OCR Text |
Show AMERICAN "MOVIE" HOLDS -FIRST PLACE IN FRANCE PARIS, March . Americana who re fiember th Infant days of tn moving pteturs Industry at home, whan overy bark e par and streetcar conductor had a acenario all workad out and very body with a couple ef tbouaand dollar to risk was willinc to take a chance on the em bryo author a brain child, are watching with Interest a aim liar period of development devel-opment in the film Industry In France. Although 'the "movies"' were born here, they are still in swaddling- clothes. After more than twenty yesrs. the cinema haa not reached the stage of development repreaented by th-mo via of the Jnltd States of twelve or fifteen yara ago. lire, in the ery home of the 'ellent drama," 75 per cent of the picturea ahown on the screen are American product a. It la only In very recant yeare that fiance took the motion picturea serious -ly. Juat before the war there waa an attempt to make better fllma, to put Inte he film business something of the art la tic com pan lea htve been organuted. Eclipse, flot. Aubert. Harry and the Agence Oenecale are disputing the around with Pat he and Caumont and -an American company (the Fox Film company) haa Invaded France. All told they produce about thirty to thlrty-ftva picturea a year1 probably ZOft.eoe feet of film. This repreaenta about 10 per cent of the total ahown In Franee in the couree of a year. The rematning 15 per cent 14 per cent being American i la apllt up among Italian, Swedish and Kngllsh picturea. The mere fact i that auch an Immenaa proportion of American picturea ia purchaaed In aplte of the unfavorable exchange rata show their popularity. With a total Invested capital of half a billion franca, the leaders In th moving mov-ing picture Industry here have not yet been able to offer financial Inducements to popular actresses and actors aufft-clent aufft-clent to make them abandon the legitimate legiti-mate atage. There are no movie atara in genlua which haa made the French suae supreme In the dramatic world. The war stopped thla effort and gave the American producers a chance to capture the market, ao that today 'Vharlot" and Mary and fouff and "ae Faar Weat' and se cooboy" are the stock In trade of the film fan's conversation. "It Isn't that France lackg malarial for i good pictures," said an American motion V , ptrture producer to the United Jrss. tm 'Hut the French have been left ml lea w behind In the art of making good pic turea. They have leaxned nothing of tlshting effects. They have better act-ora act-ora than we have In America. Their Scenarios are In general as good or better. bet-ter. They have Ideal conditions for out- of a atodio set, truy are loat. They need a course of Instruction In the elements of film making snd until they get it the French film Industry cannot be a BS rioua rival to the American producers.' He fore the war the film Industry In Krarce was prnctt rally In the hands of two companla -r'athe and (taumont. These were the ktnjra of the buaineaa. There were perhaps 1200 movie theatres In the country. At present there are s bout I' theatres a nd several new Franoa, There ia not single - name which atsnds out like any one of the acorea of favorites known to every American. Pick up a wewpapr snd look over . the cinema sdvertlsements. There you will see stl the familiar names blasoned forth on Broadway, once In a whilst an Kngllsh a tar, but never a French name. Picturea made in the French studios are flung togetner in hit-or-mlas style. The chief performers snatch a half-hour now snd then between reheaj-sala or performances at the theatre the-atre which employs tnem. There are scarcely any regularly organtied moving picture actors, French pictures find a ready sal In South America and. in fact, in all th mkm eeuwtrtesi Th ftiaUtaaew ami Rgypt buy a large part of th output of th tudios, chiefly because the exchange rat of those countries fa favorable to business with Franc, but also because the "stories" are better suited to the peopl of those countries than th American Amer-ican picture subjects. American movie experts admit that If th native producer pro-ducer adopt American methods te French art let Ic ability, their product will be able to meet American picture on terms of equality. |