Better Times Ahead
William R. Duffey
Head of Visual Instruction Division, University of Texas.
IT is with. considerable satisfaction that we, who are constantly dealing with schools and communities, note a decided reaction on the part of school authorities and community leaders against the poorer class of non-theatrical films. Not so long ago, those in charge of schools and communities were prone to accept any sort of motion pictures that did not offend with vulgar situations or suggestive titles.
This state of things has changed, or at least is changing rapidly. Today, these same leaders are demanding that the non-theatrical film shall be the equal to the theatrical film in every way, but without the offensive elements sometimes found in theatrical productions. They are not content with certain films formerly effectively dubbed "non-theatrical," yet which most often were a cut-and-patch-product begot from films that in their first days of existence were wearily ground out by hand in the loft of the dime theatre. Indeed, it is most gratifying that individuals have learned to say about these films: "Requiescant in pace." Seemingly, many community leaders are learning to lave nothing to do with such material, however it may be padded here and cut there, and-prefer to leave the old theatrical films in some silent graveyard where they belong. What is more surprising, such leaders are doing this in spite of the efforts of certain individuals, who must have derived their publicity graces from kissing the Blarney stone, and are still endeavoring to sell or rent these old releases by dubbing them "non-theatrical films, suitable for community recreation."
Despite this wholesome wariness as to what is offered to them for community recreation, many school and community leaders could still go to their library and read the life of Barnum with considerable benefit. There still remain many educators who buy or rent motion pictures under the influence of the title of the release. They are under the sway of names and if the name be that of a classic, so much easier is the tendency to be taken in. There is nothing in the name of an English classic, for example, to prove that it is in good physical condition and that it has not scenes and dramatic situations at constant variance with the principles of art or with the literary subject matter. Nothing can quite take the pleasure out of a motion picture performance as can mis-frames and broken films. Again, if the picture be a colorless something, giving nothing but the empty husk of the classic whose name it bears, it cannot fail to offend an intelligent viewer.
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