Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-10
Art or industry, which?

Upon the classification of motion
pictures depends to large extent
the attitude that is taken toward all
pictures, wherever produced.
Art is universal, and should be
universally enjoyed, whatever the
source of that art, is the contention
Of persons who welcome the film
contributions from European pro-
ducers.
Industry is national, and Ameri-
can manufacturers should be pro-
tectcd against unfair competition by
cheap foreign labor, declare those
who are opposed to films from out
side the United States.
Americans point with pride to the
fact that only three industries in
America represent an investment
greater than motion pictures-rail-
roads, meat packing and garment
making.
And yet, isn't all this activity for
the development of an art? Isn't
the motion picture new art form?
Paul Tribe, artist, designer, archi-
tect, designates motion pictures as
art. Designer for Poiret and Pa
quin in Paris, and creator of the
short vamp shoe, he has abandoned
his work in more restricted mediums
to combine his artistry into this
newest art-the motion picture.
1T is great mistake" says this
French artist whom Cecil B. De-
Mile has chosen as art director for
his productions, mot to consider
motion pictures as art. To attempt
to Judge the cinema either as drama
or as a picture is inadequate.
Art in Films.
1t is, in short, actually a sort OF
alliance of the two, and while drama
ought to be found in the story and
its action, just as dramatic moment
is important to the greatest OF paint
ings, it is also important that pic
torial art be expressed. The two
should work together, and neither
should attempt to usurp the prerog-
atives of the other.
1T should be the duty of the art
director and scenic designers to work
into the picture" continued Mr.:
| 1riibel, "and to make their part OF
the production blend with that of
the acting and directing, as careful
1y as possible. No one should strive
| for individual aggrandizement, but
! nj should unite for the good of the
picture"
Motion picture art, like art OF
all other kinds, must take the best
vehicle possible for its exploitation,
and it is idle to waste time on sub
| jects which can be discussed neatly
and with conviction in the printed
page and which require agony and
labor for film presentation, too
often with insufficient results in the
end.
"When producers generally come
to realize that the motion picture
should be used for the expression OF
that which cannot be told in any
other way-then the art will have
risen to its most supreme form, and
| it will not be the millions which
are expended upon it that will make
| it worth while. but the intrinsic
beauty and merit which it contains
| Foreign Experience.
Mr.. Tribe brings to his film activ1-
ties experience which is broad. For
IS years he was reporter, cartoon
ist and critic on the Paris Journal,
a paper of which his father is the
editor. and which has circulation
of 100000 a day.
Besides his duties in this capacity,
however, he worked much about the
theater and developed his art of in
terror decorating and architecture in
the intimate atmosphere of the more
artistic theaters of Paris.
| OF America, the artist speaks IN
most enthusiastic terms. He en-
forces the note of sincerity by vol
dntariiy remaining in this country,
despite countless requests to return
90 the artistic atmosphere of Paris,
where his cartoons had made him ia
nous. II find this country so de-
ightful,' he said yesterday, in his
office in the Lasky studio, "that l
cannot leave. I came to America
for a three months rest. That was
two years ago. In New York | met
with charming accident-when |
fell in love and married California
| girl, Maybelle Hogan Of San Fran
cisco. My wife wanted to return to
Paris, but i have persuaded her so