New-York tribune., 1922-01-08

ne mac uecidcd 10 ulrcct his own PIC
tures, Mr.. McCarde,l reminded him
that this made him his own worst
enemy. After tha. Mr.. Hughes got
away TO good start He said, among
other Things:
The best definition Of gentleman
mat have ever seen was Bccrbohm
Trees: "A gentleman is man who
doesn't care damn whether he is q
gentleman or not And. think, that
this is true Of true artist. since he is
so much interested in expressing what
s in HE heart tha. he doesn't care
whether he is an artist OF rot.
No difference What
One Calls Pictures
"ThN motion pictures should not bc
frightened or humilatcd by those crit
ics who say that tic motion pictures
alc no. art. One fanatic recently wrote
fcrcc;ous attack in which he made
The final announcement that the motion
pictures arc az industry and not an
art Even if hc had known the differ
cncc or had been qualified TO decide lust
what an art is, what difference does it
, make whether you call motion pictures
IN art. an Industry or an amusement?
Tho main thing is that they fascinatc
a'noSt everybody. There arc two
schools Of critics: one that thinks a
thing IL a great art because it appeals
to very few people: another that art is
creates. when it comes from the COM
mon people.
What difference does it all make?
When ShakoSpear was writing his
plays there were numbcrless critics
who be"aiicd the fact that the English
drama vas limited in merit and that
there were 10 first class English poets
An English critic has recently declared
that Romeo and Juliet is pure movie
stuff. Hamlet is also blood
curdling melodrama, and many of
Shakespeare comedies arc pure Polly
anna stuff. Three centuries from now
certain kind of critic will be roast
ing the life out of the motion picture
producers of his time and referring to
today rs the golden age of motion
pictures. when people devoted them
selves to high art Of principles and
wrote the great successe. of the
screen
~ think that the motion pictures are
doing marvellous things; that there are
reat geniuses at work producing, writ
inc and acting magnificent pictures.
"Thc tide is abou. to turns al
ready turning. A number Of critics
who a few years ago used the name of
Charlie Chaplin as a byword of con-
tempt arc now speaking of him with
reverence as the greatest artist of his
tine.
Critics Will Laugh At
Sculptor and Novelist
II predict that in few years there
will be critics thinking themselves the
most artistic of the artistic, who will
make fun OF novels and plays, poems
-and essays, sculptures and paintings as
Cheap and clumsy devices in compari-
son with the magnificent charms of the
motion picture. They will laugh at the
sculptor who pounds away at block
of marble trying to chop out beauti-
full image; and they will point to tho
motion picture director who can select
from thousands of beautiful women
and reveal them in motion; posing
them and lighting them at his divine
pleasure; grouping them In friezes and
giving them all the magic of life. There
will be critics who will laugh at the
novelist who ransacks his thesaurus
and his dictionary hunting for unusual
adjectives, and pitifully trying to ex-
press with stupid words the beauty of
a youth ul face; the pity of lip that
trembies with grief; the ache in
heavy heart; when the motion picture
geniuses can make all Of these emo
tions live and breathe with vivdncss
that brings forth real tears. real
laughter and real sobs, and present
them to the public with vividness
that cannot be resisted. These critics
will laugh at the poor little author
dramatist who makes few actors par
rot the same lines night after night in
the same narrow quarters, with the
game cheap makeshifts of scenery.
"My main feeling is. in short, that
re movie people should not be afraid
of what people will say of our work.
We should not allow a word or a
theory to drive US into anything or
away from anything without some
strong inner reason. Most of ALL we
should not be afraid Of popularity and
of financial success. To have pleased !
Of people with comedy, pathos
or we'll constructed story is to have
done q glorious thing. You can call it /
art, merchandise, trash or wooden nut
megs, but you cannot rob it Of its noble
cast light into dark places"