Photoplay/Volume 36/Issue 3/Amateur Movies

​THE final awards in PHOTOPLAY'S second Amateur Movie Contest now are not far distant. The board of judges, with its aids, has spent weeks in making careful examinations of all the films submitted.

It is possible to describe some of the films reaching the $2,000 contest finals and to tell something about their amateur makers. One of the interesting dramatic subjects is a 16 millimeter film, "Three Episodes," submitted by the Foto-Cine Productions, of No. 418 South Stanislaus Street, Stockton, Calif.

"Three Episodes" reveals the mental flashbacks of a dying soldier in a shell hole in Flanders. Almost all of the acting is in the hands of one player, Scott Hardester, who portrays the boy. The three episodes reveal a vivid childhood memory of the killing of a bird, a touchdown in a high school football game, and the boy's parting from his sweetheart as he starts for the front. Instead of a dissolve, this amateur organization obtained an original effect for 16 millimeter cameras by moving the camera in and out of focus. The camera slides up to the boy's eyes as he lies in the shell hole and then slips back to reveal him in an incident of the past.

Robert Burhans, who entered a film in last year's contest, directed "Three Episodes." Wallace W. Ward was cameraman, Alice L. Buckle acted as title and script girl, and Edwin J. Fairall was production supervisor. Mr. Ward has been an active amateur cinematographer since he was very young. So, too, has Mr. Byr Burhans.

TWO striking contest efforts were submitted by Edward E. Jacobsen, of No. 9 East 41st Street, New York City. One of Mr. Jacobsen's films was a superbly photographed scenic of New York and the other was a dramatic effort, "What Does It Matter?" Both are in 16 millimeter film. The drama is a tersely told story of an old man who can't land a job.

The playing of the old druggist, the only role in the film, is done by Fothingham Lysons, an advertising model. Mr. Jacobsen himself is art director of an advertising agency. "What Does It Matter?" was made after business hours, between 9 P.M. and 1 A.M. and required three nights work to reach completion. Mr. Jacobsen was author, photographer, director, electrician, editor and part actor, his hands appearing in one or two scenes as dramatic aids to the one player. Mr. Jacobsen used a Bell and Howell Filmo, with a Cooke f 1.8 lens. He obtained lap dissolves by irising down his lens, rewinding his film in a dark room and running the film through again while irising open. Mr. Jacobsen states that he has been dabbling in still and motion picture photography for ten years.

ONE of the noteworthy non-dramatic efforts (35 millimeter) is Ralph Steiner's "H₂O," which, in a less perfect form, has been shown at various amateur gatherings about New York.

Mr. Steiner is a Dartmouth graduate. He has been taking pictures for fifteen years and has been interested in movies for two years. He studies at the Clarence W. White School of Photography in New York and takes advertising photographs for a living. "H₂O" is his first completed film.

"H₂O" is a study of mater water and its moods. Mr. Steiner started making it last Summer, beginning with an Eyemo and completing the abstract part of the film with a DeBrie. Mr. Steiner used a six and twelve inch lens on both cameras to get his water reflections enlarged and to get pure abstract patterns of shadows on water surfaces. "No tricks of any kind were used," said Mr. Steiner, "as I was interested in seeing how much material could be gotten by trying to see water in a new way, rather than by doing things to it with the camera."

ANOTHER interesting 35 millimeter contest contribution came from Hollywood and, while it was made by a studio worker, the contestant comes well within the amateur classification. The contributor is Leonard Clairmont, of 6247 Banner Place, Hollywood. Mr. Clairmont is employed as a retoucher at the First National Studios and has held this position for a year. He has never been connected with the actual studio making of pictures. "What I have picked up about making pictures is only what I have seen during my lunch hours," he states.

