How to Appreciate Motion Pictures: A Manual of Motion-Picture Criticism Prepared for High-School Students

ONE way in which you can greatly increase your enjoyment of motion pictures is to select them with greater care. In other words, you ought to shop for your movies. Now, this is not an unreasonable suggestion, is it? You shop for most things that you buy. When you go into a bookstore, you do not hand the clerk a dollar and say, "Give me a book." Instead, you have a certain book or at least a type of book in mind before you enter the store. If that kind of book is in stock, you may buy it, otherwise you go somewhere else.

Now, why should you do any differently when you attend the theater? Certainly, it is unwise to go to a theater and buy your ticket without knowing anything about the picture. But that is exactly what you are doing, isn't it, when you go to the movies just to be doing something? How can you learn to be a good movie shopper? Well, whether a person is a good or a poor shopper depends upon how intelligently he makes his choices. What are some of the qualities of a good shopper?

In the first place, the good shopper usually looks in the newspaper to see what can be purchased and to discover prices. He does not wander aimlessly down town and buy something just because it is cheap, only to discover after he has it, that it is not at all what he wanted. The good shopper, then, knows what he needs, knows where to go to get that need satisfied, and knows a good value when he sees it.

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