American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

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THE BUllETIN BOARD Two New DeVry Projectors Of particularly timely interest in view of today's greatly expanded use of soundfilms for wartime employee and Civil Defense training is the recent announcement by President W. C. DeVry of the DeVry Corporation that his firm has developed two new portable sound projectors, available, it is stated, for undelayed delivery. The two new machines are the "Victory" model (16mm) and the "Liberty" model (35mm.) It is stated that both models conserve vital war materials without sacrificing, and in some instances even improving the quality, durability, dependability and performance of pre-war DeVry models, and with no appreciable difference in weight. More complete details of the new machines may be obtained from the DeVry Corp., 1111 Armitage Ave., Chicago, Ills. Film on Japs Ready "Know Your Enemy — Japan!" the first of a series of films dealing with the allies and enemies of the United States, is scheduled for release May 15th by the Princeton Film Center, Princeton, N. J. It will be distributed nationally in both 35mm. and 16mm. form to theatres, Civilian Defense Councils, schools, industrial organizations and local gcvernments. The film, produced by the Princeton Film Center in cooperation with the Institute of Pacific Relations, well-known authorities on Japan and the Orient, is a 1-reel soundfilm and answers such questions as "How large is the Japanese Empire?" "What is Japan's military and naval strength?" "Is Japan self-sufficient in raw materials?" "Can Japan win the war?" This and others in the series will be available for either rental or purchase. Inquiries should be addressed to the Princeton Film Center, 410 Nassau Street, Princeton, N. J. 3,000 See British Documentaries Crofters in the windswept islands of the Hebrides and market gardners in the flower land of the Scillies were among the 3,000,000 people in the British Isles who last year saw films shown by flying scjuads of mobile film units. Sponsored by the British Ministry of Information, these 70 units, which will soon hr 100, are known up and down the British Isles as the "Celluloid Circus." They travel thousands of miles through rural and urban Britain, making stands for the night and moving on next day. Morning, noon or night, there is always an audience waiting for them. First come the school children to special films about the Empire and its Allies. In the afternoon, films about food and wartime housewifery are shown to Women's Institutes in the countryside and to townswomen's guilds in the towns. In the evening there may be a set-up for agricultural workers in a farm, and the day is rounded off with a "midnight matinee" between shifts at an armament factory. These free shows, which usually last about 80 minutes, let people see how their own activities fit into the general picture of the nation at war. The new orator-film, moreover, has brought the public forum into the village and leads lively discussions of the country's problems. Apart from these mobile units, M.O.I, and oclKr films are available from the Central Film Library free of charge to any organization which has facilities for showing them. Between 5,000 and 6,000 films are sent out each month. New Magnetic Recorder Immediate playback is possible with a new magnetized-tape recorder — tradenamed "Mirrophone" — just announced by Western Electric. Consisting of a compact amplifier-and-speaker cabinet and a microphone, as the illustration shows, the Mirrophone contains a continuous loop of metal tape, sufficient for a minute's recording. Sound is recorded on this tape magnetically, and reproduced the same way; as each new recording is made, the previous one is automatically erased as the tape is demagnetized. Intended pricipally to provide a quickplayback method of rehearsing radio "commercials," voice and speech-improvement, and the like, the Mirrophone should prove useful as well as a means of rehearsing narrators, and the like, in difficult parts of film-recording assignments. Agfa-Ansco Centennial Booklet Commemorating the firm's lOOth Anniversary, the Agfa-Ansco Corporation has prepared for free distribution a generously illustrated booklet which graphically presents the story of the origin and development of America's oldest photographic manufacturer. Pre pared in chronological form, the booklet links the firm's progress with the advancement of photography in the United States during the past century. The significance of each date mentioned is discussed concisely, while numerous illustrations supplement the text in effectively pictorial form. Complimentary copies may be obtained by addressing the firm's Service Department, Binghamton, N. Y. New Texas Film Library National-Ideal Pictures, Inc., opening a new office in Dallas, Texas, is a combination of two previously well-known substandard distribution organizations, the well-known 16mm. Ideal Pictures Corp. (Bertram Willouehby) and the National 16mm. Film Libraries Co., of Texas. The combined set-up is stated to be the largest substandard film-library in the world, serving schools, clubs, churches and homes with both features and short-subjects — 16mm. sound and silent, and 8mm. silent. Photography: Its Science and Practice, hi) Jolin R. Roebuck mid Hmry C. Staehle. (D. Appleton-Century, $5.00.) Good volumes have been written before this, expounding different aspects of the photographic science, but rare are the volumes that patiently lead the investigator through a continuity of the science as this volume does. It not only lays bare the theory upon which the science is based, but banishes from the mind the mysteries so many of the good volumes have failed to clear. Enough historical data, fi"om the inceptive discovery of photography to the present time, acquaints the student with the beginning and growth of the science without impeding his desire to delve into facts of deeper and recent discoveries. The subject of emulsions is treated exhaustively, thi'ough all the stages of evolution, from the preparation of the gelatin; the light-sensitive content for the gelatin; microscopic grain study, and frequency curves of final sensitivity of the completed emulsion. The chemistry of modern photo-science is interestingly discussed in the light of recent discoveries. The factual theory of the latent image is clearly set forth, dispelling at once the random guesses regarding its influence upon the ultimate result of the finished ))roduct. Most interesting, and complete to the last minute of obtainable data, is the discussion on color photography and the physiological principle of its three-color vision : the reproduction of the colors of the visible spectrum by mixing in various degrees, light of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. The necessity of color separation is stressed, whether the separation be accomplished with single negatives, or whether the 222 May, 1942 American Cinematographer