The Washington times., 1937-07-31
Kelley.
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Continued from Cover Page)
this domestic product, buy it
and put it on the shelf.
When they are forced to run
these features-in order to show
a Great ziegfeld," or a Good
Earth" - they employ these
screen atrocities to chase Gus.
toners out of the theater. Thus
between the 2:30 and $3.50 p. m.
screenings Of a tWo-a-day fea-
ture, the custom is to put on a
quota picture between S and 8,
generally playing to an empty
house.
am a firm believer in the
sage observation of Mr.. Nicholas
M. Schenck that There is moth
ing the matter with the motion
picture industry that good pic
lures cannot cure" He said
something, and it goes twice for
English pictures.
Since it appears hopeless to
expect any help from the Brit
ish producers. the money and
man power of Hollywood has
stepped into the situation. Mere.
ly as a sound economics policy,
since it is cheaper to procure
domestic pictures that can make
some profit, than to buy the
average English quota output
and toss it in the ash can.
The subsidized ERA, organ Of
the English motion picture in
dustry, continually bleatS about
moronic American audiences. It
berates Hollywood and advises
the English producer to educate
the American screen appetite,
rather than supply the Ameri-
can market with picureS that
are Saleable. 1t ignores the fact
that the most popular stars in
the United States are also the
most popular in Great Britain,
that Hollywood celebrities lead
in every English exhibitor poll.
One example of British pro-
duction stupidity, that reaches
every American motion picture
editorial desk. is the display Of
"Still' pictures, accompanying
the imported features.
They are so completely in.
ferior it makes one wonder
whether photography has be-
come lost art in the land of
John Bull. The press agent for
the English film product is gen.
orally obliged to sell his goods
with a portfolio of portraits that
couldn't pass the beginner test
in any Hollywood studio.
That goes for good camera
subjects-such as Elizabeth
Bergner and Jessie Matthews
and the only explanation have
ever heard advanced for such
tenth grade stuff is that English
newspapers, as rule, do not run
stills" therefore the pictures
are turned out at low cost to
compete in an American market,
which eXpends a fortune for good
newspaper pictures.
Since the official English pol.
icy is to "hypo" the industry by
restrictive legislation, it strikes
this obscure corner of the world
that every exhibitor, and every
editor, should welcome and en-
courage the American invasion.
If Twentieth Century-Fox COM
pleteS the English alliance that
has long been pending, and
when Leo-the-Lion really begins
to roar within the shadow of Big
Ben, we can look for better pic.
lures from the other side.
1t would be, think, a happy
thing for Hollywood to have
some real foreign competition.
AS it is today an American ex-
hibitor buys most British prod
uct by the dozen, hoping and
praying that by some good luck,
he will get one good picture out
of the bunch.
In California, actors and tech
nicianS look on a job in England
as working in a minor league.
That's exactly what it is if you
measure by completed product.