The Film Mercury (1928-1929)

Page Fifty-Eight THE FILM MERCURY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1928 Hollywood, Calif. Something Different! Mr. Film Distributor and I Exhibitor That’s what Famous Short Story Classics are! Two-reel gems of literature, made on a feature scale with well-known players, and produced for the screen as written — Completed to-date — “THE DISTRICT DOCTOR” by Ivan T urgenev with Jean Girard, Paul Ellis, Victoria Alden, Jack Hopkins, and others. “THE NECKLACE” by Guy De Alaupassant with Jean Girard, Mary Alden, Emil Chautard, Maurice Costello, Jack Hopkins, William Cody, William Strauss and Victoria Alden. “THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES” by Balzac with Jean Girard, Paul Ellis, Victoria Alden, etc. — One a month — These classics will fit any program and are made for the lower five and the upper ten — not too “arty” and well produced — In preparation — (All Rights Reserved) “A Piece of String,” by De Maupassant “The Love Test” by Chekov “The Accursed House,” by Balzac “A Wife’s Confession,” by DeMaupassant “Nobody’s Luggage,” by Charles Dickens “The Raven,” by Edgar Allan Poe “A Cigarette Makers Romance,” by F. Marion Crawford “Peg Woffiington,” by Charles Reade “God Sees Truth,” by Leo Tolstoi “Loves Redemption,” by Leo Tolstoi (famous as a play) “The Deserted Village,” by Oliver Goldsmith “The Girl with the Golden Eyes,” by Balzac “One Autumn Night,” by Maxim Gorky “A Desert Passion,” by Balzac Adapted by Harry Scott Heustis Photographed by Paul Allen In two series of 13 each to a series Pictures that all people will understand and appreciate. First Run attractions — indorsed by critics laymen and the press. SHORT STORY FILM CLASSICS Produced and Directed by FRANK P. DONOVAN lii New York Hi Edward L. Kline Go. TecArt Studios ijj 25 West 43rd Street Hollywood :: :r :| ij «{ ! : ! : ; ij jj ii ij it :: H \\* :: jS l Ii jj !i :i ::: :: 12 A Few Thoughts On the Talkies When one is in the midst of Hollywood’s activities one’s opinion of the talking film is constantly swaying back and forth like a pendulum. At dinner Chaplin may win you with his sincere argument against combining sound with shadow images and then, the following morning, you may see something that will make you marvel at the improvements made in the voices from the screen. Later you may be influenced by Conrad Veidt's dissertation on the international scope of the silent picture, after which, in the darkness of the projection room, you mav discover further signs of the resourcefulness and ingenuity of a producer in the handling of players for audible productions. In the end you may leave the film centre convinced that there will be some startling talking pictures, productions that may even meet with the approval of the Chaplins and the Veidts. The most improved talking films will probably not be issued for months to come, but, judging bv tests made of actors, these dialogue photoplays will be subjects with players well suited in voice and appearance to the characters they will impersonate. The lines will be writter and rewritten, not by title writers but by expert dramatists, who will officiate as codirectors. Winfield R. Sheehan, general manager of the Fox studios, is not joining in the hysteria for sound ; he is biding his time in the making of a talking film that will, he believes, throw new light on the potentialities of this medium of entertainment. He said the other day that the talking film would not mean the end of the silent picture and that there will be just as many silent productions made as those with sound. This, he said, is obviously necessary, because out of the 22,000 motion picture theatres in this country only 1,700 will be equipped for sound by the first day of next year. A good deal of the disappointment in the early talking films has been due to both the melodramatic nature of the story and the sudden blasts of speech. The producers have learned that there are other sounds .to be screened besides voices and that the lines must not come too abruptly from the characters. Now that the novelty of mere synchronization and the hearing of a voice has partly worn off, the directors will probably endeavour to obtain utterances that are spoken in more natural tones and have the lines accompanied by restrained but nevertheless effective actions. For the next month or so the picture makers will be learning, and even the most competent players will have to forget the presence of the microphone when they are talking. As Mr. Lasky explained, these performances in the beginning are in the same state of nervousness before the microphones as they were when they first confronted a camera. This nervousness, Mr. Lasky believed, would soon disappear. The talking feature will undoubtedly have its place in the scheme of things, provided it is a shrewd mixture of the cinematic values, the spoken lines and other contributory sounds. Picture producers will gradually learn that two men walking along a road do not keep up a steady fire of conversation and that when a character questions another there must be a natural pause before the reply is forthcoming. And so far as the minor sounds are concerned, they should not interfere with the utterance of the character on whom attention may be riveted. — Mordaunt Hall, photoplay editor, New York Times.