OLD PICTURE FILMS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 46, 30 June 1913, Page 4

OLD PICTURE FILMS.

What becomes of old biograph picture films may possibly have been a cause for wonder to some people. It if explained by a Sydney journal tha 1 over there the film, as a general rule, is purchased outright from the maker or the film agents, and i shown in the leading centres. After that it is leased to the showman in the suburbs. The film travels fiom one place to another, and after a period of about six months is returned to the owners. Country clients with a keen eye to business have made application for the film as soon as they heard of its first screening in the city, and the picture next travels the round of the provincial centres. Scratched, partially worn out and patched in places, it goes to the picture proprietor in the more . distant back-blocks townships where a good reception was still assured. This circuit finished, the owner again receives his film, after it has run thousands of miles through the operating machines. The final destination, it appears, is the South Sea Islands. The white residents fand the natives do not mind what the subject is, and the Sydney film exchanges have standing contracts to forward films by every boat. This, as a rule, is the last'tmie the film is heard of .by , the owners. At one time the discarded films wei’e sold to private persons in Sydney, but in some cases suburban residents were, fouhU ' entertaining friends in back yards with presentable programmes. The neighbouring ''picture-hbeatre .people complained of the competition ! . ' and the practice was i stopped; • iThei picture business is getting a Very big! thing,, andj there- fire now many inter-* esting side-lights to bring under notice.