"The whole picture was made on Sundays, because my actors worked as carpenters and, like myself, were busy throughout the week." Mr. Clairmont's film, "Nemesis," which is based on an old Swedish legend of crime and its retribution, cost exactly $92.50. The camera, an old Pathe, was secured from the California Camera Hospital at a cost of $75. The still camera was borrowed and Mr. Clairmont made his own reflectors. The first foot of film cranked on "Nemesis" was the first foot of film Mr. Clairmont ever shot, which is unusual in itself. It was found necessary to retake only one scene.

Mr. Clairmont, by the way, is 24. He came to America from Sweden a few years ago and is now an American citizen. His real name is Einar Leonard Asplund ​and his father is chief of detectives of the city of Stockholm.

He studied art in Sweden, but the only job he has found open over here thus far is that of studio retoucher.

Mr. Clairmont spends his spare time contributing to Film-Journalen, a Swedish motion picture fan publication.

STILL another unusual dramatic film (35 millimeter stock) was entered by Jac Thall, of 957 77th Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. Mr. Thall's entry was called "Quickie," and was suggested by Paul Fejos' difficulties in making his now famous experimental picture, "The Last Moment."

Briefly, it depicts the tribulations of a quickie company trying to finish a production before its bank roll gives out.

"Quickie" has one of the most promising amateur players of any film submitted in Photoplay's contest, possibly the most promising.

THIS player is Helen Johnson, an artist and art model, who plays the leading woman of the quickie company.

Miss Johnson has never acted before but she has shown an unusual personality and much charm.

"Quickie" was filmed with a Bell and Howell camera.

The actual cranking of the film was done by Mario D'Giovanni, an amateur enthusiast who is also a licensed chauffeur. Mr. Thall, however, supervised the details of the photography and the composition.

The exteriors were taken on location in Staten Island. A few borrowed lights from a photographer's studio served for the interiors of the film. Mr. Thall, since he graduated from college, has worked as a publicity writer for a theater circuit.

EUGENE KINGMAN, a nineteen-year-old freshman at Yale University, entered an interesting study of bird and animal life filmed on 16 millimeter stock with a Bell and Howell 70 Filmo. Mr. Kingman used an attachment by which the camera could be operated from a distance.

The camera was shielded by a board, the lens projecting through a small opening. Thus the contestant avoided frightening his timid subjects.

Mr. Kingman lives at 140 Slater Avenue, Providence, R.I.

PHOTOPLAY presents these facts about a few of the contestants whose entries reached the finals.

This summary, of course, does not include all of the fortunate amateurs who successfully passed the preliminaries, nor does it imply that the contestants here described are the final winners. However, some of them will find themselves among the final choices of the judges, no doubt.

Films failing to reach the contest finals are being returned to their owners as rapidly as they are discarded by the board of judges.

ST. LOUIS now has its amateur cinema club. An organization meeting was held recently under the leadership of J. M. Guyol, who was elected president of the organization. Arnold Frank Kansteiner was named secretary-treasurer and E. E. Star was selected as chairman of the program committee.

The New Utrecht High School of Brooklyn, N.Y., now has its motion picture club. A 1,600 foot (16 millimeter) production, depicting the life of a newspaper reporter, is now in the making. The story was written by Joseph Kester.

Frank J. Buchlman has been elected president of the Flower City Movie Club of Rochester, N.Y. At the same election, Mrs. Roland Potter was named vice-president, William Cushing was made secretary and business manager, Mrs. Frank J. Buchlman was elected treasurer, and Roland Potter was given the post of supervisor.

The Philadelphia Amateur Motion Picture Club has a club him contest in progress. The competition closes September 31st.

Cups will go to the winners of the first and second prize.

CULVER Military Academy has completed its film, entitled "Sinister Sam."

The Bakersfield, Calif., Amateur Movie Club is making its fourth production, "Lingering Lips," a burlesque on the familiar desert island story. This will run 400 feet in 16 millimeter stock, and the cast includes Walter Thornton, Dorothy Beck and Elva Mae Stinson.

The Cleveland, Ohio, Movie Club is planning an amateur movie contest for Cleveland and Northern Ohio.

A silver cup will go to the winner, to be retained by the lucky contestant until the next annual competition.