Exhibitors Herald (1927)

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34 EXHIBITORS HERALD November 5, 1927 THREE BUSY MAINE SHOWMEN L. E. Henderson (left) manages the Chic theatre, a Graphic Circuit house, at Milo, Me. L. A. Bump (middle) has the Bijou at Wilton, Me., and S. Soroker is manager of the York Beach theatre at York Beach, Me. (Photos by H.E.N.) New Processing Device for Film Will Save Waste Frank Garbutt Finds Machine Replaces Human Guesswork with Uniformity By LEIGH GRIFFITH COMPLETE revolution in methods for developing motion picture negative is promised through the introduction of a machine which has been designed and built by Frank E. Garbutt, head of the laboratory department of the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation. This negative developer or, more accurately, processing machine, is declared to solve a problem that has been facing the film industry ever since the first foot of film was immersed in the “soup”. Garbutt’s device it is claimed will bring about that absolutely uniform processing which has been the objective of motion picture laboratories since their inception. Until the present time the processing of motion picture negative has depended on a series of hand manipulation of 200 foot or shorter lengths of film wound on racks and placed in succession in the developing, fixing, washing and other baths. The drying has been accomplished by transferring the film from many racks to large drums which are rotated in a clean atmosphere. Notwithstanding the many detail improvements which have been made in this general method as the industry has grown, it has been subject to many troublesome ana inherent difficulties. The cost has been high and the resulting quality of negative has often not been such as to yield the full pictorial value existing in the undeveloped negative. The more common defects of the method are well known to those in the laboratory end of the industry, as well as the ordinary means of minimizing these defects. The real fundamental fault of this method is that it is dependable upon highly skilled manual manipulation and the personal judgment of operators of long experience, which means that an acceptable degree of perfection has been obtained only by virtue of continuous vigilance and careful inspection. Moreover, as the industry has progressed in its pursuit of artistic perfection, the requirments have become increasingly stringent and the attainment of satisfactory quality more and more difficult and expensive. Faults which were accepted without criticism even a year ago are not now tolerated in the higher class of pictures, and this new standard of perfection has proven very expensive to maintain by the time-honored methods of hand negative processing. * * * Three or four years ago Garbutt foresaw the approach of this situation and, after studying the problem from all angles, concluded that the only real solution lay in the reduction of negative processing to a machine operation which would be so perfectly worked out as to practically eliminate the variables of human action and judgment. That this was a difficult problem may perhaps be best realized by a consideration of the fact that a single short length of exposed negative may constitute the only record of a scene which has cost thousands of dollars to take, so that the possibility of damage to such negative by reason of mechanical failure could not be tolerated. To devise a machine which would possess the absolute maximum of reliability combined with the delicate gradations of control necessary to secure all of the quality inherent in the negative, has been no easy task, as may be well appreciated. Garbutt supplemented his intimate knowledge of the problem by enlisting the services of the writer, a mechanical engineer formerly with the government but now development engineer at the Paramount laboratory. Working with Thomas Ingman, operations engineer, a machine has been devised which promises to mark the beginning of a new era in the processing of negative. In line with the general effort of the industry, this new machine and method will reduce the cost of production. But of far greater importance is the fact that it will make possible the realization of that uniform high pictorial quality and freedom from minor deflects which has long been the dream and objective of the progressive thinkers in the industry. Owing to the high value of the undeveloped negative it was necessary to provide a mechanism of great delicacy and definiteness of control in order to ensure against the possibility of mechanical damage to the film while in the machine. This has been accomplished by an entirely new and extremely elastic form of drive, so designed that the film is under very gentle but definite control at all points in its passage through the machine. The undeveloped negative is first passed through a speed control mechanism which is adjustable to the exact speed required to give the proper time of development, from which it passes in succession through the developing bath, developer rinse, fixing bath, hyp rinse, cascade washing, bath and drying cabinet, the completely processed negative being delivered on reels at the discharge end. The entire operation of the machine is automatic, the film not being touched by hands at any point in its passage. Each operation is conducted under ideal conditions, the film moving smoothly and uniformly through the several baths and the dryer. As it passes from each bath, the film is freed of adhereing liquid by a squeeze, so that progressive contamination of solutions is avoided. The developing and fixing solutions are continuously circulated through tanks in a separate chemical room, where their analysis and temperature are kept to rigid standards. The wash water is carefully treated and filtered. The drying air is washed and heated to the temperature and humidity best suited to give the proper condition to the finished, negative, and is circulated through the drying cabinet sections in series. * * * As it is essential that the negative be not stopped during its passage through the developer, intermediate storage mechanism is provided at several points in the machine so that in the rare event of a breakage or other interruption to the film its movement through the developer may continue uninterrupted, while the film in the vicinity of the defect may be stoped and a repair or adjustment made. There is thus no loss of negative through overdevelopment. Owing to the exacting nature of the requirments, this machine has consumed much time and a large amount of money in its development, but the revolutionary results obtained have justified the effort many times over, according to B. P. Schulberg, associate producer in executive control of the studio. The uniformity and quality of negative processed on this machine are such as to constitute a material advance in the art and make it safe to say that machine processing of negative will very shortly be considered a necessity for at least the better grade of pictures, the Paramount executive believes. Columbia’ s “Perfect 30” Set in 34 Publix Houses (Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, Nov. 1. — Columbia has just booked “The Perfect Thirty,” this season’s output, for first run showings in 34 big Publix houses in the South. A contract with the Louis R. Greenfield circuit also calls for the showing of all this year’s product in Honolulu, in addition to projection in coast houses. Also, the National circuit of California has booked all Columbia product for this season. American Films Safe (Special to the Herald) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 1.— “The American motion picture industry will never be endangered by the foreign production field,” writes John S. Robertson from Berlin. Robertson is spending a two months’ vacation on the continent making a comprehensive survey of the European film industry.