The Film Spectator (Mar-Dec 1928)

Page Fourteen part of it when the checks came in. I told this petty grafter that when I could afford to reduce my rates I would give the advertiser, not thieving agents, the benefit of the reduction. Since that time this chap has persuaded himself that The Spectator's a poor advertising medium, and he advises his clients accordingly. The full-page rate is eighty-one dollars, the advertiser pays that much and The Spectator gets all of it. "We divide with no one, and will sell space on no other condition. The Spectator is read by everyone in the industry, I think it is well thought of, and it is the only medium which an actor, director, writer, cameraman, or anyone else wishing to reach the industry need use. * * * SYD Chaplin has come back to us in A Little Bit of Fluff, his first English-made picture that I have seen. It lives up to its title by being a fluffy little thing, but it is amusing throughout, and somewhat better than we achieve over here when we attempt the same kind of polite farce. If the foreigners make pictures as bad as Flying Romeos or Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath, they wisely keep them at home and send us something of a higher grade. This Sydney Chaplin thing is not the world's cleverest comedy, but it has a degree of cleverness in it, and for its entire unwinding it seemed to keep the preview audience amused. At times it was greeted with roars of laughter. The English propensity for bold strokes was in evidence in the characterization of a mother-in-law in A Little Bit of Fluff. The character was overdrawn so extravagantly that the whole production was harmed. Syd himself gives a splendid performance in this picture, being just a little better than he ever was before. I always have considered him to be a clever actor, but he not always has had parts that enabled him to show it. An interesting feature of Fluff to me was the opportunity it afforded me of meeting Miss Betty Balfour. I read regularly several English film papers, and have gathered from them the impression that this Betty person is the greatest drawing card over there. I don't know much more about her now than I did before I saw her. She is attractive to look at, and gives the impression that she is intelligent, but there was nothing in her part to give her an opportunity to demonstrate what she knows about acting. * * * T ET us consider for a moment a sequence in which the •*-' hero, in an auto, is rushing to the rescue of the heroine in distress. There seems to be a general impression that the way to build suspense is by cutting back and forth from the hero to the heroine. There are half a dozen flashes of the auto, not one of them long enough to create the impression of sustained speed. I believe the effect would be better if there were but one cut to the auto of sulficient footage to create suspense. If the camera were mounted behind the driver and the audience carried along with him far enough to make it feel that it was flying to the rescue with him, it would make a stronger sequence than we get now by placing the camera at the side of the road to catch the car as it flashes by. The weakness of the short shots is that they do not create the impression that it is going to any particular place. Traveling with it for some distance and eliminating all other shots of it, I think would make the rescue more dramatic. At all events, it is an idea worth trying. It would have the virtue of being different. A weakness of pictures is that the same THE FILM SPECTATOR April 28, 1928 thing is done in the same way in all of them. The minds of directors seem to have become standardized. Few of them seem possessed of original ideas. LAUGH, Clown, Laugh contains some scenes that are difficult to handle. They show stage performances to which audiences in the picture react. Ordinarily such scenes cause reactions -within the picture out of proper JOHN PETERS CHARACTERS GLadstone 5017 r— — YOUR TRAVEL TROUBLES ELIMINATED You do not have to leave your office to arrange for the shortest or longest trip Route, Tickets, reservation arranged by us. All you do is use your phone INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL BUREAUX INCORPORATED 511 S. Spring St. TUcker 1402 OUHumiiiaiiimniiuDiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiniuiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiuiNiiiiiiiiiDi^ I JVhat You Wa7it When You Want It. I ^ O 11 J PERSONAL D i I Hollywood SERVICE Bureau | I Telephone Secretary | I We maintain a 24-hour telephone | I service, | I You give GRanite 5191 as your | I number ; we take j^our calls and relay | I them to you, wherever you may be. | I Let us be your telephone secretary. | I Fee, $5.00 per Month j I DAY OR NIGHT PHONE I JGRanite 5191 | I 6061 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD j OiaiiiiiiiiiiiiuimiiiiiiiiQiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiic]iiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiijiiiii[>>