I do agree in this respect, that the British public is becoming much
more critical, and in time will insist that it get its value, or else
will steer clear of the cinemas. It is for the managership to provide
the films with the necessary tone. There are several factors governing
this criticism and decline, and one is that the English film production
started with an unsound foundation, or a bad tradition. Give a dog a
bad name and it will stick to it, and to retrieve a lost reputation is
a difficult feat, yet not an impossible one.
If the British producers were composed of Englishmen alone, and not
a conglomeration of nationalities, the plots in the various novels
and plays would be produced exactly as intended and not murdered and
warped as at the present time. To read the book, then see the play,
and finally the film, one is astonished at the vast difference in the
rendering; the whole plot being considerably changed.
The rendering of the film should be exactly the same as the play,
and as one reads, yet it is widely different. It is either “cut” or
lengthened; the important is ignored and the unimportant is enlarged
upon, showing in striking features the blunders perpetrated. What is
the result of this doctoring? Instead of the producers raking in the
thousands and pleasing millions of patrons, the whole production is
a miserable failure, and the reputation of the author as a writer is
belittled in the eyes of the public.
To prevent this, the producers could approach the author to supervise
the production and pay him a nominal retaining fee, and the public
would be assured of an exact reproduction of the play or plot they have
seen acted, and wish to see filmed.
In film production the British would create an improvement in their
films if some of the American methods were copied. It is the latter’s
custom to secure the presence of the author throughout the whole period
of production, and his critical judgment and suggestions ensure the
exact reproduction of the film as written.
All films are not a failure, far from it. Several British films have
been excellently produced, and the plot has remained as originally
written. This is what the reading public requires and looks for,
especially when they are familiar with the story. The exact
reproduction of the plot without alteration does much to secure the
confidence of the patrons.
At the present time the British film-producers are handicapped by the
American film-tax, which reduces considerably the scope of sale, but
if only out of fairness to this country the tax should be dropped--or
our Government must perforce raise a similar barrier to protect British
producers in this country.
The prospects for British producers are brighter, and if they can
exhibit at the various “Trade Shows” films worth seeing--from the
standpoint of acting, scenario and production--then they need not fear
a “block” in the bookings for English films.
The British public is patriotic, and it only remains for the British
producers to bring out something really good for foreign competition to
fall behind. Our keenest competitors are America, Germany, Italy and
Switzerland.