Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1929)

26 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD November 2, 1929 Mergers THE conclusion of negotiations between Paramount and the Warners has had a salutary effect on both organizations. There is no doubt but that fears of the merger had something to do with unsettling both organization a bit. Now things have settled down and each is disposed to go ahead full steam. Just what Paramount's plans are for the future, with a great sum of new capitalization available, will be well worth watching. Paramount has something very big up its sleeve. The Stock Market THE market, when it took its crash last week, brought dismay to certain motion picture quarters as it did to every walk of life. Perhaps now the "merger" between the market and the men of motion pictures has been washed up, to an extent, and that won't do business any harm either. "Lummox" in German I HAD the opportunity to see an unusual picture last week when one reel of the German version of "Lummox" was privately shown for a small audience. This is hardly a matter of news for exhibitors through this country inasmuch as the picture that I saw is intended to be shown only in Central Europe, but it is another evidence of the ingenuity with which American producers attack their problems. It may mean the solving of the picture problem abroad, which has grown more and more difficult since pictures began to talk and the screen ceased to be an international language. The German version was made by Fred Zelnik, who is even better known in Germany than in this country, and who did something very unsual. He took the print of "Lummox" as it was made under the direction of Herbert Brenon, played it over and over and over again with painstaking care, and finally had a German version made which fit exactly into the one in English. In other words, he simply studied the English version as though it were a piece of music and substituted beats for the English syllables, beats to be replaced by German syllables. It is remarkable how well Mr. Zelnik did the job. While it is true that occasionally one can notice that the voices are not exactly synchronized to their sounds, still it is surprising how often the German words fit exactly into the mouths of the English speakers. It is not impossible. You may judge for yourself by the fact that "I'm coming, mother" translates into "Ich komm, mutter," and I defy anyone to see a great difference in the movement of the lips in those sentences. I wonder, however, if Mr. Zelnik isn't attempting something that has a boomerang connected with it. I doubt if the Germans will be satisfied with faked synchronizings any more than we are. But Mr. Zelnik, who is fully aware of this difficulty, points out that the Germans are at least a year behind us in the matter of sound pictures and that the present system will be plenty good enough as an introduction. Mr. Zelnik feels that if America could see and hear a great picture by Eisenstein, the Russian, it wouldn't make a terrible lot of difference if the synchronizing were out of line once or twice if the great spirit of the picture and the mastery of the direction were successfully retained. PETER VISCHER. The Broadway Campus THE Great White Way, "Broadway" has been turned into a campus for M G M's "So This Is College," which opened at the Capitol theatre last week. Into this picture, Sam Wood has put all the spirit of college life and the principal roles are played by Sally Star, Phyllis Crane, Robert Montgomery, Elliott Nugent and Cliff Edwards. Elliott Nugent Robert Montgomery Sally Starr The students hold a rally bonfire.