Madame Pilar-Morin — The Future of the Silent Drama (1910) 🇺🇸

Pilar-Morin on her work. — the renowned French actress discusses the future of the moving picture.

Mme. Pilar-Morin has come at the psychological moment, or, it may also be put, she is a happy accident — very gifted, very optimistic and very earnest. Curiosity as to the personalities of leading artists connected with the opera and the stage is becoming duplicated in the moving picture field, where, in the last few months, the renowned and the favorite performer have become familiar to the 7,000,000 public of the United States. The most renowned of them all, who easily takes pride of place in virtue of her record and her transcendental ability, is Mme. Pilar-Morin, who is mostly called French, but told us that she was Spanish, and who this week is rendering her Japanese monologue at the opening of the Japanese Gardens in New York’s newest and most gorgeous restaurant, the Café de l’Opéra, on Broadway.

We said that Mme. Pilar-Morin was an accident, and a happy accident. We mean by this that she entered the moving picture field just at that moment when the influence of her art was needed to strengthen the performing end of moving picture work and to stimulate the manufacturers to do justice to the enormous possibilities of the moving picture, the silent play, the silent drama, or motography, whichever name the reader thinks best to employ. She has come into the game, then, at the right moment. It is said of many things in life, that the hour brings the man. Well, here the hour brought the woman, and we do not think that there is any other woman in the world more suited by training, talent and temperament to the opportunity of uplifting the moving picture by her art.

Mme. Pilar-Morin, herself, is no accident. She is a growth, a development, and now the finished product of long and rigorous training in her peculiar and her unique art, namely, the silent drama. The phrase, “silent drama,” is her own invention; it expresses her own meaning; it expresses her own work, which may, in some sense, be termed a play without words. It is the Chinese, we think, who have a proverb that “speech was given us to conceal our thoughts.” Mme. Pilar-Morin conceals her speech, but thinks aloud; that is to say, she feels everything instead of saying it; she expresses everything she feels by gesture instead of speech. This, of course, is true acting. Her career commenced in girlhood at the Paris Conservatoire, the nursery of most of the renowned French actors and actresses. Thereafter, from ordinary stage work, she naturally found her forte in the silent drama, or, as it is commonly called, the silent play. She has worked not only in the United States, but in France, England, Africa and Japan, and has a special disposition for Japanese characters, which will be shown in the Edison film to be released on February 1, entitled, The Japanese Peach-Boy, in which Mme. Pilar-Morin impersonates two characters.

Chiefest renown, however, attaches to this gifted artist in virtue of the fact that she was the exponent of the chief character of L’Enfant Prodigue, a silent play with a worldwide reputation, which, we believe, is shortly to be revived in New York City with Pilar-Morin in her old part. Moreover, she is an exponent in the lecture theater of the silent drama. Now, the silent drama converted into everyday use, according to our fair informant, is nothing more nor less than personal acting or deportment, or, as we like for convenience sake to put it, the expression of one’s personality in one’s actions. Mme. Pilar-Morin would have us talk less and think more. It is commonly said that acts speak louder than words. She, if we understand her aright, would substitute, as far as possible, acts for words. And, in making this point in the interview that she was kind enough to give us, she illustrated her meaning by acting many little passages for us and throwing such an amount of meaning and thought into her little gestures that she was quite successful in speaking without words. This brings us, of course, to the underlying reason of the penchant which this gifted artist has for the moving picture. Being the greatest exponent in the world, on the ordinary stage, of the silent drama or wordless play, what was more natural than Mme. Pilar-Morin should see an opportunity for practising her peculiar art on the moving picture stage? There were many reasons why she adopted this plan and has contracted herself to the Edison Company for two years. Not the least of these reasons is that, being an artist, she is very naturally desirous that her work should be preserved for the benefit of posterity. She points out with some force that the phonograph is doing much to preserve for posterity, records of the vocal excellencies of Caruso and other great singers, but that hitherto there was no means of perpetuating the record of the best work of the actor and actress. But here the moving picture steps in; the photographic record can be made of the finest histrionic work for the benefit and inspection of future generations. This is peculiarly applicable to the work of those French actors and actresses who are doing picture work, and playing in Paris at this present time. We have seen, within the last year, many pictures made in Paris studios in which the most renowned actors and actresses of the Comédie Française have appeared. And it is to us something of a regret that such pictures, by the exigencies of business, are not more frequently shown in a moving picture theater, or continuously shown so that the public can be better acquainted with them. For example, we could see the Pathé La Tosca once more, nay, many more times. Just as we could see the Edison Comedy and Tragedy again, and we hope to do so. Such work as this could be seen again and again, and it is work of this kind that Mme. Pilar-Morin is engaged in doing in the Edison studio.

