The Eoening Ledger Amusement Section, Saturday, December 4, 1925
THE FUTURE OF
THE PHOTOPLAY
THE GARDEN OF THE SORCERESS"
Director Feels Character Will
Replace Action in Fu
ture Pictures
By THOMAS H. INCE
The photoplay of tomorrow will be the
intimate drama of human relations, of
the thought-provoking motives and emo
tions, rather than the spectacular drama
o "bis" scenes and merely thrilling
action.
This does not mean that the "bis'"
scene or virile action (comprised in the
picture quality we nickname "punch")
will disappear, but that they will take
their rightful subordinate place In the
story; that sheer human drama, the
things of heart and brain, will be the
dominant factor.
The photoplay of tomorrow will not.
however, be less a drama of situations
than now situation is a basic require
ment of all drama. But as we grow In
artistic perception our situations will
grow closer to life and farther from set
artificialities.
Nor docs this mean that the future
photoplay will be less stimulating. It
will be more so, for it will stimulate
thought as well as emotion.
The spectator may go out from wit
nessing a great battle scene on the
screen, with its thrilling climax. In a
state cf great emotional excitation. But
such states of feeling soon wear oft
and arc forgotten. The play, unless it
provides something for" the mind to bite
on, is likely to be forgotten, too. And
a play forgotten is a dead play.
But the vivid unfolding of a. complex
human problem that touches the specta
tor's own experience will leave him not
only profoundly moved, but thinking
earnestly, and he will remember.
That Is why I foresee a change in
public taste, a development In discrim
ination that will make possible a type
of photoplay as yet so rare as to be al
most unrecognized.
"Characterizations" "Wanted
I lave suggested the kind of play this
will be, and an- important element In it
will be a more intimate analysis and a
subtler depiction of individuality, a finer
perception of personal values. "Charac
terization" will be one of the chief watch
words of the director of the future.
To put the whole situation. In a fine
phrase, not my own: "The screen drama
win refine itself in the flro of Its own
creative impulse."
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Another of W. H. K. Yarrow's fantastic settings for "The King of the Black Isles."
In doing this it win burst many bonds.
as efl art must do when It lives and
grows. Already this art has freed itself
from hampering traditions to a marked
degree, but it will go farther yet and new
ways be found to express pictorially a
wide range of delicate moods and mean
ings that so far have depended on the
spoken word.
One of the first limitations to go win
be that of a set length. Few photoplays
do not suffer from having to be fitted
into a given number of full reels. Again
and again I have seen plays miss fire in,
say. four reels that would have succeeded
in their original fire or six, and we all
know examples of weak four or five-reel
dramas that would have been excellent
in two or, perhaps, two and a fraction.
Of course, one can in advance tell
roughly what length a picture story Is
worth, but there must be a reasonable
freedom to let the story make its own
length for the best results and only the
best now stands a chance of life. A
really honest artist does not write or
paint to exact measure, and lr you try to
make him do it you get less than his best
quality of work.
The true motion-picture work of art
may start as a two-reelcr and end as a
twelve, or It may be photographed to 12
reels and end logically with two and a
quarter. Of course, we must try to meet
within reason the natural and inevitable
limitations of the business end of the in
dustry, but these will gradually grow less
so as to permit the capture of quality
plays, whatever their length.
As public appreciation of quality in
photoplays grows which It will very rap
Idly when we show It our best quality
the premium will grow higher and higher
on inspirational work that bears the
stamp of individuality and high artistic
purpose. Such plays will stand out from
the common run, and by them we will be
guiled to the future photoplay.
CAST OUT BY "OUTCAST"
' Valeria'' Gilliai? Scaife
'Geoffrey David Powell
Miriam" Elsie Tejguson.
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