Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1925)

2128 Motion Picture News Vilma Banky, one of the newest screen luminaries, was met by Acting Mayor Edward Rainey when she went to San Francisco to appear with "The Dark Angel" (First Nat' I) at Loew's War field. Ivene Whipple of Freeport, Maine, first prize winner in Pathe's "Sunken Silver" contest, who has been offered a chance to appear in a future Pathe serial. Horace Wade, youthful Chicago reporter, meets charming Jacqueline Logan and her husband, Ralph Gillespie, at the William Fox West Coast studios A A VALUABLE VOLUME LTHOUGH this is not a book review department, mention should certainly be made of a volume received this week from the publishers in Paris, "Histoire du Cinematographe," or "History of the Motion Picture," which is certain to interest any of the more studious minded persons of the industry, even though they have only a slight knowledge of French. Containing some 650 pages and 1 33 illustrations, it sets forth the history of the motion picture more completely than has ever been done here. The first section is devoted to the various early devices which foreshadowed the motion picture. The second part sets forth the actual invention and development of the camera and projector. The third deals with the French industry as organized today, while the fourth covers the applications of the motion picture to education, and the like. An interesting section of the book deals with the Edison-ArmatJenkins-Lumiere controversy as to just who did actually invent the motion picture projector as we have it today. A considerable mass of documentary evidence is set forth bearing on this, and while one may not agree with the conclusion drawn — to wit, that the Lumiere Brothers deserve the lion's share of the glory — the data presented is valuable and not a little bit convincing. It would seem that this controversy should be settled, if at all possible, while most of the men concerned are still living. It is only fair that posterity should place the credit where it belongs, and it will be much more difficult for another generation to determine this. The Society of Motion Picture Engineers, in this country, has obtained statements from Jenkins, from Edison and from George Eastman bearing on this, and if all the data were carefully sifted some of the apparent contradiction, at least, might be removed. D RESEARCH BY U. S. IRECTED by Victor Schertzinger ; assisted by Billy Tummel: story by Peter B. Kyne; research by the United States Government — is the way the credit titles may (or might) appear on "The Golden Strain," the Fox film version of "Thoroughbreds." Before starting actual work, the director and his assistant visited old Fort Huachuca in Arizona, where they conferred with Colonel J. H. Rhea, in charge, and with many Indian chiefs. Then, upon returning to Hollywood, they wired the War Department at Washington, asking for data on the uniforms, insignia, rifles, revolvers and salutes of the period covered by the Kyne story. The result was more than gratifying, for the government responded with a generous collection of documents, old army manuals, and the like, covering every possible point in connection with the troops of that day. And, at that, some critic who never saw a mess-kit will probably rise up and assert that the uniforms are wrong, that soldiers never saluted in that fashion, and that the colonel is wearing sergeant's insignia — but Director Schertzinger will have the satisfaction of knowing that he is right and that the picture is right. F PARAMOUNT' S BIGGEST ILMING Paramount's largest and most expensive production is the task assigned William Steiner of the Long Island Studio camera staff — a production to be 18 months in the making and which will cost $13,600,000. Just a moment, please — don't shoot! It's really true. Every morning Steiner goes to the roof of the Criterion theatre and cranks off 25 or 30 feet of film of the work being done on the site of the Putnam building, which will make way for the Paramount building. He will continue this right through the entire construction, and when it is completed the assembled film will show in a few minutes the work of a score of months. P ANOTHER FOREIGN VISITOR HILIPP BRAND, treasurer of Althoff & Co., of Berlin, is an addition to the considerable group of European producers and distributors who have visited here recently. He is here to study conditions and to. open an office in New York. He has brought with him "Wallenstein," an elaborate historical production, and his company expects to bring three others to these shores. An alluring pose of Natalie Joyce, one of the reasons why Christie comedies, released by Educational, are mighty easy on the eyes. Capt. Roald Amundsen, the distinguished Norwegian explorer, as. he appears in "The Amundsen Polar Flight," to be released by Pathe. Charles Ray, signed to a long-term contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, after his tvork in "A Little Bit of Broadway," recently filmed at the MGM studios.