U.S. Government May Make Talkies

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 780, 28 September 1929, Page 18

U.S. Government May Make Talkies

Aid to Education FILMING MINE SCENES In view of the proposal of the Got ernment Tourist Publicity Departmei* some time ago to make talking pi„ tures in connection with tourist pro paganda, it is interesting ’to note thai the United States Government may soon join the ranks of talking picturr producers. Officials are considering the possibilities of adding vocal parts to the educational films which are produced for exhibition in farming, mining and factory communities. yj,fact that they will bring to the screen the sights and sounds of American industry points to their future popularity in both urbaD and rural districts. Mr. Andrew Mellon. Secretary of l the Treasury, not long ago suggested that talking films or pictures with sound be used in a petroleum film made by the Department of Commerce. The Government, unfortunately. was unable to obtain soundrecording apparatus for the project and the prospect of listening to the construction of derricks, the bringing in of new wells and the sounds of oil well fires was temporarily lost to the screen. What is said to be the largest motion picture studio south of New York is that operated by the Department of Agricultuio m Washington Several sens can be built in this studio. The studio also has a developing, drying and printing apparatus; cutting and editing rooms and a projection room that seats 150 people. The chief problem in connection with the Government educational sound pictures is the lack of reproducing apparatus in outlying communities. The expense of wiring these places under present conditions would be prohibitive, but it is understood that many experimenters and inventors are at work on comparatively inexpensive portable reproducing machinery, and the Government departments would be entirely willing to furnish such inexpensive equipment with the films. FILMS FOR THE NAVY The Navy Department now spends approximately £BO,OOO a year for motion pictures leased from commercial agencies. Each battleship receives 27 moving pictures a month, selected from current cinema productions. The films are leased for- a period of four years, after which they are sent to the leper colonies at Molakai and New Orleans. Thirteen motion picture cameramen distributed among the fleet, take shots of marine news happenings for the Navy News Reel. The films are developed in New York, cut and titled at Washington and then sent out to the ships. A survey made recently shows that 45 per cent, of a sailor’s recreation time is spent at the movies. The Department of Mines could easily fake scenes of underground

workings, but the subjection of the actors to actual conditions produces a realism not otherwise obtainable and enables the Government scientists to put to actual test the various mine rescue devices and mathods which are developed in the bureau’s laboratories. More than 1,400 reels of films depicting mining activities have been shot in this way, a volume of industrial film which is believed to constitute the world’s largest industrial motion-picture library. The underground studios are located in deep metal and mineral mines where there is constant danger of monoxide poisoning, and in coal mines where fires have been raging for scores of years. The efficiency of monoxide poison detectors and alarms, of methods of diverting gases through by-passes, of preventing fires from spreading, are tested in these mines. In one case the cameramen descended more than 7,000 feet into the depths of the earth, making their way sometimes on hands and knees along narrow passageways to reach the main workings. FILMING A FIRE

A typical film of underground drama, whose appeal would be greatly emphasised by sound, depicts a mine crew suddenly trapped by fire; a panic among the men, their forced submission to the hero who has had technical mine rescue instruction, the building of barricades and the final rescue by above-ground forces. The hero is awarded a medal for bravery. The tragedy that strikes terror into mining communities whin disaster occurs, when fathers, sols —'*• brothers are trapped underground. 4 vividly portrayed. Sometimes a powder magazine f reached by the fire and brattices aii erected to isolate the magazine from the source of the gas and fumes. Meanwhile other crews direct their efforts toward reaching the fire, upon which are played streams of through several thousand feet of hc~ from the surface. The fire is ex,uguished and the fire-fighters AU*** triumphantly from the mine. camera man has a complete of it all, for the entertainment of general public, and the education>those who spend most of their time in the bowels of the earth. The production of agricultural talking pictures would facilitate greatly the adoption of new farming | practices and marketing methods.