NEW SCENIC FILM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 610, 12 March 1929, Page 12

NEW SCENIC FILM

PRODUCER PLANS TOUR AUSTRALIA’S FIRST TALKIE Carrying with him the talking picture camera and apparatus used in making a “talkie” of the speeches at Canberra on the occasion of the visit of the Duke and Duchess of v ork in 1927, Captain S. W. Hawkins, of Hawkins’s Film Productions, Sydney, arrived in Auckland on the Manama this morning. With him is Mr. Lacey Percival, cameraman. The two intend to visit the principal scenic spots of the North and. perhaps, the South Islands, for the purpose of making a new film. "I was here in 1925. when I made for New Zealand Perpetual Forests a picture entitled ‘After 20 Years,’ ” Captain ITawkins told a Sun man this morning-. "But everybody has not yet seen the beautiful scenery of the Dominion. Each year 120,000.000 visits to L>iciure shows are made by Australians; so 1 am here to produce another film. “It will be ,embodied in a series totalling from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in length. We hope that the beauty of the completed film will placed it on the screens of Britain and America.” Captain Hawkins was well aware that he made a surprising announcement when lie said that a “talkie” was produced in Australia as long as two years ago. 'Tor the first time I will tell the inside story of that venture,” he said. “The idea was mooted during the sitting of the Commonwealth Comj mission, at the head of which was Mr. I Walter Marks. It was rather remarkI able that although the Commission was I sitting to find ways of helping the industry, our official application to make a talking picture of the speech of his Royal Highness at Canberra was refused. “TECHNICALLY SUCCESSFUL” “We overcame the difficulty in unique fashion. The scene was photographed with a motion picture camera and. by the aid of wireless, the sound was re- ! corded 21S miles away. Afterwards the sound was synchronised with the film. “The attempt was Uclinically successful and the film was exhibited in public.” During his stay in New Zealand Captain Hawkins will visit the Bay of Islands and the kauri forest, afterwards proceeding South down the Main Trunk line.