Evening star., 1922-06-18

wood, the heart of filmdom,
peaceful little town OF
bungalows, palms and pepper trees,
darkly suspicioned by the un-
initiated to be given over to the
sound of unholy revelry by night
and every night. Far otherwise
have 1 found it.
Much is claimed for the pictures.
Much is alleged against them. Truth,
according to her sensational haof'
probably resides between the two
extremes. l don't believe that mo-
ton pictures usher in an educa-
tional or spiritual millennium.
Neither do 1 believe they will de-
base our stage and degrade our
literature.
over against those Aims in which
the vamp and the custard-pie
comedian disport themselves the
old guard of the Legitimate stage
delight to set Justice" "Ruther-
ford and Son" and Magic. then
demand: Gould the detestaoie
. movies give you such as taese
Alas, no; and neither couio ihe
stage more than once In oiue
moon. or
As a matter of fairness, however,
. lat lis not compare the best OF inc
stage with the worst OF the pie
lures, and vice versa.
When the Spoken Play surpasses.
When we undertake a falrer
comparison, the stage at its pes..
with the subtleties of the spoken
p1nnnenl
above all, with its capacity 10 oe.
yeion theme and to wander In tne
byways of satire and OF oeiicae
ironies-far surpasSeS the pictures
7 had rather sit through The Iro-
ian Women" than Broken oio
SONS" had rather listen ~
"Androcles and the Lion tnan looN
bility of comparison in f1lmdom.
In short. the stage at It's best plays
over the pictures infinitely. 6u.
how often do we have the stage al
Its best? .dv
when It comes to the great oooy
of second-class plays ana plclu
that mako up the bulk or our en-
tertainment, l CONFESS that ,s as io .nS
as live outside New YORK. anu
nerhaps IL 1 should live inside ~.
1 prefer the pictures to the stase
as il is now conducted. and LOT tne
reasons already cited: The PIC
lures give us finer settings, manu-
somer, better gowned women nioIe
outstanding men than the stae
even in New York; will oner u.s.
the pictures deliver us from tns
anguish caused by the untralneu,
unintellisent speaking voice Win
which our American stage, Win
few exceptions-the more glowing
for being so exceptfonal--ls curseu'
the pictures. though ! may De
stoned for so asserting, frequen'i'
give US better acting.
.eThousht Photographs"
mean that last statement liter.
ally. For the days have gone oy
when poor derelicts OF the stage
condescended to the screen ana
''mugging" and arm-wavins maue
star. Today the pictures nave tneir
own technique. quiet, subtle, mt
mate. Thought photographs, the
ablest male star of the screen mas
often said. You can see for your
self how much more represseo must
be the technique Of the screen tnan
that Of the stage. Behind the 1oot.
lights the actor must play ms great
emotional scene, however intimate,
with such stress that the man IN tne
hack row may get what he pays MS
money for. In front Of the camera,
thanks to the closeup methoo
that has placed American nlms at
the head Of the worlds hst' tne
actor plays his great scene SIX leet
from his audience. Ine more sui a,iu
cessfll the screen star. you VIII
note. the ouieter the method. Mary
pickford. deseryedly the most sue
cessful woman of the screen. can
emit over volumes by the turn OF
an eyelash. With such artists the
spoken word is seldom missed. Every
shade and transition OF thousht Is
exnressfye face. All screen artists.
n is platitudinously true, are not
MARY Pickfords. But to compare the
vast number Of lesser film stars ana
good supporting screen actors and
actresses with their equivalents on
the stage is not to the detriment OF
the former. as any honest critic, |
think, will grant who 1olio"s the
pictures intelligently.
For there are pictures and pic
lures, Just as there are plays and
nlays. The discriminating devotee
~ the silver sheet does not drop into
"any old show" as the casual critic
who cries, Away with the horrid
thing" so frequently seems to have
done.
discrimination Necessary.
freely grant that a bad picture is
"a dire as a bad play, though with
the saving grace that one can sleep
through the picture. But manage
10 select my pictures as l select my
nIays. and thus selected they have
their advantages. 1 had rather see
. n,elodrama on the screen than on
the stage, for on the screen the
Possibilities of spectacle are far
rreater. You can't burn a house or
wreck a ship eight times week on
the stage with much illusion: ON
the screen you can do 1t once lor an
time, and do 1t enectiVey: 1 mao nao
rather see farce on the screen than
an the stage, for on the screen the
tempo is quicker. and thanks to the
ohedient scissors in the cutting room
ali dragging moments. such as are
the. bane of stage farce, can be elm
mated.
What Motion Pictures Lack.
OF course, there are a number OF
things that motion pictures are not.
chief among these lacks, the pic
lures are not designed for the nurs-
cry. Many excellent people. and
even some who are Intelligent. at
tack them on that score. A curious
habit mas grown up VI VIC ewHiS -
nicture-house as a cache to which
the children may be sent at any
hour. There was once-and In my
Ifetime. too-a mayor OF Boston
who said that he didn't want show
in the city that you couldn't take
fourteen -year-old girl to see. That
was hard on adults.
A volume could be written on the
subject of motion picture censorship.
that curious un-American outcrop-
ping of Puritanism and sy nusyoooy5 eSd
select committee to regulate, not
the morals merely Uhe police have
nowers to safeguard then). but the
I..a Of Thousands Of their fellow