NEW FILMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 23

NEW FILMS

AMERICAN “TALKIE” MEN BRING MACHINES TO SYDNEY

To instal talking pictures in Australian theatres, three experts attached to the Western Electric Corporation arrived in Sydney from America by the Maunganui recently. They will establish a local organisation, employing Australian operators, who, temporarily, will work under the instruction of the American supervisors. The first Sydney theatres to present talking pictures will be Hoyt’s Regent, the Prince Edward, and the Lyceum, all of which are expected to operate early in January. “There can be no suggestion of priority,’’ Mr. Jones stated, “because the contracts with Union Theatres and Hoyt's call for, simultaneous installations, although these circuits are in competition with one another.” Despite the initial cost of £3,000 or £4,000 for equipment, only those theatres which are so equipped are proving profitable in America, says the Sydney “Morning Herald.” Popular opinion in the big cities seems to have turned completely against silent films, which are rapidly being replaced. The whole production technique, naturally, has been altered. The care that must be taken Jit maintaining the voice at an even key is illustrated in the arrangement of microphones overhead. These follow a player across a scene; they move backward or forward with him; and no matter where he goes, the original interval must not be increased or decreased even by an inch.