AMERICAN FILMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19386, 22 July 1926, Page 6

AMERICAN FILMS.

Sir, —Anyone who knows anything at- all about the subject must admit that American films are, on the, whole, the best directed, the best acted and the best photographed in the world. Some people are always crying out against the American film, with its sex appeal, its me.iodrama, its eternal triangle, etc., etc., but in nine cases out of ten those people hardly ever go to the "movies," and they do not know what they are talking about. Both the sex and the luridly melodramatic types of picture are on the wane, and th>3 clean, wholesome comedy is becoming increasingly popular, thanks to the effort:, of the American producers. Of course, when the sex picture and the melodrama were at the height of their popularity the producers had to give the public what it demanded, although some producers went against the demand and sent out other pictures, which, however, brought in little or no profit. When, however, the public tired of the sex and melodramatic types, the American producers sent out the great epic pictures, and the clean, wholesome comedy. That is what we are getting at present, though, of course, there will always be some sex and some melodramatic pictures, as a certain section of the public demands them, and also, because they provide variety, which every section of the movie public demands. As to the "eternal triangle," almost every writer, from Shakespeare down, has used it to a greater or less extent, so how can we expect it to be kept out of pictures, which, of course, are obliged to draw largely from books for their material ? The American films, according to the votes taken by the different motion picture magazines, are the most popular in every corner of the earth where pictures aro shown. Mr. Herring, in his letter, complains that there was only a 60 per cent, house at the opening of "Little Dorrit"— which, by the way, is not an English but a Danish production—and asks "where, row, are those who so frequently lament the too constant appearance of the American film ?" I should say that they are busy criticising something else of which they know as much as they do of the American films that they are so fond of "squealing out" about. The movie fans who do go to the pictures, and who know what kind of films are being shown, are perfectly content to go on seeing these "terrible American pictures." < Film Fan.