Frontispiece
That Marvel—The Movie
INTRODUCTION
To grasp the past progress, the present significanceand the future possibilities of the motion picture;to express them with restraint and yet with clarity;and to impress the mind of any reader with the logic,as well as with the sincerity, of his viewpoint: theseare a few of the qualities in this book which make itinteresting and important. Mr. Van Zile visualizesthe motion picture as more than an entertainmentfeature; and if his prophecies of its future seemover-optimistic to some, they need only to recall theflickering, crude apparitions of twenty years ago andthe total cinematic blankness before that.
If, in twenty years, the motion picture has advancedfrom an awkward toy in a laboratory to themarvelous screen art and drama of to-day, who shallsay what are the limits of its progress and its power?
The other arts are old. Music was born with speechand architecture came soon thereafter. Literatureand sculpture were created when the first primitiveman hacked an image on a bit of rock or bone.Misty ages have cradled their growth. The art of theviscreen is new, and yet in its quarter of a century oflife it has produced achievements as valuable inaffecting human thought, as notable as those manygreat plays and operas and pictures have produced.
To the extent that it has grown so rapidly itsimportance is intensified. It is better that we shouldlearn to crawl before we walk, and run before we fly.
As the representative of leading producers anddistributors of American films, I can say that in noindustry or art will be found men and women moreearnest to progress in the right way. With a fullsense of our responsibilities, and an ardor towardperfection, we are at work to do the best possibleth