Evening star., 1927-04-17
The WAY the World Is Going

shown il by "a number of film critics
on both sides of the Atlantic" and II
cost. says the London Times, 6.0O0,0Oo
marks. How they spent all that upon
it / cannot imagine. Most OF the Ell
fects could have been got with models
at no great expense.
X = *
The pity of it is that this unimagi-
native. incoherent. sentimentalizing
and make believe film wastes some
very fine possibilities. My belief IN
German enterprise has had shock.
| am disnayed by the intelligent iazi-
ness it betrays. / thought Germany,
even at its worst, could toll. | thought
they had resolved to be industriousiy
modern. 1t is profoundly interesting
TO speculate on the present trend of
mechanical invention and of the real
reactions of invention upon labor con-
ditions. Instead of plagiarizing from
a book 80 years old and resuscitating
the banal moraliZing of the early Vic.
torian period it would have been al
most as easy, no more costly and far
more interesting to have taken some
pains to gather opinions of a few
bright Young research students and
ambitious undermining architects and
engineers about the trend Of modern
invention and develop these artisti-
eally Any technical school would
have been delighted 10 supply sketches
and suggestions for the aviation and
transport OF 2027 A.D. There are
now masses of literature upon the or
eanization of labor for efficiency that
could have been boiled down At very
small cost. The question of develop
ment Of Industrial control. the relation
of industrial to political direction. the
way all that is going, is of the liveiest
current interest. Apparently the Ufa
people did not know of these things
and did not want to know about them;
they were too dense to see how these
things could be brought into touch
I with the life of today and made inter-
esting 10 the man in the street. After
the worst traditions of the cinema
world monstr0usly self-satisfied and
self sufficient, convinced of the power
OF loud advertisement to put. things
over with the public. and with no fear
OF searching criticism in their minds,
no consciousness of the thought and
knowledge beyond their ken, they set
to work In their huge studio to pro-
duce furlong after furlong of this ig-
n0rant, old-fashioned baiderdash and
run the market for any better film
along these lines.
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Six million marks, The waste of it!
The theater when / visited it was
crowded. All but the highest-priced
, seats were full. and gaps in places
filed up reluctantly but completely be-
/ fore the great film was begun. / sup
/ pose every one had come to see what
/ the city of a hundred years hence
would be like suppose there are
pluiatudes Of people to be drawn" by
/ promising 10 show them what the
city oi a hundred years hence viii be
. Ike. 1T was, | thought, an unrespon-
siVe audience and / heard no com
| ments. | could not tell from their
F. bearing whether they believed that
i Metropolis" was really n possible
forecast or not. / do not know wheth-
er they thought the film was hopeless
iy silly or the future of mankind hope
lessly silly, bat it must have been one
think or the other
( Copyright 1927 by the New York Times
CO Translation rights Fescrred.l