SOUND AND SHADOW

Evening Star, Issue 20134, 26 March 1929, Page 7

SOUND AND SHADOW

OCTA6OH THEATRE’S ENTERPRISE TALKING FILMS TO BE SHOWN HERE Twenty-five years ago a dingy, musty barn, under tho name of theatre, with its lone piano player, its silent screen, and crude one-reel thrillers, filled the wants of picture-goers; but to-day there are luxurious picture theatres in every town showing perfect silent features. In many places tho screen has advanced a step further, for there aro now films that can be heard as well as seen. Talking pictures, the invention of Theodore Case, perfectly synchronise sound and motion on the screen, giving tho silver sheet not only life, but voice. Case’s invention has developed into tho Fox Movietone, which' is claimed to bo the only perfect system employed, because the sound is actually photographed on the film. Early experiments were made in talking pictures when a phonograph was brought into commission behind the screen, and today similar methods of sound 'reproduction aro being employed by various companies. Fox Movietone not only show the favourite screen artists, hut lot the picture patrons hear heir voices as well. Royalty, in tho persons of King Georgo V. and King Alfonso of Spain, will be able to address audiences in any theatre, for their voices have been caught' and hold by tho Fox method. George Bernard Shaw and Mussolini have also made films. Fox Movietone has developed with amazing strides. The first subject shown publicly was tho Spanish artist (Raquel Meller) in a cyclo of songs. On December 3, 1927, the first regular issue of Fox Movietone news, the first talking news reel, was shown. Then there developed the Fox Movietone, talking features of short and full lengths, and to produce these the world’s largest sound studio plant has had to be erected at Hollywood. Known as Movietone City, the site of the studio plant covers over forty acres of ground. ‘ In Old Arizona ’ is tho title of tiic first picture produced, ami the featured players are Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter, and Dorothy Burgess. The picture is a love drama, full of action, and including many scenes filmed against the background of Arizona. Filmed in the vast open spaces, the movietone brings the human voice and all the accompanying sounds—the whistle of wind, the falling of leaves, the singing of birds, etc. —to the ears of everyone. ‘ln Old Arizona,’ to bo presented in New Zealand shortly, represents five years of work on the talking film ami twenty-five years of producing motion pictures. It also represents the combined skill of two well-known directors, Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings. For the first time it will bring to the hearer the voice of Edmund Lowe, tho unforgettable Sergeant Quirt of 1 What Price Glory?’ Every actor in the picture has a speaking part. This picture, which put Fox Movietone to the supreme test, has been described as tho last word in talking pictures because it combines all tho perfected technique of tho silent film with the perfect recording of music, dialogue, and unusual sounds never before adequately reproduced in a talking picture. As has been announced, the Octagon Theatre will shortly ber screening talking pictures made by" the Fox Movietone system. Another all-dialogue picture of feature length will be ‘ The Ghost Talks,’ adapted from the successful stage comedy by Max Marcin, with Helen Twelvetrees and Charles Eaton in the leading roles. From the Fox Movietone studio there is to bo a release approximately every three weeks of a feature production. ‘ Hearts in Dixie,’ with an all-negro cast and with a musical setting never before attempted in pictures, ‘ Napoleon’s Barber,’ ‘Through Different Eyes,’ ‘The Valiant,’ and ‘Speakeasy’ are a few of the titles that will be flashed on the screen in time to come. Many will remember tho talking pictures shown in Dunedin some time ago, but then tho films were in their infancy, and they have now advanced surprisingly. The phantom figures of tho silent screen become real characters of flesh and blood—they live, they talk, they sing. The public that watched the motor, car, tho aeroplane, the radio, and tiio -motion pictures develop from feeble experiments to to-day’s high achievement has given the talking pm. turo a kind reception. Regular patrons of the Octagon Theatre have always found delight in listening to the musical programmes supplied by tho Octagon Concert Orchestra, under Monsieur ])e Rose, and many who have heard it rumoured that the orchestra is leaving the theatre have expressed regret. It is pleasing to know that the combination will still occupy its place in the orchestral well, even though the talking pictures are to be screened.