THE PHONOFILM.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 20 March 1926, Page 5

THE PHONOFILM.

PICTURES THAT TALK AND SING. Tho “silent drama” lias been made, articulate. Ever since moving pictures were perfected to the stage where they became a commercial possibility search has been made for that ultimate development that would spell perfection in tho wholly artificial production of the drama—-the reproduction of the voice. Early efforts, commendable though they were, failed in naturalness and fidelity. Synchronisation, an absolute essential to convincing presentation, was lacking. All these obstacles have boon overcome in the De Forest plionofilm. The secret of tho success is that the medium of the vocal presentation is the same as that of the visual —the film. The spoken word is recorded on tho film at the same time as the movement of the speaker. To photograph both the picture and the sound on the one film is tho remarkable achievement that has crowned many years of earnest effort, and make possible the “speaking film” that literally fulfils tho claims made for it.

Heretofore it has been necessary that tho “movies” should restrict themselves to special types of dramas or comedies, to those “story without words” presentations, whoso action was sufficient, with the sub-titles, to make the picture understandable. That restriction has been moved by tho plionofilm. The field of vaudevillo, for instance, is no longer closed. Tho illustrations of what can bo done in tho presentation of dancing specialties are most convincing. The film is especially successful in the reproduction of the musical score, and eye and oar are delighted simultaneously. Tho fact that tho voice can bo heard clearly, and that tho words synchronise perfectly, gives to the figure on tho screen an amazing degree of life. Th& singing pictures aro still more tip <Ty able. It would bo quit© impossible for an audience to sit long satisfied looking upon a picture of a man singing. The plionofilm converts a mere pictorial representation into an actual concert Tho full development of tho phonofilm seems to spell obsolescence for the type of film that has satisfied us till now. It will not bo long, it seems, before sub-titles and all those other aids to understanding will bo no longer necessary, and when tho actors will tell the story of tho play as it proceeds. Quito half tho possibilities of tho motion picturo drama have been lost to us because it lias been dumb. Made articulate its possibilities expand enormously, and tho scope for the new type of film should bo practically limitless. Its introdution means that no typo of stage entertainment is closed to it. It can bring the world s greatest singers to be seen and heard in tho picturo theatres, and tho higher drama will be brought within its scope. It means that wo are on the threshold of that ultimate perfection-in motion pictures at which the inventors have been aiming. Its further development must mean a further perfecting of its vocal side, opening the door to one of the most remarkable things that science has been able to provide for us. ...