Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-03
News and Comment
BY w. n. LANDVOIGT.

morals. bettered are really sincere
about it, they themselves must set
the pace. They must assume a
virtue even if they have it not.
X X Xxx
There is no doubt under the blue
skies above us that the genius"
behind movie making has never
concerned itself with good morals
or good manners. It has aimed
solely at box Office returns, and,
knowing the apparent weakness OF
humanity, it has appealed for
them to the baSer side OF hu-
manity, rather than with clean,
intellectual entertainment. There
has been some outward improve
ment in methods, it is true, but the
spirit is still where it has been
from the beginning Of feature
pictures. And now the theater
has become infected also. If both
are to be bettered, it is the general
public that patronizeS them which
must take the first step. If our
morals and our culture are as sin
cere as we pretend-and it is most
earnestly to be hoped that they
are-their dominancy in everyday
life calls for a higher duty more
widely discharged than that of the
censor or the legislator. The peo-
pie of this day and generation can
make it's morals, it's manners and
every phase of it's life whatever
they sincerely wish them to be.
But not by intrusting the task to
the censor, or even to the leglSla-
tor. There is only one way to do
right and we must do 1t ourselves,
not leave it to some other and i'm
perfect instrument to do it for us.
The sureSt way to kill perniciouS
plays and pictures is not to
patronize them, and this holds
good both with the young people
and with their elders. Producers
will not invest their money in en-
tertainment of any kind that does
not pay. It is money they are
after. not the uplift of humanity.
It doesn't need even the policeman
to stop their wrongdoing, If the
public itself vetoeS it with the
irresistible weapon, non-patron-
age.
Sound and dialogue pictures are
still with us, and they are likely to
remain, even though there come
rumorS from the studios that Tfo-
duction is likely to be curtailecttnr
the 1929-30 season. There are
stanch defenders of the "talkie,"
who insist that with the Simplif1-
cation and perfection of the me-
chanical equipment both for MAX
ing and for showing sound pic
lures on the screen, they will ulti-
mately annihilate the silent pic
ture. On the other hand, there
are just as stanch champions. OF
the silent picture whose zeal is
prophesying that the vogue for a
sounding screen will soon die out.
Washington has had fair opportu-
nifty to form it's own opinion. We
have had Interference" then ION
Trial." and now the Fox produc-
ton, "In Old Arizona" whose
novel claim is that it was made
entirely outdoors, not in the sound
studios. If patronage may be &C
copied for verdict, Washington
has given it's approval to them all
and most enthusiastically to I'm
Old Arizona" Still, behind it all
comes the plaintive suggestion
from the producing world that 1t
is imperative that sound and dia-
logue pictures, which are much
more expensive to make than the
silent drama, will have to gross
better which means that they
will have to bring larger money
returns in the theater box-offices,
or something will have to hap
pen" What that something"
may be is not mentioned. Here
again the Importance Of the
money return" looms promi-
nently. If the smaller theaterS
cannot afford to install the me-
chanical equipment necessary to
showing sound pictures, they can
not buy them; and the smaller
movie theater is a most important
factor in the movie money making
world. Producers are expanding
money lavishly in erecting the
aterS with greater seating capacity
to balance the loss of the smaller
theater purchases. They also are
literally moving heaven and earth
to cheaper the cost of the me-
chanical equipment for showing
pictures. What the outcome will
be ultimately must be left to spec
ulation. It is fairly safe to predict
that neither the sound nor the
silent picture is likely to be ami
hilated until something better
arrives to take the place of both,
for there is no more popular en-
tertainment in the world today