Agfa motion picture topics (Apr 1937-June 1940)

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.!###/• #*###/ Movies for Colored Audiences By Mack Stengler, A.S.C. Wr hen we talk about such artists as Marion Anderson. Paul Robeson. Bill Robinson and Hattie McDaniels, we generally end by paying tribute to the remarkable natural musical and dramatic ability of their race. It is almost traditional that of the thousands of Negroes who have appeared on stage and screen, few, if any, have been known to give bad performances. Almost equally familiar is the intense pride that their fellow" Negroes take in the achievement of Afro-American entertainers. A nation-wide audience loyally cheers each success. The motion picture industry has been surprisingly slow to put these two facts together and give this waiting audience pictures of and for Negroes. From time to time during the past twenty years there have been attempts at making Negro films, here and elsewhere, with varying success. The majority of them have been unsuccessful because their makers seem to have underestimated the colored public, and given them inferior films. During the last three years, however, the making of colored-cast productions has matured. A better understanding of the production requirements of this field has been coupled with an assured distribution outlet for satisfactorily made pictures. As a result, there are now at least three production units in Hollywood actively engaged in turning out colored cast productions of a quality seldom before attempted. Major Quality These pictures are being produced on a scale of cost, facilities and schedule that compares favorably with the better independent releases, and the results on the screen are in many cases quite comparable to many major-studio program films. It has been my good fortune to direct the photography of several of these films. It has been an interesting experience in every way. Photographing negroes, either singly or in groups can offer extremely interesting pictorial possibilities. It can also offer some equally interesting technical problems. Especially in these films, which deal entirely with modern-day action, tonal rendition is important. The cinematographer should develop an even closer understanding of the relationship between his subjects, his him. lighting, makeup and laboratory processing than would he the case on a similar production using an all-white cast. I recall some time ago at an A.S.C. meeting devoted to the question of exposure-meters, there was quite a bit of discussion of what should be done when one had a white man and a colored man in the same shot. This is an every-day occurence in modern all-colored films, for the complexions of the actors vary over the entire