of fin tbt lt alto 1 I i We quote the following interesting remarks from the NewYork New NewYork York Times 1 What do people mean when they talk about better pictures' pictures as many different things as there are people to want them At any rate ideas of the perfect picture vary widely some considering the smashing serial the beginning and end of everything desirable on the screen and others holding that the pure scenic without action or character is the only legitimate goal of cine cine- And there are all kinds of opinions between these two extremes J. J Nor are the conflicting and uncertain opinions confined to spectators The question is worrying the tho producers too They have tried different roads in search of their goal They I used ed to think that better acting was needed or bigger names and began to lure the more prominent stage stars to their studios only to discover that the big names did not mean much to the majority v f f. f and that while some of the stage players could act before the camera most of them They lost a good deal of money learning this And some of them it appears are still paying for instruction J. J f I Then the cry for better stories went up and the writers of fiction began to reap the reward There is one producer for f example who is constantly saying Better stories what we want is k better etter stories without realizing apparently that the best story in the world m may y not be at all suitable for the screen or may be botched beyond hope of redemption by unintelligent treatment It j never seems to occur to him and to others that neither excellent I fiction writers nor good stage performers are necessarily endowed with the talent for cinema composition and expression They go on ip putting tUng their faith in those whose voices and words have won them success ignoring the fact that the screen is neither vocal nor verbal 1 f So the poor producer is still wondering what kind of an t animal a better picture really is v But outside investigators are trying to find out and tell him land and nd one such it appears is M. M Brieux about whose ideas Mr Anderson writes as s follows t jr 4 f 4 In the opinion of M. M what is at present paralyzing the fhe cinema and hindering it in its flight is its subordination tion to the Jaws laws of the theatre f j f Mr Anderson then goes on to quote M. M Brieux directly as follows j The theatre is one thing the cinema is another nother whatever one may think I In its evolution the cinema is following a path I parallel ar to that which the theatre has already followed the entire education of the public is ds still to be made nade lla We are still among the i melodramas of ofa a century ago Let the cinema break the chains that I bind it and get out of its cage its rise will then be rapid and conI con con- I I Some day a genius will appear who will realize that part f of f the cinema which is now ignored He concludes 4 0 The greatest asset of this this' reformer will be according to M M. tHeux rieux an absolute ignorance of all dramatic r matic lore If he has never been Deen within the doors of a theatre so much the better 4 ii From From which the them logical conclusion is th that t if the common genius genius is is to be free of the traditions of t the t theatre and likewise wise I r Lof of the novel Y I he must be free to go straight at cinema composition he ie e must think in terms term o of motion pictures and execute his thoughts a better picture then Why a better picture of course course Not a 8 bet better r imitation of a a. stage play or a novel but a tt r Picture a n. cinematographic creation that is characteristically and id d substantially a wo work k in kinetic photography This then first the he other ther thin things Bett Better r acting Of course better bette screen acting lS is pantomime Better stories stones To be sure better compositions in the language o of motion pi pictures tures Better sets By all means means better ett r sets as subjects of pictorial composition In short betted better pictures ct res not better denatured novels and plays