The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Sep-Oct 1922)

8 THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. BLAZING AN _ AIR October 28, 1922. WAY TO _ INDIA. British Film Producer's Amazing Adventures and Terrifying Experiences—Race through Monsoons, and Foodless for Four Days on Wrecked Aeroplane. AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH GEOFFREY MALINS. 5S we brichy anA nounced in our last issue, Geoffrey Malins, the well-known film producer, has Just returned from his attempt in company with Captain MacMillan and Major Blake to fly the world, und never have we listened to so fascinating a story as he had to tell us of his adventures, in an exclusive interview we had with him last week. Mr. Malins needs no introduetion to readers of this journal, as not only does he enjoy a big reputation as a film producer, having been in the industry for many years, but his exploits in filming the ‘* Battle of the Somme,’’ as well as many other daring things in the war, have made his name known throughout the world. Mr. Grorrrey Mains. Round the World Film Record. “The thing appealed to me very much,” Mr. Malins, “as being Britishers we wanted to be the first round the world; I also wanted to represent the British film industry, and to be the first to make a film record, From the intelligence point of view, it would be useful for this country and from the entertainment point of view to get as much as possibly could be of interest to the kinematograph public, both from above and on the ground. I have secured some marvellously interesting pictures, and my principal work was to take 50 to 100 fect of such a section as we were flying over, and I endeavoured during the whole of the time to get the smallest amount of footage which would cover the whole of the particular section that we were exploring. — We started from Croydon and were precluded from going over the Alps, for when we got to the pass we found the mist was too thick. We therefore went through the Soane Valley. said Lands on a Racecourse. “ Previous to getting {o Marscilles the petrol pipe was choked, and with the petrol flooding the cockpit we had to come down. <A foreed landing was made on the only space we could sce, which was a racecourse, and you can imagine the consternation we caused when we landed in the middle cf the course. We were detained at Marseilles for close upon a month by unforeseen cireumstances, but from there to India we had a very good run. We followed the French Riviera all the way round, and Digitized by Go gle interesting filmed the sections that were most g. We passed through Pisa, from where [ took views of the leaning tower, on to Rome, and thence to Naples. Leaving there we wanted to sce what effect the volcanic craption would have in the air, so flew straight for the voleano. = This we filmed us we got near it, then cut wv ross at a height of about 500 feet. Immediately we got cver the lip of the voleano the machine went up another 1,000 feet owing to the gases that were being erupted. s soon as we were out of the gassv air we dropped like a stone GOO fect. T secured some very excellent views of the volcano in eruption, and we then went on from Naples to Brindisi. Film of a Mirage. “On the way to Athens I filmed a mirage of the Albanian mountains with the clouds underneath, and this is the first time that there was ever a film of a mirage in the air. We could secure no landing place until we got to Athens, where we were the guests of the Greck Government. JT filmed some very interesting scenes here, and a thing that greatly appealed to me was that a film was taken of us on our arrival and shown on the sereen the same night, which, I think, proves the Greeks are equally as smart as Britain or America in their topicals. The Queen of Grecee and Prince Paul came to see us oft on our departure. We crossed the Mediterranan, a distanee of 530 miles, in 4) hours, and this was the. first instance that the Mediterranean has ever been crossed by a land machine direct. T would like to point out that. if we had dropped during any of that time, the machine would have kept afloat at Jongest for about fifteen minutes. Our first touch of the sand was at Sallum in Kgypt. Here, climatic conditions were entirely different for machine and cameras. We had a very fine reception on arrival, and I secured many scenes here. The heat was so intense that flving in the middle of the day was impossible; in fact, from here to Calcutta we only wore shirts and breeches the whole time. A Sheik’s Hospitality. _ “We had an amusing experience with a sheik, whom we met at Sallum. In accordance with the custom of the Arab people we had to take tea with him, squatting on our haunches, and the sheik was not satisfied until we had taken three cups, the first being ordinary tea, the next, with mint in it, and the third with more mint. However, we managed to drink the concoction, which was highly sweetened, but not at all unpalatable, the formality of which was a token of friendship. We then journeyed on to Alexandria, whieh we reached in two-and-a-half hours. I took a film going over Cleopatra’s bathing place, and as soon as we arrived in Alexandria we had a fine welcome from Lord Allenby, the High Commissioner, who was exeeedingly kind to-us. I secured films of Alexandria, and, after a stay of a few days,we journeyed on to Baghdad. The authorities here insisted that as the Original from NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY