Kinematograph year book : 1931 (1931)

The Year in America. 17 Wliile the intimate drama, virtually without the physical action that made the movies a world industry, had its great appeal for the public, the swing back to what is called " motion picture " was marked. The Westerns, which fell by the wayside not so long after the advent of sound, were, in 1930, rediscovered. For one thing, the producers suddenly came to the realisation that the tremendous child audience had been pretty largely alienated by dialogue pictures, and this loss could not he sustained indefinitely. So the larger companies are going back to big scale Westerns, one of the be.st examples at hand being " The Big Trail." Even the serial came back and with a bang. " The Indians Are Coming " made history. It was the first chapter play ever to be shown first run on Broadway, making its debut at the cathedral of all picture houses — the Roxy. Talk is, of course, used extensively in these " action " pictures, but it is not the whole show, anil is being allowed to fall into its proper place as a dramatic agent, instead of being merely talk for the sake of talk. So far as the permanence of dialogue is concerned, the opinion is now pretty well established that " the silent picture is gone for ever." Theie are prophets galore who will stick to that belief, but there are others who maintain that certain types of stories can be done in silence far more effectively than in sound. The whole industry is waiting to see what will happen when Chaplin's " City Lights " is released. Of course, it is non-dialogue, but there is only one Chaplin. Still it would not be suq>rising if there were something of a rush back to silence if the picture is a tremendous sensation at the box office. The Alien Tongue The problem of " foreign versions " is still a vexed one. The solution has not yet been found. In some instances, the foreign market is supplied with the American dialogue versions, plus subtitles in the language of the country of release. In others, the picture is " dubbed " by having the lip-movement of the Hollywood folk matched up with lines spoken in a foreign language. But the belief that the " foreign language problem " will be solved only by producing special versions, with players imported from Europe to Hollywood, is growing, and the result is that several of the big studios on the Coast are bringing actors and actresses from abroad. The additional expense entailed is, of course, great, but America's stake in the foreign market is something that cannot be dispensed with. Wall Street's Influence So much for the main lines of activity in tlie production field. On the lousiness side, the year was marked by one major upheaval — the retirement of William Fox from the company which he established. This was the final outcome of a battle, waged chiefly by big financial interests, and in itself one of the most dramatic stories in the spectacular history of the industry. Before the situation was settled, so many different kinds of litigation had been entered upon, that close observers themselves could not keep track of the lawsuits. But Mr. Fox " lost control of his company," as the saying is, by remaining as a member of the board of directors at a reputed salary of 1500,000 a year for a stipulated period, and was succeeded by Harley L. Clarke, as President. It was, moreover, a year without mergers. This was contrary to the predictions, generally made at the close of 1929, that within a twelvemonth there would be only two or three major companies left. Whether these predictions will eventually come to pass remains to be seen, but there can be no question that the m.ap of the industry to-day would be quite different if it had not been for the stock market " crash " in the closing months of 1929, and the succeeding industrial depression from which the country has not yet emerged.