Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-30

TIME movies have been dolnt
pretty well, thank you; bu
UP to the last week or sc
\ there was only one thing
missing. Harvard had failed tC
recognize that there was such ar
entertainment medium in exist
ence. Now, however, that grea'
and solemn educational inStltu-
ton takes cognizance OF the
"flickerS," formally recognizing
the photoplay as the Tenth Muse
or one of the fine arts. A COM
mittee appointed by DR.. G. II
Chase. dean of the department OF
fine arts of Harvard, has made Its
selection of the first of series OF
groups of motion pictures, Amerl-
can and foreign, which will be
preserved in perpetuity by the
university because of their artiS-
tic merit. New prints of the first
u choices have been secured from
the producers through Car Will
H. HAYS, and they will be included
though not by name, in the an
nual list of art gifts to the uni
yerSity. to be formally accepted by
President AL Lawrence Lowell.
The pictures selected are from
the production list of 1926, and
the committee will work forward
and backward from that date.
THE 1927 list is near completion,
the delay being due to the fact
that careful study is given prac-
tically the entire roster OF feature
production. The 1926 films which
Harvard deems worthy OF per-
petuation are Beau GeSte," MO
anna of the South Seas WED
ding Bills" Variety" from a
foreign studio), Tell 1t to the
Marines" 1.-THE Waltz Dream"
(foreign), "The Black Pirate"
"The General" What Price
Glory?" 1.-The Duchess of Buffalo
and 1.-THE Strong Man.. 1t is ex-
pected that these pictures, to-
gether with others selected from
the best of certain years, will rest
eventually in the famous Museum
of Art, where Harvard cherisheS
millions of dollars worth OF ex-
amples of older arts.
Prof. Chandler r. Post OF the
fine arts department of Harvard
says: Motion pictures are fine
art. I have been interested in
them for the past 20 years; first,
because they are destined to be
the most potent medium of ex-
preston; second, because they
have increased steadily in artistic
value. The committee has con-
sidered dramatic value, acting,
photography-all the component
elements which go to produce
genuine artistic effort in motion
picture. We are very grateful to
the producers and Mr.. Hays for
the unflagging cooperation which
has been given the study"
A ND, Of course, every now and
- then this question Of the
crime and the movies" must crop
up for consideration. The last
word comes from San Francisco,
where Col. Jason s. Joy, the Holly
wood representative of Will Hays,
delivered an address before the
international Association of Po-
licewomen Tin convention). Ac-
cording to the colonel, scientific
investigation reinforced by an
alyseS Of screen plays reveal the
motion picture as one OF the
greatest deterrents of crime in
the United States" Col. Joy con-
tinueS:
"A study Of $40 feature pictures
produced in America during 1928
shows that 1877 per cent contained
no villain and no crime. In IT'S
per cent the villain was killed; in
1913 per cent the villain was cap
tured and left securely fast in the
confines of a prison; in A per
cent the villain reformed, re-
pented his evil ways and tried to
recompenSe Scciety.for his crime.
In the remainder of the pictures
physical punishment was admin
iStered by the hero. OF the 38 So
called underworld pictures pro-
duced last year, the crook or
villain was killed in IA instances;
was apprehended and arrested in
10 cases, and in cases was re-
formed. Such is the ironclad
moral of the movies that not once
does the guilty escape punish
ment."
From this statement, one must
realize that the movies have a
much better record than the
average police department. In the
motion picture, according to Col.
Joy, the officer of the law usually
gets his man" and the criminal
is characterized as one who can
not get away with it,"
Beginning with underworld, y
the George Bancroft starring
vehicle, the photoplay producers
started run of crime pictures.
This is one of the big drawbacks
of production in this country.
When a picture of the Under
world" sort makes a hit, all the
producers start in making the
same sort of pictures. In the few
months following the success of
"Underworld'' the country was
flooded with crime and under
world films. Within few weeks
after Broadway Melody became
a success, the producers had
turned out a veritable avalanche
of back-stage films. For con-
siderable length of time, since the
advent of the talkies the great
bulk of pictures have been crime
and back-Stage stories. One OF
these days. a producer will get
over a new idea. and then watch
the other producers take 1t up
The chap who brings out the idea
is the bellwether; the other pro-
ducers follow him like sheep.
There is really little to get ex-
cited about in the so-called crime
pictures. They are the vogue OF
the moment. and they will be-
come less numerous when the
vogue changes, Also, it is pre-
dicted that the back-stage sing