During 1911 and the early part of 1912 several pictures were released, both by European and American manufacturers, which were so objected to by Roman Catholic picture-patrons that not only were they suppressed but the whole film-manufacturing industry was aroused and put on its guard against producing more pictures of this kind.  Here is a rule of photoplay writing that you must not violate:  Do not offend the religious beliefs of a single patron if you wish to retain the good will of the editors and manufacturers.  And have you stopped to think how broad that statement really is?  Have you taken into consideration the many different nationalities, with their widely different creeds and religious convictions, which see the pictures daily put upon the market?  As one critic says:  “The photoplay film goes to Europe and Australia and South Africa.  Some of them even get to China; so you can realize that what may seem foolish to you may be sacred to someone else, and exhibitors have to be careful.”

To say that you must be careful not to write stories that will be likely to arouse the ire of certain photoplay patrons because of the way a political theme is handled does not mean that you cannot introduce political themes at all.  If, for instance, you have a particularly good suffragist story—­one which contains both heart and human interest—­there is little doubt that it would sell.  Several such pictures have been shown in the past year or two.  Or if you have a story in which the leading male character is a Socialist, it may be appreciated by many photoplay-goers without giving offense to those whose views do not coincide with the hero’s.  But, to quote the editor of The Coming Nation, stories are not wanted “where the hero arises and makes a soap-box speech on Socialism, converting all by-standers.”  And at all times you must keep in mind that, no matter what political theme you exploit in your story, heart-interest must predominate if you wish it to sell—­another way of saying that unless you are sure that you have a very strong and unusual story, it is best to leave out politics.  That form of journalism which is best known as muck-raking is also out of place in the pictures.

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.