Jump From An Aeroplane—Thrills For Audiences

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20988, 15 December 1939, Page 4

Jump From An Aeroplane — Thrills For Audiences

David Niven's part opposite Ginger Rogers in “Bachelor Mother” certainly seems to be one of the best opportunities he has ever had for displaying his particularly charming brand of light comedy. Advance reports on the film from the United States indicate thaf he, like Ginger, gives one of the finest performances of his career.

Elevated now into starring ranks, David at the moment is partnering Loretta Young in a Walter Wanger picture called “Eternally Yours.” The picture opens, it is announced, with something new in camera technique which should be quite enough to make audiences grip tightly to their seats. It’s a parachute jump from 2m aeroplane 15,000 feet up. A special camera was constructed and encased, with its motor and time clock, inside a cork and rubber box. The camera equipment was fastened to the parachute harness and the whole thing was taken up in a plane. Right over the centre of New York, the parachute was released. The clock pulled the rip-cord twenty-five seconds after the camera had become completely detached from the plane and the equipment began to descend. When the camera eventually reached the river, a water-tight case closed over the lens and a markerbuoy shot up so that the exposed film could be rescued in good order. The sensation which filmgoers will feel when the film is shown will be very like that actually experienced by a parachute jumper. They will see the earth turning rapidly as the parachute opens and—if the trick is as effective as it is said to be—they should almost be able to feel the jolt as the rip-cord is pulled and the wind rushes into the folds of the material.