Evening star., 1925-11-22
NORMA
SHEARER
place.
The Moving Picture
Br Robert Z. Shcruood.

THOSE who stand in the lobby at
- movie theater and listen to the
comments of the customers may
usually absorb more effective criti
ciSm of the silent drama than they
will find in hundred columns OF
newspaper reviews. 1t is a rare op
portunity for enlightenment to those
| who would hear that loud but indis
tinct uproar which is known as 1.-The
public'S voice
One evening / was planted thus. by
the Cilded ticket booth in neighbor.
hood theater. listening in on the con.
versations of the audience who were
passing out into the night after the
first show.
The picture had been The Unholy
Three, the mystery melodrama in
which Lon CLANCY and others sue
ceeded in thrilling the spines of the
spectators.
How'd you like it, asked a young
man. possibly an insurance salesman.
Il like 1t all right" replied the
girl friend. but somehow or other
it seemed kind of sily-Lon CLANCY
dressing up like an old woman and
all that. | just don't believe it could
Of happened
/ was inclined to approach the
young lady and ask her, WHO cares"
but l restrained the impulse, feeling
that the insurance salesman might
reasonably take offense.
This same comment was once made
in the presence of the late Thomas
H. 1nce, who stands out as the shrewd.
est Snowman of movie history.
Mr.. Ince was showing one of his
new productions to a friend. In the
lurid melodrama that was revealed on
the projection room screen was a
scene wherein a culprit escaped from
prison. by climbing up the wall and
seizing a rope ladder which suspended
from the .fuselage of a passing aero
plane.
After the conclusion Of the picture,
Mr.. 1nce asked his friend for a state
ment of opinion.
1T was all fine except that scene
Of the convict's escape from Jail. That
was ridiculous. 1t couldn't have hap
pened."
'Of course it couldn't have happen
ed" agreed Mr.. Ince. but it did
You just saw il there-before your
own eyes
The friend had nothing to say to
that.
Which raises the question: How
much license is permitted on the
screen? Where does logic end and
axaggeration begin?
One could argue for years and never
settle this debate.
l myself have complained bitterly
because the hero of a movie society
drama wore a cutaway suit to a foot
ball game. / had never seen any one
in such a costume at foot ball
game. and / never expect to behold
this odd spectacle. And vet / applaud
ed Justify when. in The Thief of Bag
dad" Douglas Fairbanks conjured an
entire army from the desert sands
by merely throwing out handfuls of
magic powder. / had certainly never
seen any one do this, either.
1t is a fact that one may accept
miracles in one type of story, and
bitterly resent the slightest departure
from realism In another.
A story that Is frank romance, like
THE Prisoner of Zenda,'' or melo-
drama, like THE Unholy Three" or
broad comedy, like Safety Last" or
pure fantasy, like Peter PAN" may
stray as far as 1t likes from the dreary
facts of existence. But whenever a
novelist or a playwright or a movie
director goes in for realism, he must
recognize the terrible limitations that
convention has placed upon art.
He must avoid those condolences
which occur so regularly in everyday
life. otherwise people will say. 1T
never could have happened" He must
shun the possibilities of luck or fate
or whatever you choose to call 1t.
and adhere closely to the most com
monplace probabilities.
He must remember. in short. that
truth is still stranger than fiction
that you can't actually dramatize that
complicated process which is known
as life because people would never
believe you.
Thus it is that the movies have
been most successful when they have
departed farthest from realism, when
they have gone in for utter absurdity.
or for sheer nonsense.
Mr.. Ince was right. The philosophy
of the movie producer should be ex-
pressed in those words: 1T couldn't
have happened-but 1t did,"
Copyright 1882