Talk Triumph

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 32

Talk Triumph

BRITISH OBJECT LESSON Strand to Screen “Blackmail” IT is Impossible to consider fairly the principle and possibilities of talking pictures until one has seen “Blackmail,” Britain’s first full-length talking picture which opens at the Strand on December •*,. This product of Elstree by British International should on no account be missed, partly because it is an exceedingly good picture play and partly because the handling of the production, particularly from the speech angle, is an object lesson in talkie sanity.

■ N utilising sound and speech the producers have rightly kept both within bounds and any scene that explains itself adequately in silence :is allowed to do si. In consequence one is not worried with such trivialities and mechanical tomfooleries as doors squeaking, papers rustling, soda splashing into whisky, and the dozen and one “realistic” effects in which so many producers delight. “Blackmail” opens in silence and a good pictorial atmosphere is created. The characters begin to talk at the

logical moment; and they talk clearly and convincingly with a refreshing absence of cheap puns and nasal gymnastics. EXCELLENT ACTING Throughout the photography is particularly good, the scenes and effects being created on modernistic lines, at times reminiscent of F. W. Murnau’s work. The acting is really excellent, every character having been selected with great care. The emotional value of each scene is stressed not only by the players but by the camera and the sound recorder. For example there is that outstanding scene in which a dazed girl, the morn-’ ing after killing a man with a knife while defending herself, is forced to sit in her mother’s parlour listening to a garrulous visitor discussing the latest “’orrible murder.” “The murderer used a knife,” gabbles the visitor. v “It’s not British to use a knife. I hate knives. No one should use a knife —Yes, it was a knife —knife —KNIFE — KNIFE.” Thus the dialogue and the picture shows with uncanny clarity how the dread words acts on the nerves of the overwrought girl. ATTACK IN STUDIO

That is only one of many examples which lend immense power and remarkable interest to a play which, in itself, is the essence of simplicity. An artist persuades a girl to visit him in his studio. She goes there and he attacks her. In the ensuing struggle she kills him. Her lover, a detective, is assigned to the case and plans to protect the girl but a blackmailer preys on them both in consequence of what he has learned. Finally the blackmailer’s bluff is called and, in attempting to escape from the ipolice, he is kiUed. Anny Ondra, who has the principal part, is an excellent actress with fine emotional restraint and a delightful speaking voice. John Longden who plays the lover-detective speaks well and handles his part admirably. Perhaps the best work is done by Cyril Richard as the artist. He acts and talks with „a sure and easy ability, never making a mistake. Despite the attacks made by the censor’s shears on the much-discussed studio scene (which now, by the way, is as mild as a’ child's cautionary tale) one receives an adequate glimpse of a most promising actor. MOST ARTISTIC PLAY

Sara Allgood, the well-known actress, makes much of the small opportunities offered her in the part of a landlady, and two players whose names I have forgotten, do Praiseworthy justice to the parts of the girl’s father and mother. . . If “Blackmail” does not enjoy a record season at the Strand, it will not be because of any failing of its own, for it is easily the sanest, most artistic, and most interesting talking play yet screened in Auckland. It will he because picturegoers’ appreciation of real dramatic, vocal, and pictorial quality has been hopelessly blurred by a surfeit of nasal wisecracks, gun-men, rapid-fire tunes, and legs.