FILMS AND THE PLAYERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 442, 25 August 1928, Page 25

FILMS AND THE PLAYERS

NEW ERA— With surprising suddenness a new era has dawned in the motion picture industry. it is heralded 6 y the announcement that talking pictures have been made a commercial success and that several of the larger companies are equipping their studios with sound and speaking devices. To-day the success of talking or “movietone” pictures is the allabsorbing topic in Hollywood and other film centres. The general opinion is that the invention will enable the screen to enlarge greatly the territory it has wrested from the stage. On the other hand, it promises to bind more tightly the ties that hold stage and screen together, as artists with vocal experience and attainments will be in great demand for the new films. Though sound and speech devices have been perfected but recently , the idea is by no means a new one, and experiments have been carried on for many years. It was inevitable that science would solve the problem, for it has long been recognised that the silence of the screen is a great barrier to progress. It must not be imagined, however, that movietones will displace present-day films entirely. It is more likely that their advent will create three distinct types of screen entertainment talking films, sound films and silent films. Probably the “talkies” will gradually supersede the others, but this will take a long time, for the public has learnt to love its silent entertainment. There is no doubt that the new invention will raise the standard of motion picture acting considerably, for it will not be necessary for movietone actors to gesticulate or exaggerate in order to convey their meanings and thrust their personalities through the lens of the camera. By the same token, sub-titles will not be used so freely, and orchestras in “talkie” picture theatres tcill supply incidental music only. In the meantime talking picture reports and discussions are filling screen newspapers and magazines, and producers working along older-established lines are receiving scant publicity. It is agreed in all quarters that the screen is taking the most important step forward in its history.

DOUGLAS MACLEAN “THE CARNATION KID” Douglas Mac Lean will be directed in “The Carnation Kid,” his first picture this year, by Marshall Neilan, who recently returned from England. The production will he made at the Christie studios, and will be released by Paramount. “The Carnation Kid” was written by Alfred A. Cohn, who also wrote the scenarios of “The Jazz Singer,” “The Gorilla,” “The Cat and the Canary,” and “We Americans.” Cohn will act as editorial supervisor of future Christie-MacLean pictures. “The Carnation Kid” is to be a picture of the light comedy type.