International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

Ipril, 1934 T he INTERNATIONA P HOTOIIRA I'H !•: R Seven is absorbed in studying tbat interest when he goes to a show. The student whose uncle deals in antique furniture said: "1 always notice if they make a good combination of the antique and modern." The students in the French class announce "Red Head" is the grandest play ever! Don't miss it." Regardless of the foreign language interest the rhythmic charm of the little wedding procession across the field will remain a lovely memory. The sixteen year old boy comments on / oltaire as follows: "Gosh, there wasn't enough sword play, but I did like the costumes." Voltaire is a play of wits, not swords and this boy was slightlybored, but his comment shows that when interest lags in the play for personal or emotional reason, art picks up the lay. When mother inquired of little Jane how she enjoyed the film called Paddy the Next Best Thing, Jane said : "I surely did like it. \ou see in all the parts I couldn't understand there were always things so good to look at." If students have studied history, of course they appreciate a historical setting. I predict that the big hats, great muffs and charming costumes in Berkeley Square will thrill the hearts of girls who have been studying Vogue recently. Surely no older student will forget Mrs. Siddons after enjoying the episode of Reynolds and the portrait. The art interests already aroused in young observers will receive fresh stimulus when the screen offers a similar or related contribution of aesthetic significance. However, you need not expect the cinema to do the whole job in this quest for beauty. Do parents and teachers find opportunity for discussion with boys and girls of the fine art values in a screen production or is the whole comment limited to the plot? Do we evaluate the play in terms of sincerity and honesty or only in regard to sensationalism? Are we taking advantage of and using the art of contribution of the cinema? Are we teachers definitely calling the attention of students to distinguished art qualities in composition, in dramatic use of dark and light and in rhythmic pattern? Do we prepare students to discover and enjoy these art qualities for themselves when they attend the movies? Is it not true that in the movies the growth of the drama has quite failed to keep pace with the advance in art values? The point is not that all plays need to be emasculated or reduced to adolescent level. Our plea is for the beauty of sincerity in the representation of life on the screen. The cinema has its errors and its insufficiencies but we accept it as the most popular diversion of the whole world and we recognize its possibilities as an increasingly powerful and valuable agency in art and education. NEWS FLASHES FROM JAPANESE MOVIEDOM By Harry A. Mimura Member of International Photographers n [VEN if there is a day the sun does not come up, there is not a day that the camera does not grind. THAT IS ' HOLLYWOOD. And that same fashion crossed the Pacific Ocean and it applies to the Japanese film industry, too. The major studios in Japan are working in full capacity with five to ten units at the same time and only a small number of people complain of their "between picture" dullness. Although sound equipment is but slowly being installed, the percentage of the talkies against the silents is increasing rapidly. * * * * The day has come for the Japanese studio officials to face the problem to choose the best equipment on the market to produce better pictures in every respect. The first problem is how to replace their old cameras when it comes to making the talkies. There are two competitors in the Japanese market at present and quite a difference in price between the two cameras, but now is the time that they should send their best salesmen to the Orient. * * * * up-to-date mechanical devices for the camera department. From "high hat" to "boom" are built in some studios and the cameramen are lying on the floors to shoot up in one moment and swinging high from one corner to the other the next moment. The time when some cameramen jumped from a tree while grinding the camera to get certain effects, has gone and the Japanese cinematographers are heading for the last round-up of the modern "gadgets." This will save more cameramen's necks than any spring mattress. * * * * The money exchange between the dollar and the yen is so bad that they have to pay 20 sen a foot, of negative film imported from this country. It is like paying 20 cents a foot here. The chemical research work has been under way for the last few years and they are now already on the market since the latter part of last year. The Eastman or the DuPont positive films are six cents per foot. The State Department put new regulations in effect to help and censor any newsreel pictures taken to be shipped to the foreign countries. It had been my cry for the last few years that it come to this. Many a newsreel cameraman shot unpleasant events and backgrounds which caused hostilities and misunderstandings toward the Japanese nation. If I send a film shot around the Plaza district to Japan and explain that it is a Los Angeles street they would not know the better part of the city. % ^ % % A. E. F. Maclnerny, sound engineer of the Western Electric Sound System at Tokyo, is working at the Nakkatsu Studio, one of the largest studios, as the only foreigner on the set. Two years ago when the writer worked together for the first W. E. talkie there, his knowledge of the Japanese language was so poor that 1 had to work as an interpreter as well as being the caremaman. Mitsuo (Turn to Page 31) Recent development in studio equipment brought many Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.