Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-10-06

Of the earth for your shipmates.
have. Spent the best part of five years
beating It up and down from the South
Shctlands to lvigtut. and from the
sugar. loaf in the Cape Verde. to the
Rio Plata. the Tamesi, at Tampico::
Coast. And, as l sat watching "Hur..
ricnne's GAL" ! forgot the theatre and
the people, and even the music, and
l was back at sea again. =. !
When a picture can do that to an old,
hard shell crab like me, either there
Is something in the picture superlatively
good or there's something in me that
hadn't orttcr be there. On the un.
proved assumption that I'm not much
less intelligent than the average fan, 1t
made me rank Hurricanes Gal as
superlntivcly good. ,
I'm sorry you've told me 1t wasn't.
You might at least have left me In
my blissful ignorance. ! was 80 happy
in thinking that here, at last. the real
tang of the sea and the shrek Of fhe
wind. and the loom Of the ominous,
bnttering seas had been transferred to
the screen. And I Got% TO 70 much .on. en-.
notion that, in it. Dorothy Phillips rose
that Wallace Beery did not merely
show bit of character acting. but nc.
tually. vividly. convincingly LIVED as
just such a sinister. uncouth, unkempt
hard -fstcd square -head as I've gone
Ashore with dOaen times in II dozen
different holes in the earth. Per-
haps the fact that I couldn't fnd a
Biography, continuity. casting. or my
thing else. and that really raved over
the sen shots. was due entirely TO
that peculiarly dull and lethnrgic state
of self hypnosis which sometimes OBJ
| scures the senses of men who look too
long and steadily at hickering lights.
But. now that you and your 'gni'
viewpoint f.. IN have to see "Hurrl.
canes Gal' all over again. Perhsps
''hnve to" IL not the correct expires.
sion. 'I'm going to" is better.
Yep, I'm going to see It two or three
time; more. wouldn't miss the
chance for anything.
Just Ono writes: "Your and your
correspondents work for the better
ment of motion pictures is highly com.
mendable. We have come to consider
the production of pictures as an art
and as such we rightfully expect better
and better results rs time goes on.
Even to one who is not no closely
associated with the production of pic.
lures. 1t is evident that great changes
and improvements hnve taken place in
the short history Of film production.
Technically. many more crudities
remain to be eliminated. For instance.
what think Is known as n close up
Now, know that Immediately q lot
OF people, will disagree with me, but
perhaps they will have more sympathy
whcn they understand exactly what l
mean.
II will allow that using the CLOSE.
up Is permissible when endcavorln:
perhaps to portray and accent expires.
sions on the actors face. but 1t is often
used for far different purposes. I do
not exaggcrate, as you and all movie
fans know. when / say that often
director will show an enlarged arm. lev
Or what not which occupies the entire
screen for the moment. This is nm ohs
viOus ruse of the director TO make Won
look, whether you wish to or nor onJ
his excuse would apparently be tbat
he can get more attention and interest,"
on points which he wishes TO Stress
To my mind however, it is nm insult
to a PERSONS intelligence,
II remember William Gillette doinu
some little hit of ortino rhini, s uE,Is
several minutes, and in which hiu,rru hn nr1,.
moved HIS hands. was n nooS Tn'' J,"
tance from the stage at the time xst
1 and the people throughout I the ,b; tseotra fe.
watched Gillette closely and no did not
have to have his hand enlarged saw ;
Il believe that the size of objects
or persons should never be 80 exagger.
ated ms to make us feel that an idea
Is being, l might say, showed in our
faces.
Then there comes the much NOR.
difficult task of putting moro heaut, '"ote 'ute
the pictures and. regardless Of what iha
some of US say or write. Mt times wa
are really all back Of this idea ' VIC
III you say to fellow after n mon,
We'll, that was good steak bmt i
can take you to place where th.u
make 1t a little better" tb" cbounays ,mey
are that the place that makes i, .'I.fs a i,.,fs
better will have two more cu.to'nan, ute,e
next day. And that's tho won an'"''e,s
with everything. We trv 20 WY ~ Is
Halloween Marty better tb,n luz. .n"Ae this
and (somc of ns) even o''r na' AUS. Sear
than last weeks and so p"y petter
on giving plenty Of axomn,os rouid go
BODY trying to No n ip''s iit.In OF every
before. "'''' oe'ter than
Therefore some 90
should nor oet co., VI your readers
thIs or thet actor n Mheh we slam
slam our fovor,t.uS P.uy ,often they
rcnIize that tb'., tbsy o. out , they SHOULD
ufter the snm" tb,n", w.. us we, are
nictures '"'"s more enjoyable
y...,,.