You can see how different that picture is from most of those that you see, month after month, at your nearest movie-house. For one thing, it didn’t have any particular love-story, which more people like to see than anything else. For another thing, it has a sort of unhappy ending, which, in this country, relatively few people like to see. So, although the picture was beautifully produced, and although it was interesting as it went along and pointed a big moral quite without being “preachy,” no one bought it for this country. It was sent back to England. The distributors, who could have bought it for a song compared to what they have to pay for even the poorest pictures that are made here in America, were afraid of it, because they felt it would be hard to sell to exhibitors, who wouldn’t think enough people in their audiences would like it to make it profitable.
Think a moment. Would you have liked it, just because it was a worth-while story, beautifully produced? Would you have liked it even though it had no particular love-story, and no thrilling adventure, and no particularly unusual scenes, and did have an unhappy ending? You would have admired it, undoubtedly, if you had seen it, and admitted it was good; but you wouldn’t have liked it particularly.
Courtesy Universal Pictures Corporation.
An Elephant on a Rampage.
When animal pictures are being taken there is always a chance for things to go wrong. Animals almost always seem to be irritated by the clicking of the camera.
Courtesy Universal Pictures Corporation.
Human Brains Against Brute Strength.
Whenever possible, scenes that “go wrong” are turned to account. This entire episode was photographed and eventually used in a “nature” film.