Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-05-25
ENGLISH FILMING
FAR BEHIND j. S.
AMERICAN PICTURES OFTEN OF
FEND BRITISH TASTE GER
MAMMALIAN COMBINE.
ARTICLE XXXIII.
oxford, Eng, May /,

O\IOIu ILuS., way 1oSV
As walked into the village OF
Walton on Thames one sunny morn.
ing not long ago, l was startled Out
Of my usual reverie by the appear.
ance of a man in evening clothes, who
come out of house and walked
down the street just ahead of me
Surely, thought, somebody has made
a mistake. l followed, expecting him
suddenly to realize what he was wear
ing, and turn back, but he marched
right down the road in the manner
of one who has just time enough to
get to the office. He turned a cor
ner. | went after him.
Under a fine spreading old tree,
lust bursting into leaf. with a crumb-
ling gray stone wall at its base. was
a most modern and unbeautiful scene.
An ugly fat man with a mustache
was selling fish and chips" to an
ugly fat man without mustache
while an ugly thin man with ban
danna around his neck awaited his
turn. Just across the road was a
little group. made up of my friend
OF the dress suit, a pretty young
woman with a blush artificial COM
plexion, o young man with rain
coat, and, Of course. a motion pic
ture camera. l had caught the Hep
worth company in the very act.
Yes, they are making motion pic
lures In England now. English pro-
ducers point with pride that though
at the time Of the armistice the pro-
portion Of American pictures to Eng
lish shown in England was 10 to l.
It is now but to 3. Even at that
1t would seem that they have some
way to 60 before they get their share
Of even the home market. Conti-
mental films were very few during the
war, but are rapidly becoming
strong third factor in the market.
The English people are very fond
Of "the pictures," as they fondly
term them, and are willing to pay
much higher prices to see them than
We are in America. Anything like
decent seat in picture palace
costs about thirty cents, with tax.
Yet the picture palaces" or cine
mas" as they are often called. are
crowded every evening. Up to the
present they have had to look princi-
pally at American films. The really
good things in them the English
people praise as much as the deserve,
and the popularity of the cinema
must be attributed to them. But no
nation can hope to furnish entirely
satisfactory entertainment for anoth-
er, especially if they make no effort
to vary the product of the foreign
market.
American producers have recent
y made the mistake Of flooding Eng
iand with pictures showing America
winning the war. which naturally
nave not taken very we'll, since Eng
ishmen believe they had s. small
snare in the job. too. Then there
are things which pass almost un-
noticed in America which offend
'ne English sense Of propriety very
deeply Charlie Chaplin's splitting
'fick cost him his popularity with
many people over here. And OF
course when it comes to filming
english scenes, a producer in Los
angeles. whose knowledge of Eng
.aad was perhaps gained on flying
u'p to Victoria, B. c., will spoil the
picture for the natives. A recent
picture showed the horses in the
oeroy, the great English race, start
lug oy bugle, instead of by bell, as
'uey actually do.
undoubtedly English producers
ousnt to do better with English
'Oenes than are done here, but the
rp'oprlate =, scenery is ready-made
:. 10y nave been quick to appreciate
'o advantages, and have shown
'auvantages. England is a coun-
~ VI dull skies and frequent rains.
-, precious time is lost in wait
as for light For this reason alone
~ uoes not seem likely that the out
49, VI British pictures will ever be
0n the largest scale.
t., o.ner handicaps seem to be present
~. .ue temperament Of the race.
n.. IMPRESSION Of the Hepworth COM
was they moved at a snail's