Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-01-30
Frederic Ha.kin's Letter
SCREEN CRIMES.

tor. This excludes use OF all TAM
Gus crimes, and their trials. such
as have been popularity filmed In the
past few years. often with the orig
inal principles in the screen roles.
The bill, We understand. would
not prevent the filming Of Shakes
peare. Shakespeare is continually
being almost barred from modern
life by some reform or other, but
at the last minute a cautious re-
former usually inserts a proviso in
his favor. The present bill does
not, las 1t now reads, mention
Shakespeare's historical plays nor
other phases of history. We are
told, however. that it is not intend
ed to legislate the French revolu-
ton nor Richard II out Of the ST.
lent drama.
Whether Shakespeare gave Eng
land a bad name by advertising the
murders committed by her kings
and bandits is a neglected point of
Shakespeariana. Time throws a
veil of romance over historical
characters. Hence the vogue of
our staggering highwaymen, or pi-
oneer days, who in reality were
sordid and unromantic figures.
The criminal In real life is NO
more dashing than grocer or
blacksmith. Pictured as he really
is, he is not a suitable object for
popular romance, but only for some
great work of realism such as
Galsworthy's Justice" Usually,
therefore, the criminal of the NOV
les wears evening clothes and all
the graces, and is about as true to
life as a coroneted duke would be
in soviet Still, the public gets
the undesirable Thrill, and is sat-
isfed.
In satisfying the desire for
thrills in this way, the film pro-
Queer, consciously or not, is pro-
noting crime. claims Representa-
tive Harreld.
THE crime of bank robbing is
on the increase" he states, land
the work is done largely by young
men,"
Representative Harreld quotes
various instances Of criminals be-
ing made heroes of boys and young
men.
Zone bank robber in Oklahoma
was convicted and served in the
penitentiarE and then ran for gov
ernor of the state. He had quite a
following. too. Later, he was in a
rowing picture portraying himself
as hero.
Another bank robber was par
dnned by the governor and imme-
diateIy went into moving pictures
to advertise his criminal achieve
ments."
From the pictured exploits of
these and similar notorious charac
tiers, Representative Harreld be-
| l;eves that young men often get the
/ idea of burglary. Detailed pictur-
ization of crime is always censored
i wherever censorship is employed,
cut some OI Lue DiOou duu tuuh-
der films are never passed by a
board.
1t is impossible to prove con-
clusively either the evil effects or
the harmlessness Of such pictures.
Tie producers say that villainy al
ways pays the penalty, and that
therefore the crime picture is in
! tensely moral. The State Bar AS
| sociation of Oklahoma says that the
child, or even the grown person,
seeing a crime picture, may be SO
impressed with the ease and dar-
ing with which the crime is effect
ed, that he may leave the theatre
without fully realizing the penal
ty.. The burglar usually either re-
forms or is last seen behind the
bars, but it is only an accident that
he is discovered, and the would-be
bank robber reasons that he will be
mere lucky.
Now and again an incident oc-