The Film Daily (1936)

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THE Thursday, Sept. 3, 1936 ■c&m DAILY 13 » » TOPICS OF TIMELY INTEREST « « Use of Color in Cartoons CLOWLY the cartoon is coming into its own. It has not been so very long since the cartoon was a dreary piece of silliness, crudely drawn and rather hard on the eyes. It deserved all too well the name of cartoon. Then came Felix, the first good cartoon, Koko the Clown of Out of the Inkwell, which made the interesting but dubious attempt to combine cartoon and reality, and eventually Disney's Mickey. But today we have made as much progress again. With the Silly Symphony and a variety of other modifications of the original comic strip idea, "cartoon" has become almost a misnomer. What we call by that name now is simply any sort of film made by drawing images directly instead of photographing motion. How far black-and-white work can go beyond the simple jerky cartoon was seen here recently in the delicate and charming French "Joie de Vivre," and some of the Silly Symphonies, with a few other films, show what can be done with color. The celebi-ated example of the Wolf in "The Three Little Pigs," who huffed and puffed himself blue in the face indicates the possibilities in the line of fantasy. The opportunities of an imaginative artist who has the complete filmic control of every color in the rainbow seem vast indeed. Even more important perhaps, though, are the possibilities of pure color design. The opening of "Lullaby Land," for example, with the cradle rocking on the top of a tall tree against a sky of deep greenish-blue with tiny stars glittering all over it, has a charm that is different from any other ami wholly delightful. So far Disney seems to be the only one in this country to realize the value of a completely non-comic cartoon but undoubtedly the idea will spread and we can surely look forward to a great many delightful, and even serious, excursions into a brave new world of lovely color patterns that may never be profound but always will be fascinating. — Kirk Bond, in The Little Magazine, Little Theater, Baltimore. r Film Must Supply Something New in Every Picture rN this business you can get by for a time by imitating successes of the other fellow. But not for long. Our industry, more so than any other line of endeavor, must supply something new in every picture. The automotive industry changes its models once a year — fashion designers change their styles with each season, but in this line of endeavor we are in a new business with every single picture. Something new — that is what we are constantly on the alert for. More and more is the realization growing that pictures can and do play an all important part in the cultural and educational development of the world. Of course, primarily, they must entertain, but with the steady advance of our civilization, with the added education and enlightenment that the screen, radio, airplane, newspapers and magazines are carrying to former dark corners of the world, have come higher standards for everything, including picture entertainment. It is up to us to meet these higher standards — with more worthwhile entertainment. I do not mean we should strive for so-called intellectual films, but we should strive for pictures that provide something more than a mere idle hour or two of entertainment. Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. That may be true, but rarely does the imitation compare with the original. Therefore, it will always be our aim to continue making pictures that are different. — Jack L. Warner in N. Y. American. Dance and Music Must Help Plot in Musical Films TRANCE and musical numbers need not halt the nlot action in picture5--. Father, they should assist and intensify it. Musical and dancing pictures are essentially built around stories not particularly involved or startling, thus making it necessary for the musical numbers to support the story and not submerge it. Moreover, motion nicture audiences no longer like to feel a sharp break in the action while camera and music build hi an elaborate dan^e routine. The effect is to make the special numbers seem intrusions and the storv seprn comnletplv unimportant. There should be interweaving of the story and entertainment. — Levi Pollock and Sidney Mitchell. Story Conferences All Wrong, Says New Screen Writer T FEEL that the story conference method defeats its own ends. If there are six people in a conference, instead of achieving six times thp value of one man's work T believe it achieves one-sixth. Certainly, in striking a level of agreement, it strikes far below the intelligence of any single member. I approached pictures from a peculiar angle. Before coming to Hollywood, I had seen comparatively few of them. More than that, I heartily dislike the average picture. But I believe that is a legitimate audience angle, that will be helpful, that will, I hope, make me protective of the story in hand. When I say that I dislike the average picture, don't mistake me. I believe motion pictures, as a form, represent the most interesting medium of all in which to woi'k. Certainly, for a writer, they offer the most freedom. One thing I've already learned. Writing for the cinema must be dynamically different from any form of theaterwriting. It must not be a modified form of the same thing. It is different from its first premise. "Exposition," in the sense in which it is used in the theater, is simply "out." The playwright may indulge himself in the attitude of "Now, I'm telling you." And the audience in a theater will listen. But the screen playwright and the screen audience — never! Characterization m u s t be there, but it must be developed with the story in full flight. Character cannot be revealed in a "situation," it must be revealed through a line of action. This is no handicap. It is an advantage. It almost seems to give "another dimension" to the design. And the character must have its own history. I don't like that tendency in pictures which presents a character in terms of the casting — that is, makes you know the kind of character Clark Gable or Spencer Tracy is playing — because he always plays that type! It must have its own integrity and history — in the script. But it must be learned while "the story marches on." I may be wrong, but I believe the audience contributes more in the films than in the theater. And that contribution is less predictable. At a dress rehearsal in the theater if you have five people present, their reaction will fall very nearly on the line of the first night audience. But there is no comparing the screening of a picture in a studio projection room with the thing that picture becomes when an audience "takes it up and hands it back to you." I have no wish to write "arty" pictures. I will be content if I can make an ordinary story credible. The romantic, escape picture, intended to brighten the days of the Ypsilanty shop-girl does not interest me. Her life is made better if credible, honest realism is brought to her — if she can "believe" what she sees." — Harold Goodman, Quoted in Hollywood Comment at or. V Director Gives Views On Kissing in Films HE introduction of sound made many changes in the Hollywood situation. One of its results was the shortening of the kiss in films. Gone are those long drawn-out meetings of lips which used to thrill romantic-minded audiences. The kiss is a short and snappy bit of stage business now — though, film authorities hasten to add, not one whit less thrilling. Indeed, the whole technique of kissing underwent a change when the microphone took its place beside the camera. The beauty of the kiss is in the eye of the beholder — but not in his ear. So, when sound came in, actors and actresses had to be trained completely to eliminate any sibilance that might, and almost always did, accompany the extended kisses in vogue during the silent era. But the sound track forced another variation. Having silenced the kiss, directors faced the problem of what to do with the sound track while the kiss was going on. At first, it was thought that filling in with appropriately soft music would do the trick. But in time it became apparent that sound-trained audiences grew restless with longsilences. So, regretfully perhaps, we were forced to shorten the kiss. Romance is romance to players and audiences. But to a director it is just another dramatic ingredient necessarily woven into the making of a picture. So it is with coldly scientific eye .that directors view the oscillatory manifestation of mutual affection. No two kisses are alike. Each one contributes a different element in the construction of a psychological situation. To obtain precision in this matter, I caused a "kiss plot" to be made prior to filming "Ladies in Love," and exact requirements were set forth regarding the kisses bestowed by and upon Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, Loretta Young and Simone Simon in that picture. We have gone a long way toward perfection in the technique of amatory and filial demonstrations since the noserubbing efforts of our early ancestors. The kiss has reached a high state of technical perfection, and it is hoped that motion pictures have played their proper part in contributing to this development. — Edward H. Griffith, 20th Century-Fox Director.