The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-04-20
By S. BRODY.

Too little attention has been paid
among us to the motion-picture--
"of all the arts the most important
for u.s." (Lenin).
1t may safely be said that next
TO the press the "movies" constitute
the most powerful theological weapon
in the hands of the bourgeoisie.
And this is especially true in Amer
lea where the motion-picture indus
try assumes gigantic proportions
and controls over rs per cent of the
worlds output. In this respect only
the radio may be compared with it.
1t is a medium which we must learn
to utilize despite the obstacles that
will present themselves.
The ruling class has been quick in
realizing the value of the screen as
an important factor of influence over
the masses. Sir James C.. Irvine, a
British motion picture expert, said
recently: "The art of photography
has now taken its place definitely
as an Institutional, political and
military agent. We should re-
member the part played by the
camera in the war, and | for one
would not care to forecast the fu-
ture of photography or to assess
the part which it yet may play"
Used to Mould Workers Minds.
This is nothing new in the history
of the cinema. Since its inception
it has been used in the most con-
scious manner to mould the mind OF
the workers in a given direction. In
q paper on "The Economic and So
cial Aspects of the Motion Picture"
issued by the American Academy OF
Political and Social Science, Terry
Ramsaye, tracing the development
Of the cinema as an institution IN
this country, says:
Certain ethnic and social aspects
of this situation at the birth of the
screen theatre must be considered.
Since 1885 the U. S. has been i'm
porting cheap labor from the Medi-
terranean countries and the Slavic
regions, in the upbuilding of the
vast American industrial machine.
The great concentration of foreign
labor in a polyglotic melting-pot was
in the iron and coal regions of Penn
sylvania, centering in Pittsburgh.
Too poor to import or support their
varied national arts, theatres and
literatures, and often too lowly in
culture to enjoy these arts had they
been available, the polyglotic aliens
offered a ripe opportunity for the
art of the motion picture with its
simple, basic, direct and obvious mar
ratives, embodying no linguistic diff
ficulties and no problems of intel
LIBERALIZATION. From this soil the
motion picture theatre sprang, and
spread to like regions, into the for
eign and labor quarters of the great
industrial cities, before it began to
extend more slowly into the more
American hinterlands.
:" The aliens came chasing ram
bows and seeking the land OF goid
and promise. They came to see IN
dams and cowboys and all the ex-
elements the steamship posters mad
proclaimed to them at the foreign
emigration stations. The motion
nicture set about to deliver the de-
sired goods. The motion picture
could make their dreams come true,
with splendors, and thrills and ex-
elements. The films were made Tor
them. an American-born art nur-
tured on the tastes, codes and cul-
lures of an imported labor popuia-
ton"
Movies in Elections.
This most conscious use OF the
motion picture by the bourgeoisle to
further its political and economic
aims is even more efficiently ap-
piled today. Since the COS the film
has travelled a long way, and Its
application in this respect has Deen
improved a thousand-fold. Witness
the extensive use of the motion pic
ture during election campaigns IN
the open air. In the last presiden-
tial election the democratic party
erected a screen on Broadway near
Times Square and projected "talkles"
of its candidates. The throw was
block long and attracted thousands
of people nightly. There is the re-
cent growth of "picture palaces"
seating as many as 5000; the grow
ing Importance of the newsreel.
which in its contents is as vicious
as the yellow press itself; the tight
ening of state film censorship, etc.
The general trend in the motion
picture field today is not, as many
believe, the development Of the
"little cinema" seating a few hun