Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25
The Moving Picture
By Robert E. Sherwood

THE protests in Great Britain
against American movies are
plaintive but persistent. OF late they
have been increasing in volume, and
In venom, and ii appears that possibly
something will be done about 1t.
The complaints against American
films, boiled down, are about as fol
lows:
That they age calculated to degrade
the British public's taste;
That they make light of sacred an
situations, the most important .ot
which Is marriage;
That they are dangerously apt to
promote socialistic ideas among the
masses because of the exaggerated
pictures of social life that they pre-.
sent:
That they are largely cheap and
vulgar;
That they spread insidious Ameri.
can propaganda.
This last charge Is the only one
that really matters: in it you will
find the real grievance that is foster.
ing in the hearts of patriotic
Britishers. The other complaints are,
to a certain extent, unanSwerable;
Athey are heard on this side of the
gocean, and wherever else movies are
shown.
American propaganda--that's the
real trouble.
Some of the London newspapers
and many members of Parliament
bitterly resent the introduction of so
many fiagrantly American ideas into
England - through tourists, jazz
music, plays-but principally through
moving pictures.
They note with pain that the young
men and women of old England are
initiating the styles Of Hollywood, In
dress, in manner and in viewpoint.
They hear American slang in the
streets of Birmingham. They observe
that the American Charleston Is being
danced unfortunately wherever a
smooth floor can be found. American
cocktail shakers are rafting merrily
from John O'Groat's to Lands End.
Furthermore, these same American
influences are being brought to bear
In Canada, in Australia, in South
Africa-all through the British EN-
pire-and Englishmen don't like to
think that their colonies are being
led to believe that America Is the
land of golden promise.
So they have protested at the fact
that 80 per cent of the films shown
III NTISdN % &AlAlCA ACdLl AlduCe
They have done, and are doing, every.
thing in their power to stimulate
movie production in England, so that
this incredibly powerful medium of
propaganda shall not be monopolized
by a comparatively small group of
people in southern California.
II 4 4 y
The sentiment in England has come
a. 4TrvH 81,
In one instance an American press
agent hoodwinked some territorial
troopers into an exploitation scheme
of the advertisement of 1.-THE Phan.
torn Of the Opera" Indignation ran
high over this outrage, and the pic
ture was boycotted throughout Great
Britain.
Again, there was an emphatic out
cry over 1.-THE Big Parade" because
1t showed a sector of the war front
in which only American soldiers were
engaged. 1t was regarded as an un.
due attempt to glorify American
heroisn.
It is not my purpose to defend the
American movie industry in this ar
gument. Certainly, 1t has great
deal to answer for as regards the
general quality of its products.
This much, however, must be said:
Repeated attempts have been made by
American producers to stimulate
movie production in Great Britain. At
one time Famous Players opened a
studio near London and embarked
upon a program of pictures for the
English trade. The project was a
total failure. It died because British
audiences, as well as American au-
diences, failed to support 1t.
Now there is another corporation
in operation-it is called British Ma
tional Pictures, Inc, which is backed