Exhibitors Herald World (Jan-Mar 1929)

40 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD January 5, 1929 Aladdin at United Artists Studio Recording room. The sound theatre occupies the second floor. Stages 4 and 5. Complete inner stage is built within each. Screen in sound theatre. Monitor room: "Mixer" platform above. Interiors of projection room. Two of Best Sound Stages Built byU.A. For 1929 Releases Five All-Audiens, Six Part Dialogue, Seven with Sound Scheduled (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Jan. 2.— Five all-audiens, six part-audiens and seven with sound but without dialogue are United Artists' answer to the call for the new type of picture to be released in 1929. For production of these pictures United Artists has built two of the best equipped sound stages in existence. The five all-audiens are Mary Pickford's "Coquette," Roland West's "Nightstick," Herbert Brenon's "Lummox," Ronald Colman's "Bulldog Drummond" and Vilma Banky's "Childs, Fifth Avenue." Four in Production The six part-audiens, four of which are in production, are Douglas Fairbanks' "The Iron Mask," Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," Gloria Swanson's "Queen Kelly," Henry King's "She Goes to War," and Harry Richman's "Say It with Music." Voices that will be heard on the screen for the first time are those of Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Vilma Banky, Douglas Fairbanks, Ronald Colman, Lupe Velez, Alma Rubens, Walter Byron, Pat O'Malley, Eleanor Griffith and Mae Busch. Directors of audiens: Erich von Stroheim, D. W. Griffith, Herbert Brenon, Henry King, Charles Chaplin, Allan Dwan, Sam Taylor, Roland West, Alfred Santell, Alan Crosland and F. Richard Jones. Others with Sound Pictures that will be released with sound and without dialogue include the Max Reinhardt-Lillian Gish film written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Ronald Colman in "The Rescue," direction of Herbert Brenon; Dolores del Dio in "Evangeline," direction of Edwin Carewe; John Barrymore in "King of the Mountains," direction of Ernst Lubitsch; Norma Talmadge in a film based on an original by William J. Locke; Constance Talmadge in "Venus"; and Rex Ingram's "Three Passions." "I would be foolish to fly in the face of public acceptance of sound pictures and we are setting about to supply this demand as rapidly and legitimately as possible," said President Joseph M. Schenck in the Los Angeles Examiner. "We have two of the finest equipped sound stages in the world now ready for talking picture production. Huge Market for Silent "I believe no mistake could be more serious than to ignore silent pictures with the huge market at home and particularly abroad for this type of picture. Fundamentally, the talking picture is mechanical in the same sense. The camera photographs with power, reality and penetration that are unsurpassed. "A Sarah Bernhardt might fool the public with her makeup on the stage, but she could not fool the camera. The talkies do not achieve this reality, this truthfulness which the camera possesses. So far, the results have been quite opposite. Voices on the screen do not sound like voices in real life and it remains to be proven whether this mechanical artificiality can be overcome. A phonograph record is still a phonograph record. A good phonograph record may be better than a bad concert actually heard, but it cannot be the equal of a good concert actually heard. "The motion picture, on the other hand, has given a reality to the public that is not possessed ever by the stage."