The film daily year book of motion pictures (1932)

Vice-President, Columbia Pictures JACK COHN • A number of changes in production which will mean increased theatpr attendance are in prospect for 1932. Among the innovations about to make their appearance upon the horizon will be a new technique in short subjects and less dialogue in feature productions. The former will increase the popularity of the single reel feature and will help it to regain its place of prominence upon the program, which was impaired by the short lived popularity of the double feature program fad. Short features will be used to draw patrons to the theater. The reduction of the amount of dialogue used in productions will serve to introduce more action. In the past this vital factor has been overlooked through the introduction of wisecracks making the film appeal more to the ear than to the eye. As a result the public has tired more easily and the screen lost some of its original entertainment value. With the return of action dramas and the elimination of excessive dialogue, the films will reach a more balanced combination of the silent and sound mediums. Each year finds the industry developing specialists and 1932 will see every branch more highly specialized. It will be a survival of the fittest and exhibitors will demand the best from producers. They will back each picture with a sound, practical exploitation and advertising campaign which will sell the picture to the public. Inflated words and high pressure ballyhooing will give way to a sincere presentation of merits and real sales talks which will gain public confidence and support. In short, I see in 1932 a more stable industry and a growth that will give the industry a position of dignity in the business and financial world. DAVID SARNOFF • Sound motion pictures for the home have reached such a stage of technical development that one may anticipate a more general interest in this phase of entertainment during 1932. Marked progress has been made in the study of harnessing the ultra-short radio waves, the phenomena of which remain one of the active considerations of the laboratory. Intensive effort has been applied to television experimental work. The phonograph has been given a new place in entertainment by the perfection of the long playing record capable of reproducing an entire symphony. The recording of sound motion pictures has been brought to a more advanced stage by the designing of apparatus for noiseless recording. One cannot look ahead from 1931 without reference to another contribution of the year. Industry has learned that it must give renewed consideration to its questions of human relationships. The changing length of the payroll is as vital a factor as the changing color of the balance sheet. I believe that industry emerges from 1931 more ready to apply the laboratory test to proposals that will stabilize employment and safeguard against upheavals in industrial relationships. That is a forward step, more important than any advancement in technology, toward placing society and industry on a higher plane. Vice-President, General Theater Equipment, Inc. WALTER E. GREEN • Though I hesitate to make any prediction as to what the new year may have in store for the motion picture industry, I do believe that the industry started out, grew and prospered through good pictures, good showmanship and good projection, and these three factors still mean prosperity for now or any time in our industry. S3