Amateur Cine World (June 1934)

Buy your Cine Camera where you ean see all makes PATHESCOPE Motocamera ‘‘B”’ A wonderful little camera. Its price and running costs bring cinematography within the reach of all. A spool of 30-ft. 9.5mm. film can be exposed without having to rewind the motor. Films 2s. 7d. each. Developing 2s. each. Price £6 6 0 CINE-KODAK ‘8’ Kodak’s newest invention. The size of the camera is only 6% in. by 43 in. by 14 in. =©Daylight-loading film, mM equivalent to 100 ft. }} 16-mm. film, costs 10s including developing ready for projection. With £/3.5 Kodak anastigmat lens £9 17 6 With f/1.9 Kodak anastigmat lens £15 0 0 CINE-KODAK “BB” JUNIOR A light-weight camera made to take 50 ft. of 16mm. cine film. You simply sight the subject through the finder, press the shutter release, and the camera does the rest. With f/3.5 Kodak anastigmat lens £13 13 0 With f/1.9 Kodak anastigmat lens, £18 18 0 SIEMENS A new cine camera, including a new daylight loading system. The loading of the camera takes only five seconds Daylight loading chargers. 50 ft. of 16mm. film costing 14s., including developing — ready for projection. With f/3.5 anastigmat lens are £20 00 With f/2.8 anastigmat lens a £30 00 ENSIGN “KINECAM ”’ Has 3 speeds, is fitted with direct vision tube finder. ‘Takes 50 or 100 ft. 16mm. cine film. Dallmeyer f£/3.5 lens £13 13 0 Taylor Hobson f/2.8 lens £18 180 With f/1.5 Cinar anastigmat lens, £25 Calland see any of these cameras demonstrated. Fully detailed prospectus and price list post free. A Large Selection of SECOND-HAND CINE CAMERAS and PROJECTORS always in stock. SANDS HUNTER & CO., LTD. 37, BEDFORD ST., STRAND, LONDON, W.C.2 9 NEPA 2 TET SE TTS RTE TEA ITT TRIED IDEAS for AMATEUR MOVIE MAKERS in Latest Library chilling the spine should not be un welcome in the heat wave the minions of the Clerk of the Weather promise us this summer. There are some thrills of delectable quality in “Sweeney Tod,” an Ensign Library film in five reels, but scarcely enough to satisfy those who have been nurtured on old Elephant and Castle fare. The blood does not trickle and the thunder is rather faint. One is not told that Mrs. Lovett’s pies contain that little extra something the others haven’t got. One is pleasurably excited when the victims take their seat in the barber’s chair ; one notes with approval and satisfaction the twisted leer on Sweeney’s face as he performs the necessary sacrificial rites which involve the revolving of the chair and the bumping of the thick heads of the occupants on the floor of the cellar below. But although one is prepared to meet the producer more than halfway, the thrill is not sustained, ae. that do something towards Using your Imagination. Thrill should succeed thrill in a crescendo of dramatic events, culminating in the climax of Tod’s own end. But the suspense values are not maintained throughout, and one smiles when one might so easily be damp with horror and excitement. Yes, easily... imaginative camera angles, cunning play with light and shade, exploitation of the power of suggestion, slick editing . . these means a clever producer could build up a very powerful film. Not that this film is anything but a good workmanlike job. It gives you 75 minutes of good entertainment and I suggest that amateur cine societies on the lookout for a story might profitably take a look at it. From the point of view of settings the film would not be expensive to make. ‘There are only one or two exteriors and the interiors are few and simple. If your taste runs to the macabre you should find re-animating the corpse of Sweeney Tod a good exercise in cinematic technique. In the film under discussion most of the shots in the barber’s chair episodes are filmed from the same angle, but I can see your amateur producer insisting on filming the fatal chair in a more imaginative way—shooting it from the cellar as it revolves and following it round in its gyrations. I imagine him concentrating on simple essentials. A wealthy customer comes into the shop. Shots of his watch and chain and the rings on his fingers. Cut to Tod’s eager fingers stroking the keen-edged razor. The tapping of the customer’s foot in irritation at being kept waiting. The foot shoots out, then drags limply on the floor. Yes, I can imagine you having a good time at trying to beat the professionals at their own game, Russia under the Soviets. A number of interesting continental films (‘Crazy Ray,’’ Rene Clair’s first film and the “Lady of the Camellias,” with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role, among them) are available on hire from the Cine Department 138 Releases of the Forum Cinema, of Villiers Street, Strand, London. One of the latest releases is ‘‘ Soviet Russia Past and Present,” a four reel film available in both 9.5mm. and 16mm. This film is taken from prints in the possession of the Film Institute of the Soviet Union. The first reel begins with scenes showing Russia under the Tzars against a background of old Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then follow street scenes in February and October, 1917, at the time of the abdication of the Tzar and the assumption of power by the Bolsheviks. It is stated that these scenes were taken at great risk to the cameraman, but the protagonists in this drama do not look very dangerous or act very violently. The most interesting part of this reel are the shots of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and Zinovieff addressing the first Congress of the Council of People’s Commissars. The Red Army and Air Force, communal farms, workers’ flats and clubs and methods of transport are presented, while the fourth reel is taken up entirely with the great procession in celebration of the_ fifteenth anniversary of the Revolution. This, impressive at first, becomes rather monotonous before the finish. This picture can be recommended as something out of the run of library pictures. It is both instructive and entertaining. Indian Life. “ Braveheart,”’ a five reel wild west story featuring Rod la Rocque and Lilian Rich, is well worth getting from the Kodak Library. Apart from a role in a_ continental film shown a short time ago, la Rocque has been missing from the screen since the early days of the talkies. One wonders why. This film shows him to be a fine actor in the silent medium and his early incursions into sound were at least adequate. ““ Braveheart ’’ is set amid scenes of striking scenic splendour. Shots of Indian encampments, an exciting football match, the hero’s expulsion from college, his being branded as a traitor . . . there is good, strong stuff of popular appeal here. Clever Editing. “ Kitty,”’ one of the latest additions to the Pathescope Library, is yet another example of the clever editing one takes as a matter of course from this company. It is in only two reels yet apart from one small lapse, continuity is admirably preserved. Faced with cutting six or so reels down to two the most practised editor might well blanch, yet Pathescope perform this quite miraculous feat with nearly every film they issue. In addition to the entertainment value of this film (which is quite considerable) amateurs interested in the technique of editing and who remember the standard version can get a good deal of enjoyment and instruction from viewing the film as an essay in film craft. The story is by Warwick Deeping and the leads are played by John Stuart and Estelle Brody.