pieces OF copper
selling American youth into aesthetic
corruption
The reply to such a critic is that he
is guilty of far more dangerous misuse
of words than the present day producer
is Of pictures. To my knowledge the fu-
ture of the art of motion pictures has
never been brighter and more whole
some. Men and women of distinction are
engaged in making motion pictures.
fairly large number of directors insist
upon producing only those pictures of
which they may be proud. \ considerable
number of authors are guiding the
course of their characters from book to
screen and producers are intelligently
cooperating to secure better films built
on ideas ard ideals The fact has been
frequently demonstrated to them that
the better the picture the greater the
profit.
Authors Cooperating
Basil King has recently brought TO
the screen spiritual drama entitled
The Street Called Straight" 1t is
having a splendid response all over the
country. No better illustration could be
cited than THE Street Called Straight"
as an evidence of The wholesome taste
Of the American motion picture public.
They are also crowding the theaters to
see Dangerous Days" by Mary Roberts
Rinehart; THE Cup of Fury by Rupert
Hughes and Partners of the Night" by
Leroy Scott. These are all photoplays
with an idea behind them. written and
produced with the cooperation of the
individual author working in the studio
with the actors and directors
l have an apology to make for my own
pictures. The Girl From Outside"
The Silver Horde and so on: although
the censors of Pennsylvania did pronoun-
&c THE Brand immoral and what not
The most severe criticism is passed
upon the comedies that find their way
to the screen. ! hold no brief for much
of the slap comedy that is thrown
on the screen. but / can point with gen
nine satisfaction 10 Booth Tarkington's
contribution to screen comedy. His Ed
gar comedies which are now being in
troduccd to the theater public are the
work of a genius. simple, natural and
thoroughly wholesome. They prove the
motion picture to be an ideal medium
for the man who wishes to present real
characters 70 the public in the most
vivid and iifc-like way that the inventive
power of man has conceived.
No More Mechanical o oils
At time when the acting on the
screen is often superior to anything seen
on the stage it is absurd for the ranting
critic to talk about mechanical dolls
That period in the history of tho screen
is at an cad. The most illustrous names
in the theaters, such as the Barrymore
family are to be found also inscribed in
the titles of screen productions. 1t is said
that the motion picture industry has
enlisted as directors of pictures. IAN i'm
posing array of ex-stage buffers, assis-
tant stage managers of tank towns
Enr FTlsI