Few films, however, outside of the sectarian subjects which were the
cause of so much disturbance a year or so ago, have given displeasure
to so many people as those--fortunately, they have not been
many--which revealed and held up to the public the secret and dark
sides in the lives of famous men and women of history. "There are some
things that are sacred," says a writer in _The Moving Picture World_,
"even from the hand of the most circumspect of picture makers." It is
a source of regret that even a shadow of reproach should be cast upon
distinguished men, particularly when the question of blame is
debatable, as when, for instance, a picture portraying the love affair
between Sir John Millais, the artist, and Ruskin's wife, was actually
produced by a well-known company.
No matter what the opportunity to produce what seems to you to be a
strong or interesting story, never offend against good taste. "Plays
that antagonize the finer element in an audience," says Mr. Louis
Reeves Harrison, "had better never be shown at all. There is nothing
funny in what is cruel, though vulgar brutality in a play may get a
laugh from a few who have not yet emerged from primitive egoism."
That last sentence should constantly be borne in mind.
A certain film, "Adrift," released back in 1912, showed an incident
that in real life would have been impossible.
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