FILMS WITHOUT STARS

Southland Times, Issue 23347, 3 November 1937, Page 8

FILMS WITHOUT STARS

Only Fine Productions Can Succeed PUBLIC INTEREST IN FAMOUS NAMES In this article, reprinted from Tne Age, Melbourne, Henry Hathaway, who directed “The Trail of The Lonesome Pine,” discusses the advantages and pitfalls in the star system, which is now generally accepted as a necessity of the cinema. The motion-picture industry has been “kidding itself” for years that it cannot do anything about what is known as the “star system.” This is the burden of the argument:—“The public created the star system, and the public will continue to support it.” But, although that statement is perfectly correct, it is no argument at all, because it doesn’t meet the question.

To my way of thinking, the star system in itself is really all right, provided it is used sensibly. The function of this industry is to provide the public with the pictures and personalities it wants to see, and if the public wants to see William Powell and Carole Lombard teamed in a good comedy romance, that’s what it ought to get. On the other hand, a production without “names” may turn out to be a truly fine picture. But it has to be terrific in order to do any business when Powell and Lombard are playing at the theatre across the street.

We have accepted the star system, and we must reconcile ourselves to it. To adapt it to our uses in a manner satisfactory to all concerned we must forget, once we start filming a picture with big names, that the star system exists. I’ve tried to do that consistently, and I believe. that to a large extent it has worked. It worked certainly with Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone in “Lives of a Bengal Lancer,” and I think it is working again with Gary Cooper and George Raft in “Souls at Sea,” although that can’t be definitely determined, of course, until Paramount releases the picture. If a director has important names in his picture he knows it has the prime box-office asset. But if in filming the picture he places too much emphasis upon the important personalities, he is in danger of ruining the picture altogether. Thus the star system militates against him. I realize, of course, that it isn’t always so easy to forget stars as personalities. Some stars just won’t let it be forgotten for a second. Happily, they can be argued . into a compromise when it is pointed out to them that their behaviour will do them more harm than good, since it threatens to spoil the pace and form of the picture, and bad pictures will ruin the biggest star in Hollywood quicker than anything. Stars of this sort are becoming fewer. The public itself is eliminating them. Stars, as well as directors, are coming to realize more strongly than ever that no one person can carry an entire picture, especially in these times. For the industry is. now going through one of the most highly competitive periods in its history. The problem of the star system, for these reasons, seems to be solving itself at last.