Show Movie Fans Are Intelligent By JAMES W W. DEAN I NEW YORK Dec 3 Every Every once In a awhile awhile I while some writer In The Bookman th the e Atlantic Monthly the Nation and other othe r i magazines cognoscenti g ne nesti sti whose takes matter an tt unholy nl appeals e wallop to t the th at e i the movies The Tho art of the movies is decried Screen players are berated Ridicule Is the lot even of the public which patronizes the motion picture and nd knows more about it t as an Industry and an art rt than those Who point the finger of scorn at It All of this has a a. distinct reaction on the tha producer and the exhibitor This re re-i action does not tend to the betterment of pictures Burton Rascoe writes in the current Issue of the Boo Bookman Boorman man From data offered of of- by the examination for the draft of or the recent war the national research council i e estimated l the Ir intelligence of the I average e adult male In the United United n s States a as that of or a normal year old child The assumption of or various psychiatrists concerning concerning con- con I the tho feminine means of intelligence Intelli intelli- Intelligence gence is not so flattering I A publication devoted to the Interests interests- l of the producer and exhibitor calls attention at at- ati i to t ls statement and then asks why the Industry should go further than I providing entertainment for the year 14 i old children It Is s further pointed out that pictures which do dd not not hold an appeal for tor children have n not been great t financial I Ig successes and producers Od s are J urged to toi tomake I make only onh pictures tha that tare are within the understanding of children I Therein lies the danger of or much of orthe the criticism of ot the photoplay tt It is not con con- As a result the photoplay suffers artistically and commercially It is a paradox to say that the average Intelligence t Il e of the adult l Is not above o that fl th gil gilo U of a child If that were so children would be he doing the work of adults They would govern themselves largely through h their own logic rather than b by the advice and Instruction of their elders Motion pictures will be better when i both producers produce s and critics come to be be- be 1 I lIeve that the average Intelligence of the adult js is an adult intelligence Perforce It It could be be- nothing else els I I |