ENGLISH FILMS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 224, 16 May 1932, Page 2

ENGLISH FILMS

ACTOR'S VIEWS NOT SUFFICIENT MONEY TO PUT INTO THEM. HARD WORK AT HOLLYWOOD. j It was particularly interesting to meet Clive Brook, the world-famous film actor, the man who has so attractively represented the English voice and manner to millions of cine-ma-goers throughout the world. Foi I knew him nearly twenty years ago* j when we were both amateur actor s, ; and except for a short greeting at a | theatre when he was over here about j four years ago, 1 had not seen him since that time, writes a correspond dent in the London Observer. Last week we had a long talk about the old days — and the n'ew. When he was little more than twenty, Clive Brook had acted the chief parts in « such plays as "The Voysey Inheri- | tance," "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray," and "If I were King" for even as a youthful amateur he was a star. j I noticed an enormous pile of letters still waiting to he opened. "Wha* does it feel like to be so famous?" J asked. "Personally, I have not much time to think about it," he replied. "I an? usually too busy working in the studio or taking the very strenuous exercises that are necessary to keep fit. There is a great deal of nonsensewritten about Hollywood, which ib one of the hardest-working places in the world. There is no mercy in the film world. If one puts on weight one - is finished," he said with a smile. In appearance he has changed very little since his amateur days. He ha? also retained his English accent. "As a matter of fact, it was a disadvantage when the talkies first started," he said, "for the English idion? and intonation were a foreign tongu© » to the people in the Middle West. | Something like a standardised lan- I guage in phrase and accent is now being formed, and the American actor on the stage in New York speak? very much the same as a London player. The broad £a' in words like 'bath' is now being adopted, for instance. What Hollywood is aiming atis an elimination of the geography in vbice. They do not want an English accent — by which I mean the affectation that is open pronunciation of the vowel sounds, the language, in fact, that was spoken by Sir Johnston© Forhes-Rohertson. The producers spend a great deal of time on this matter, and oftan a dozen different pronouncing dictionaries are consulted." | English Films -in U.S.A. | The question of British picture? was raised, and |I asked Clive Brook why so few of them were exhibited in America. |

' In my opinion, it is chiefly a mat- I ter of money. I am sure there is no J prejudice against the films because j they are in big circuits. They buy things in bulk. Practically all the American films cost anything from three hundred thousand dollars to six hundred thousand dollars, and they measured the standard accordingly. It is therefore exceedingly difficult to sell a picture which has cost only | sixty thousand dollars to make, and j that, I understand, is about the average cost of a British film." "Well, it is some standard, and in most places it is the only standard. Unless the British people agree to put more money into their films I cannot see inuch chance for them to have a big market in America. It is a pity, for I have seen, one or two excellent English pictures during my short visit. "Another mistake made by British companies is that they do not exploit personalities. A star is a trademarlc, and it is the star system that has made Hollywood. The exhibitor books So-and-So in a new picture, and he knows pretty well the class of film it will be; and so does the public. If I were a British producer I would secure two or three doz'en young ac- ' tors and actresses, put them under contract for six months, and weed out until I found one or two that could be exploited. Then I would 'star' them for all II was worth."