The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-07-25
FILM WAR Opened
PRODUCERS
MAY Be SUICIDAL
Great Britain and France to
Lose by Retaliation for
American Tariff.

PHILADELPHIA, July ga copy
right Paris dispatch to the Public
Ledger says:
"a triangular motion picture war,
with France, Great Britain, and the
United States each attempting to
bar the other two from home mar
kets, is approaching an acute stage.
The cinema Industries OF all three
countries have sought governmental
aid to prevent foreign competition
and so successfully that the industry
which In Great Britain and France
Is a puny infant as compared With
that in the United States, may find
IL has bitten off its nose to spite its
face.
The trouble started when pro-
ducers in the United States obtained
the enactment of a so per cent tariff
on all foreign films. That was fol
lowed by the enactment OF similar
tariff in Great Britain, which already
has had the effect Of barring pro-
auctions of all but the biggest firms.
France has now followed suit and
threatens to carry the war against
foreign-which means American
fllms to the utmost limit.
Frances new move is a decree
which is being prepared by the gov
eminent raising the tariff on raw
stock" "unexposed film" from 2
francs for 200 pounds to 200 francs.
All cinema experts her agree that
this decree will have a suicidal cf-
feet on the film industry of France.
The motivating force behind the
decree, they explain, is the powerful
French motion picture combination.
1t manufactures raw film, but even
the French producers agree 1t Is in.
ferior to the American product. They
| explain, however, that Ii Is much
cheaper than the American and has
long been used, as in the United
| States, for titles"
A prominent director told your
correspondent that recently his com.
rany tried the French product for
scenes and had to retake the entire
picture on American film. The result
of the new decree will be to force
French producers to use the home
product. But the most unfortunate
effect of the three-cornered interna-
tonal film war is the bitterness
which it has engendered with he
passage of the prohibitive United
States tariff as the starting point.
The fact remains. however, that the
French public have acquired taste
for American films, and the Pathe
Theater is the only one on the grand
boulevards to show an entirely
French bill.
Pay, But Reject Films.
Nor has the French screen yet pro-
duced any outstanding personalities.
That is largely due to the fact that
during the war 1t was American films
that kept the theaters running. The
American distributing houses took ad-
vantage of this condition to force the
signing OF several contracts binding
theaters to take as many films over
so many years both in Great Britain
and France, but so bitter are French
and British cinema interests that
many are paying off contracts which
do not expire until next year, but are
refusing to show the American pic
lures to which they are entitled.
Competent observers predict the
present war, II carried on. will he
suicidal to the industry in the coun-
tries involved except the United
States. Experts forsee shortly a
marked falling off in box office re-
leave open the field to German
films, aided by the difference in ex-
change. The latter possess active
plots more on the American lines,
whereas the French films are inclined
to be based on novels Of eminent
academicians which are of a highly
emotional psychology not adaptable to
screen portrayal.