FUTURE OF FILMS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 148, 8 June 1935, Page 9

FUTURE OF FILMS

The Effect of Television TRANSMITTING “TALKIES” The interests of the motion picture industry are destined to be seriously affected by the establishment of television in Great Britain. The first transmission station for the London district will shortly be erected at the Alexandra Palace, and in preparation for the opening of a regular service many manufacturers are beginning to produce large quantities of receiving apparatus. Though for some time the number of televiewers must necessarily remain small, a demand will sooner or later be made for the transmission of “full-length” films, a development viewed with great uneasiness by the motion picture world. Two complete sets of transmitting apparatus—the “Iconoscope” and the “Electron Camera” systems—are to be tested at the Alexandra Palace. Each is said to copy the human eye as closely as possible by electrical means, and cun be used for dJfjct viewing and for the transmission or cinema films, which will be largely drawn upon in the earlier programmes. As yet. however, there is no arrangement with the film industry for the transmission of full-length pictures. Indeed, the industry may resist any such arrangement on the . ground that it would be detrimental to the interests of the cinema theatres. Consequently, it would not be surprising if the television authorities were ultimately to find themselves confronted with the necessity of preparing their own films—an expensive and troublesome alternative.