There is no need to point out the fact that millions of people go to the
motion pictures every day; that motion picture theatres are being opened in
ever increasing number in civilized and semi-civilized countries; that the
motion picture has become the most popular form of diversion which is offered
for the leisure hours not only of the rich but of all classes of society.
At the same time, there does not exist today a means of influencing the
masses more potent than the cinema. The reason for this is to be sought for in
the very nature of the pictures projected upon the screen, in the popularity of
motion picture plays, and in the circumstances which accompany them.
The power of the motion picture consists in this, that it speaks by
means of vivid and concrete imagery which the mind takes in with enjoyment and
without fatigue. Even the crudest and most primitive minds which have neither
the capacity nor the desire to make the efforts necessary for abstraction or
deductive reasoning are captivated by the cinema. In place of the effort which
reading or listening demands, there is the continued pleasure of a succession
of concrete and, so to speak, living pictures.
This power is still greater in the talking picture for the reason that
interpretation becomes even easier and the charm of music is added to the
action of the drama. Dances and variety acts which are sometimes introduced
between the films serve to increase the stimulation of the passions.