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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FILM
theatre. Now Blackmail may not have been a particularly good film, but it was infinitely superior to any American dialogue picture of the same time. But the opposition it met with was a hard blow to British International Pictures. Even the Dominions cold-shouldered it. Censorship authorities in Australia at first prevented the picture from being shown, but later withdrew their ban. Such are the difficulties a British film has to meet.
Meanwhile, it is said, America is thinking beyond the dialogue film, beyond even the colour and stereoscopic film; that she is scheming quietly for complete control of the entertainment industry of the world; and that she intends to achieve this by means of television.
At the moment of writing (October 1929)1 there are two forces that count in America the Radio Corporation of America and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. These two gigantic concerns own and control everything that matters in the entertainment industry. Their present power is due to an outcome of mergers, tie-ups, and combinations that have been taking place for some years. They are rivals in the war for complete control, but it is likely that their rivalry will culminate in amalgamation.
The Radio Corporation of America, who have the immense financial backing of the General Electric Company, are allied with the Pathe film producing concern and have recently organised their own film company on a big scale Radio Pictures. They own a large number of cinemas, having purchased the vast Keith Albee circuit of theatres and variety houses. They are associated with the Victor Gramophone Company, the alter ego of His Master's Voice. They own also an invention for stereoscopic films, called the Stereopticon, which, it is said, is ready for the general market and will make television a certainty. Finally, they are extremely efficient in the making of dialogue film apparatus, the R.C.A. process being used both in British studios and cinemas.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company are rich in their association with film producing concerns, being allied to Warner Brothers, Paramount, United Artists, Fox, Universal, First National and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is reported that through these firms they can control half of the total number of cinemas in the United
1 For much of this information I am indebted to the Morning Post, in whose columns there is steady antagonism to American domination of the film industry.
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