Regarding Mme. Pilar-Morin as a pioneer .in this branch of work, we were naturally anxious to learn from her whether it would be possible for her to cast a moving picture film with silent dramatists of her own training or method of work — wordless players, in fact. She expressed her readiness and willingness to do so. It is one thing for your modern film manufacturer to engage the services of actors and actresses from the ordinary theaters for their pictures, but, paradoxical as it may seem, there are very few actors and actresses who act. To quote a line from a song by Louie Freear, of London, “They just walk on.” Exactly. They just walk on and they mostly do what they are told by an energetic producer, but rarely do they think or act; that is to say, rarely do they allow their acts on the stage to be the manifestations of the thoughts suggested by their work. In other words, they do not think and feel, and therefore they do not convey their emotions to the audience. If they really thought and felt, as they are supposed to be thinking and feeling, when the photograph is being taken, then our pictures would be full of dramatic action, conviction — the act would “get over.”

—

After all, perhaps, the actor and actress, like the poet, are born, not made. The Latin race are, as we know, natural actors and actresses; that is to say, they are separated widely in respect of temperament from other races, and that accounts for a lot. We are not so optimistic as to suppose that the moving picture stage will be filled with a bevy of Pilar-Morins, now that this lady has set the example, but her influence is bound to be widespread and far-reaching. She, we think, would be instrumental in directing the film makers of England and America to engage only the best talent for the work, and, moreover, their influence would be exerted on the public, who are rapidly becoming very critical of moving picture films. The “stick” must go in the competition of quality which we have many times pointed out is a feature of the moving picture situation to-day. Over and over again we have voiced the general requirements for good pictures, well acted. So well acted that it does not need a professional critic to appreciate the work, but that the public can appreciate and can understand the action — the mental action that is going on in the picture. That, in short, your moving picture film shall be a complete wordless play. It is for these reasons that we have been warm admirers of the work of Mme. Pilar-Morin, and that we have endeavored in the personal interview with her to come to some understanding of the very beautiful art of which she is mistress. We look forward, then, with great interest to the Edison release of February 1, The Japanese Peach-Boy, in which the moving picture public of the world will have a second opportunity of seeing this great artist in another manifestation of her gifts. Incidentally we learn from Mme. Pilar-Morin that the wordless play, or the silent drama, as she herself prefers to call it, is likely to have a fresh vogue in the United States, a fact which we think will react favorably on the moving picture, inasmuch as the public will be led to accept the same quality of acting in the film that they will get on the ordinary stage. Then, again, the time is probably not far distant when the moving picture film will always become accompanied by suitable music. At present this is rarely the case. One means of hastening this desirable state of things would be the presentation to the American public of the ballet in the form which it is known in London, Paris and other great European cities. Here you occasionally get such a subject as Carmen expressed throughout by action and accompanied by music. Ballets of this kind run sometimes forty-five or fifty minutes. It is easy to conceive that a full reel running twenty minutes and accompanied by suitable music — let us, if you like, take the subject of Carmen itself — would be very attractive to moving picture audiences. There is, indeed, a great deal of work to be done in this direction — in the direction of doing the moving picture the utmost possible justice in its presentation to the public. At the risk of repeating ourselves possibly too often, there is no reason why the picture on the screen should not comply with the highest canons of art in the way of scenarios, accessories, photography and acting. And if to these we add the important incident of music, then you have the perfect voiceless substitute for the ordinary drama or opera. And in hastening this consummation, we feel in conclusion that the fine artistic work that Mme. Pilar-Morin is contributing to the moving picture stage to-day will have an important influence.

