Evening star., 1932-08-07

WanClQ8 TO De scared. HOT
ror" films continue to slim
n ulate some sort of veins in
the average audience. A luSty
scream during an evenings en-
tertainment is a signal of top
notch enjoyment; to have had to
stuff a handkerchief in ones
mouth a sure indication that the
film has been a success.
A potent example of this was
last weeks funereal White
Zombie." A glum saga of re-
iuvenated "stiffs," this may be
said to have been the most moroSe
legend currently exhibited to vast
and quaking audiences. Yet,
from close-hand observation, the
audience was tickled pink to have
been able to quake. Great-aunts,
grandmotherS and other humans
of respectful years after shaking
with fear for some TO minutes
went out into the Siroccoan blasts
of F street and wandered home
in a state of real JOY.
This shows, says Mr.. Phil M.
DAILY of the Film Daily, that these
people "had been thoroughly en-
tertained." And he goes on to
say, That's what the average
newspaper crit SO often misses.
He is so busy with his own
hard-boiled critical mental proc
esSes that often he entirely over
looks the reaction of the folks
around him"
Mr.. Daily, perhaps, forgets that
these unfortunate "crits" have
feelings as well as hard-boiled
mental processes, and that the
fact that the picture seemed
downright trash to them should
be stated as well as the reactions
of the masses of blanched neigh
borS who were enjoying them
selves otherwise all around.
After all, judgment Tin your own
small way cannot be formed by
watching the mental reactions OF
your confrereS. If on your left
sits a nail-biting person who
screams every time one of those
vultures flaps its wings, must the
film necessarily be said to be EN-
tertainment"?
Perhaps we have the wrong
idea as to what entertainment is,
but in the old days it used to ap-
proXimate something akin to en-
joyment. If people get kick out
of watching an ill-constructed,
badly acted and miserably for
mulated picture, then times and
standards have changed. Yet,
whether good or bad, there has
never been a time in the history
of the theater when horror"
hasn't been able to intrigue as
well as electrify. In Paris, the
Grand Guignol' has served to
frighten armies of patrons for
years, and in other major cities
there are other theatric homes OF
the horrible. "Frankenstein" did
more to make the depression
success than any film of the year.
Now the question arises, Is 1t
more fun to laugh. to cry or to be
frozen stiff with fear? A recent
editorial in a metropolitan paper,
entitled. Sad Music for Sad Peo-
pie" has stated that "a true an
Swer to the riddle, Does it make
people less sad to be Sadder when
they are Sad?' may, perhaps, be
found in Hollywood, which has
long been famous for knowing
what the public wanted before
the public even suspected that 1t
was about to want something
Every feature picture, as you may
have noticed, opens to an accom-
paniment of beautiful offstage
music, which is called the pro-
logue. And one of the talkie
studios recently issued an edict
to its musical staff to keen all
minor chords out of the prologue
on account of the depression"
Now, whether White Zombie"
was enjoyed exclusively by peo-
pie who were already sad. and
who, by viewing it, were made
less sad, or by sad people who
were made sadder and. therefore,
enjoyed themselves more, is a
problem which it would be inter-
eSting to solve. (There must have
been some very minor chords
struck in that chanting at the
beginning of the picture) Ger
tain it is, however, that happy
people who went in there
weren't made happier.
That pictures of this sort pile
box Offices high with gold is ap-
parent. For that reason, we are
told that during the coming sea-