Evening star., 1928-04-15
I ANY arguments have been
wasted as TO whether the

IH WaSted as 10 Wnetncr the
motion picture is art or
mere entertainment. The
movie itself claims to be the en-
hodiment of all the arts. Usually
t&oSe who discuss it are more
familiar with entertainment than
WITH art, and it might be added,
With equal truth, mere entertain
ment is much more popular than
al art. Hence the happy end
aag," without which. say many
outstanding producers of screen
srt. the movie is impoSSible---im-
possible to the box office, which
inevitably guides the spirit of art
in the movies. And this same
happy ending has spoiled more
fine screen drama than even the
famous directors. It Is told of a
certain eminent" producer that,
when a protest was offered against
his proposed happy ending TO a
picture upon which much artistic
care and many thousands OF dol
lars had been expended. his i'm
patient response was What do
we pay press agents for? Let
them write it up as art" And so
1t is that many an art-hedraggled
miSf1t is heralded to the world
as a masterpiece of art reSplen-
dent. for be it remembered all the
movie press agents are not with
out that ancient qualification the
gift OF CAB
DUT this happy ending" is not
ID always productive of happi-
ness to all parties concerned. not
even when truly great directors
mold the movie. For instance, no
less a celebrity than David Wark
Griffith. in his forthcoming United
Artists picture, The Battle OF
the Sexes" is to have one of those
happy endingS. according to ad-
vance information, that will not,
like old melodrama, find virtue
triumphant and vice punished.
Rather will it be of a kind to
warrant the subtitle. Well, what
difference does it make?" Every
body's happy now!" The story,
however. will show that "a father
has deserted his comfortable,
middle class family for a flapper
and gold digger" and the happy
ending comes when his daughter,
"a sweet. home loving girl" brings
about a reconciliation with her
deserted mother. Certainly this
will not be a happy ending for
some mothers who have been de-
serted. and the fate of the rene
gade father may not be over
pleasant to some of the men in
the audience. But it will stand
for a happy ending" required
for box Office effect.
THERE are. of course, all sorts
L OK happy endings. but in
MANI 1t requires what the world
calls good mixer. with quiet
conscience, to perceive either the
happiness or If. indeed. there
can be any happiness after what
has happened in the story. We
have been told repeatedly. un-
til we are almost ready to ac-
cept it without further question,
that the screen has a Ian
guage of its own. BY the same
token. it seems also to have an
art of its own. but whether that
art is TO rank with art as the
world heretofore has conceived it,
or is TO be accepted without in
ouiry. like the old parsons dec
laration that In the beginning
God made man and sot him up
agin the fence to dry. regardless
OF who made the fence, appears
likely to become one of the un-
explained mysteries Of this dark,
mysterious world of ours, where
the wicked are always troubling
and the weary never rest. It may
be argued that the movie is not
alone in adding TO our mysteries,
SO why pick on the movie?
THERE is one virtue We find in
l. the industry, however, which
is perhaps really transcendent. II
Is its habit of exaltation, II not
the story Of its pictures, at least
It's praise of both story and pic
ture. This virtue is perceptible in
the use Of the Superlatiye in de-
scribing things. A grabbed editor
once remarked TO his assistant.
who had the habit Of climbing
into the highest realm OF express
sion in describing things that did
not belong there. What are you
going TO say when something
better than all Of this comes
aIonq?" That thought. however,
never feazes the writer's that ex-
pioit the movies. One can almost
hear them protest" Suppose we
die. Nothing better may ever
come along. Strike while the