Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

TRADER HORN 205 eyes and the pathetic early-Elstree touch when Renchero's double-exposed image appears in the sky — but it will suffice to give some idea of the situations and characters for which Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer thought it necessary to send a production unit to Africa. Passing over these banalities, there are many exciting moments in Trader Horn which deserve our attention. In the first place, the presentation of the credit titles — a portion of a film not often thought worthy of criticism and consequently nearly always done in shockingly bad taste — calls for special comment. This short sequence of titles mixing slowly into one another, with unusual black type superimposed on the background of a faded map and set against an underlying theme of drum-music, definitely establishes the right mood for the whole picture at the outset. I lay particular emphasis on this question of main titles, because I believe that by the arrangement of titling and the mood of its accompanying music or sound effects, the audience can be coaxed into exactly whatever frame of mind is deemed necessary for the reception of the opening sequences. It resolves itself into the creation of an effect on the subconscious mind of the audience. The whole matter of titling and sound effects preceding a picture is as yet in an elementary stage, as anyone who has made a study of " trailers " will agree. Now that the inclusion of titles has been curtailed to the business of stating the name of a picture and to giving the necessary acknowledgments to the participants in the production, the opening assumes a different quality from the remainder