Harrison's Reports (1930)

Entered as second-class matter January 4. 1921, at the post office at New York. New York, under the act of March 3. 1879. Harrison’S Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: United States $15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. . 16.00 Sanada, Alaska 16.00 Mexico, Spain, Cuba 16.00 Great Britain, New Zealand 16.00 Other Foreign Countries. . 17.50 35c a Copy 1440 BROADWAY New York, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service by a Former Exhibitor Devoted Exclusively to the Interests of Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Published Weekly by P. S. HARRISON Editor and Publisher Established July 1, 1919 Tel. : Pennsylvania 7649 Cable Address ; Harreno-t (Bentley Code) A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING _____ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22. 1930 No^8 SHUTTING THEIR EYES TO PROGRESS Recently Warner Bros, sent out a circular informing the exhibitors that it does not intend to abandon disc recording. “From time to time,” states the circular, “there have come to us from various sources statements to the effect that exhibitors have been informed by salesmen that it is only a matter of a short time before Warner Bros. Pictures and First National Pictures will be recorded on film rather than on disc. . . . “There is no intention, immediate or remote, on the part of the V'^itaphone Corporation of changing its present method of sound recording for its own product of Warner Bros, and First National. ... “From the very outset there has been available to the Vitaphone Corporation, . . . film recording if we desired lo avail ourselves of it. As pioneers in the recording of sound in synchronism with pictures we necessarily experimented for a long period of time with the various methods of recording before finally determining on the method which we would employ. The results of these experiments conducted very early in the development of sound pictures convinced us that it was not possible to obtain satisfactory quality of recording and reproduction on film and that film recording and reproduction was not in any way comparable with disc recording and reproduction. We have continued our research and experiment and the results have merely emphasized and fortified our conclusions that to change from disc to film recording would result in a very distinct loss of quality. . . . “The art of recording on disc is an old one and has been intensively developed over a period of a number of years. The most approved methods have been ascertained by actual practice as distinguished from theory and experiment. There is, for instance, in connection with disc re cording no such dispute as e.xists between the two largest laboratories and electrical companies in the country as to the proper method of film recording, namely whether variable density or variable area should be employed. It must be manifest that with the engineers and scientists being unable to agree themselves upon the most appropriate method of film recording, it would be improper on the part of the Vitaphone Corporation to depart from a settled and entirely satisfactory practice so far as quality is concerned by gambling upon which of the major electrical concerns is right in respect to its contention as to the proper method of film recording. “Constant effort is being made to improve not only the quality of recording on disc but also to evolve methods which will eliminate to a substantial degree any slight difficulties which might be attendant upon the handling and transportation of disc records. We are hopeful that within a short time these difficulties will be entirely solved without any impairment in quality. . . .” The disagreement between Western Electric and RCA as to which of the two film recording systems, the variable density or the variable width, is the better is a poor argument Warner Bros, could put forward in an effort to prove that disc recording is better than film recording. A disagreement between these two companies on this point is natural ; each is trying to advance its own interests. But this does not prove the Warner Bros, contention. Nor does it bar us from forming our own conclusions as to which of the two film systems is the better, for we have ears by W'hich we can hear, and eyes by which we can see ; and after we have formed our conclusions, to make further comparisons with the view of determining whether film recording is better than disc recording or not. Facts by which it has been proved that the variable width (Photophone) recording system is better than the variable density (Movietone) have been printed in these columns quite often. But here are some additional facts : The Movietone system records as follows : The vibrations of the microphone caused either by the voice of the actor or by other means generate electric currents, which are amplified and sent to a gas filled lamp, making the lamp glow in accordance with the different intensities of the amplified current. A beam of light from this lamp is focused on a slit in the camera. The variations of the light describes on the film, which passes under the slit, a record of various density lines. The problems connected wich recording by this system are many. Variability of the light beam is one of such problems. The difficulty of obtaining a negative that is even all the way through is another. The difficulty of developing such negative, of developing the positive, are still others. If the negative has any defects, these are transferred to the positive, adding to the defects of the positive if it should happen to have any, as is frequently the case. Overdevelopment or underdevelopment of the positive as well as of tbe negative affects the quality of sound under this recording system. In the Photophone recording system the sound track is transparent on the one side, and dark on the other, and the recording is done as follows : The amplified currents generated by the microphone are sent through two magnets, between which there is a mirror suspended on two tightly stretched vertical wires. A light beam of steady intensity is focused on the mirror. The variations of the amplified current cause the mirror to oscillate, causing the light beam to “etch” on the sound track a continuous line with variations. The problems that are met with in the recording by the Movietone process are not met with in the recording by the Photophone process. The light beam is of even intensity ; defects in the negative or in the positive affect the sound very little, because in the reproduction the light goes through a transparent sound track, the variations in the current being caused by variations in the width of such track. That is one of the reasons why in the reproduction of sound from film recorded by the Photophone process there is an absence of ground (surface) noise, whereas in the reproduction of sound from films recorded by the Movietone process there is a ground noise far more perceptible than the ground noise that was created by phonograph records, recorded by the old acoustical process. A further proof that the variable width is far better than the variable densit}' recording is the fact that pistol or cannon shots, the sound of steamboat whistles and of other explosive sounds are reproduced perfectly by the variable width system but not by the variable density. One can very easily make a comparison of these sounds in RKO, Pathe, Tiffany, and Sennet-Educational films, which record by the variable width system, with similar sounds in Paramount, Fox, MGM. Universal and Columbia films, which record by the variable density system. Now that the superiority of the variable width system of sound recording has been established, let us make a comparison of it with disc recording : Pistol shots reproduced from disc sound like wind puffs. If disc recording were as good as film recording, the sound of such shot would be as real as the sound reproduced from film. Cannon shots do not sound like real cannon shots. Screams are not screams — they are not natural. In “Lillies of the Field,” the First National picture, Corinne Griffith is heard to scream. Watch it and judge for yourself if it sounds anything like a scream. On the other hand, watch out for screaming persons in films recorded by the Photophone process. They are real screams. The sound of a steamboat whistle recorded on disc does not sound anything like it when reproduced. On the other hand, if you have seen “His Lucky Day,” the Pathe picture with Morton Downey, you (Continued on last page)