—

—

Observations by Wide-Awake Exhibitors.

The editors invite contributions for this page from exhibitors who can express an idea that will be beneficial to the business.

About The N. I. Film.

Time and again has the writer pointed out the evil results of “pulling down” the film roll. It is this, and practically this alone, which produces what are called rainmarks. Also I have repeatedly said that reels were too small. The standard reel is ten inches and the magazines are made to accommodate that size, nor would they take an eleven-inch reel, notwithstanding the fact that eleven inches is the proper reel for one-thousand-feet of old stock film which ordinarily ran 5–1000 to 5½–1 000 of an inch in thickness. I, of course, readily grant that 1,000 feet of that stock would not quite fill such a reel, but, as a matter of fact, a reel should not be filled full. Since the introduction of N. I. Film, however, stock has been thickened, some having been put out by the manufacturers which is as thick as 7–1000 of an inch. Properly treated with glycerine, the writer is unable to discern any difference in the toughness of N. I. and inflammable stock, but nevertheless he believes that that stock will, in its final form, be somewhat thicker than was the old film. As the matter is now, some of the new 1,000-foot films are overrunning the ten-inch reels by almost an inch with ordinary rewinding. This is very, very bad from any and every point of view. Not only is it difficult to get such” a reel into the magazine, but it is exceedingly hard to handle it without the surplus film slipping off entirely, in which case it falls upon the floor in the dust and dirt, endangering the future salvation of the operator by causing him to shatter the third commandment into very small pieces. More than this, it has a decided tendency to induce very heavy “pulling down,” thus permanently and excessively injuring the film, especially if it be new and the emulsion comparatively soft, by scratching — rainmarks. Of course it must be admitted that a change to eleven-inch reels now involves a distinct hardship, since it would require not only new reels but new magazines as well. Still, for all this, the change should be made, and if stock is to be made permanently thicker the change is absolutely imperative. Film exchanges should give this matter the serious consideration its importance merits, since it is they, more than anyone else, who are the sufferers. To the writer it is indeed a strange and incomprehensible thing that exchange men do not seem to know or realize the evil effects of pulling down.

—

We all know the aggravation caused by ladies who persistently refuse to. remove their headgear, even though it be a cross between a washtub and an aeroplane in size and shape. What seems a likely suggestion was voiced to the writer recently: Reserve one side of the house for the men, then let the ladies fight it out among themselves. Ladies minus hats might be allowed on the men’s side, but only without the hat.

In connection with the necessity for larger reels, the question has been asked if the coming exclusive use of N. I. Film would not do away with the necessity for a magazine, thus eliminating the expense of changing them as well as the reel. In answer to this, I would say, No! The reels should be changed to eleven inches at once, while the exclusive use of N. I. stock is not yet. More than this, a magazine is a valuable thing, though not a really absolutely necessary one, even with N. I. stock, since it protects the film from much dust and dirt, which is always injurious, particularly while the film is new and the emulsion comparatively soft. More than this, it will take considerable time to get the authorities to consent to the elimination of magazines. The official mind is slow to move, particularly when it has things as it wants them and a proposed change merely operates to accommodate the other fellow. Mark what I tell you, N. I. stock will have to be in exclusive use for a considerable while before Mr. Official will consider the matter of leaving off the magazine at all. Meanwhile, the clinging to ten-inch reels will ruin more film than every reel and magazine ever made is worth, several times over.

F. H. Richardson.

—

Circleville, Ohio. — Hart Bros., formerly proprietors of the Wonderland Motion Picture Parlors at Marion, Ohio, and now conducting the Exhibit at Circleville, Ohio, will open a new picture house in Toledo, Ohio, on Summit street, to be known as the Hart Theater. The Hart Bros, will run both this and the Circleville house with the same high-class service they have given in the Exhibit.

—

St. Paul, Minn. — The Palace is a new theater of attractive construction, all on up-to-date lines except the operating booth. It is a great mistake for exhibitors to overlook the importance of having the booth as roomy and well-arranged as possible, for on it depends largely the quality of the show. The Palace is getting its share of business and all the other shows in town are doing well.

Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1910