Most American title ever

[Arndt]

I was lucky enough to see Rex Ingram's very impressive film THE CONQUERING POWER for the first time yesterday. Quite a treat. What struck me almost dumb, though, was one of the opening titles. It reads:

Commercialism tells us that you, Great Public, do not like the costume play. Life is life, so we make our story of today, that you may recognize each character as it comes your way.

Now if that isn't the most American title ever written: Commercialism tells us! Not 'taste' or 'concern for the wishes of the public' or even the 'desire to please the valued audience'. That's how the Europeans might have put it to mask the naked greed behind the decision. Not so the blunt American producers. They spell it out: Commercialism tells us we're gonna make more money this way. And what's wrong with that? Kudos to them for this display of American pragmatism. Maybe commercialism is the conquering power after all?

[rogerskarsten]

Maybe commercialism is the conquering power after all?

That's brilliant, and so true for the film industry.

[R Michael Pyle]

You've got to remember, too, that just the year before Fairbanks, Sr. had made "The Mark of Zorro", and worried to no end that the public would not buy his get-up costuming! When it succeeded and he was able to do "The Three Musketeers" he was pioneering something that had failed fairly miserably in the past. And seventeenth and eighteenth century style in-door dramas still didn't make it for some time. It had to be outdoor things like "Lorna Doone" the year after "The Conquering Power".

[Bob Birchard]

You've got to remember, too, that just the year before Fairbanks, Sr. had made "The Mark of Zorro", and worried to no end that the public would not buy his get-up costuming! When it succeeded and he was able to do "The Three Musketeers" he was pioneering something that had failed fairly miserably in the past. And seventeenth and eighteenth century style in-door dramas still didn't make it for some time. It had to be outdoor things like "Lorna Doone" the year after "The Conquering Power".

Actually, "The Mark of Zorro" was a rather desperate attempt by Fairbanks to recapture his fading screen popularity. His last several modern dress films had each grossed less than the one before, and Zorro--being a Western--was made to buck that trend. It did the trick, and was a great success. He followed Zorro with "The Nut," which was another box-office disappointment and he then opted to move ahead with the bigger costume pictures. U.A. was not really equipped to distribute program pictures like the Fairbanks modern dress films--they just didn't handle enough product to make one-off six-reelers attractive to exhibitors. Fairbanks had attempted to make "His Majesty the American" (his first U.A. release) into a bigger picture by turning it into an 8-reeler adding a couple of reels of padding at the front of the film before the story took off, but it didn't help the picture any.

[FrankFay]

I was lucky enough to see Rex Ingram's very impressive film THE CONQUERING POWER for the first time yesterday. Quite a treat. What struck me almost dumb, though, was one of the opening titles. It reads:

Commercialism tells us that you, Great Public, do not like the costume play. Life is life, so we make our story of today, that you may recognize each character as it comes your way.

Now if that isn't the most American title ever written: Commercialism tells us! Not 'taste' or 'concern for the wishes of the public' or even the 'desire to please the valued audience'. That's how the Europeans might have put it to mask the naked greed behind the decision. Not so the blunt American producers. They spell it out: Commercialism tells us we're gonna make more money this way. And what's wrong with that? Kudos to them for this display of American pragmatism. Maybe commercialism is the conquering power after all?

It seems that some viewers didn't bother to read the title. Kevin Brownlow quotes a column in Photoplay where someone complains that Valentino's characer is carrying a fountain pen in a Balzac story. Photoplay responded "Didn't anyone notice that the story had been modernized?"