TAKING N.Z. TALKIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 870, 14 January 1930, Page 7

TAKING N.Z. TALKIES

PROGRAMME TO BEGIN IMMEDIATELY PRIME MINISTER’S VOICE Talking-film subjects of New Zealand are to be taken immediately by the Fox Film Corporation (Australasia) Limited. Travelling apparatus reached Wellington from Sydney this morning by the Maunganui. Within a fortnight, according to information from the firm in Auckland, the motor wagon carrying the recording equipment wili be in Auckland for subjects. Before then, it is expected that a speech by the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, will have been recorded.

New Zealand is considered to present a splendid field for sound films. There is a unique blend of natural wonders in this country, besides the excellent opportunities for films of the Maori race. Audiences overseas are going to hear uncanny sounds from Rotorua—the roar of Pohutu Geyser in play, the dull booming of hidden volcanic activity, hissing fumeroles and boiling mud. The corporation’s policy is the filming of anything of interestFrom Wellington, a tour of the North Island will be made.

A week or so will find the apparatus at the Wanganui anniversary regatta at a picturesque part of the Wanganui River. Here, the chanting of Maori warriors forcing long canoes some hundreds of years old, will mingle with the sounds of speed-boat races. Rotorua will present the most important field of Maori life. TO SOUTH ISLAND After the programme for Auckland and the province has been completed, the wagon will travel to the South Island, where another variety of subjects has yet to be treated. The clamour of avalanches in the Southern Alps, crashing ice at the Hochstetter Icefalls, and the sounds of giant waterfalls in beautiful bush country are subjects which will prove that mountains are not necessarily silent. Apart from the natural subjects waiting for handling, public men of the Dominion will eventually be heard on the screen. New Zealand can offer fine sporting topics, from life on the big-game fishing and trout fishing grounds to the enthusiasm of crowds at Ellerslie, Carlaw Park or Eden Park. THREE MONTHS’ WORK Probably three months’ recording will comprise the programme in view. The subjects are to be sent to Australia for preparation for exhibiting, and co-operation from the New Zealand Government Publicity Department, which recognises the value of motion pictures for advertisement, is expected. When New Zealanders hear their own voices on the screen they will be able to give opinions on the question which has worried them for years; Is English spoken In New Zealand of a desirable standard? One day an Englishman of note will tell New Zealand that speech In this country is excellent; the next day a provincial schoolmaster returning from travels abroad will produce a denunciation of New Zealand talk. All very baffling, when a community is torn between leanings toward Americanisms, Australian talk, the Oxford accent, and puzzling English, Scots, Irish and Welsh dialects. In the future, critics, listening to the voices of Queen Street or of the “bank” at Carlaw Park, will be silenced, perhaps.