Hollywood Filmograph (Jan-Jul 1930)

HOLLYWOOD FILM O GRAPH 11 Critic Favors The Silent Motion Pictures Says Talkies Have Lost Beauty of Silence While Screening Picture By Harold Orlando Weight When the motion picture found its voice, it gained in a thousand ways. It gained financially. It gained :n variety of subject matter suitable for production. And, most important, it gained in intelligence and maturity. But in gaining it lost. It has lost the beauty of its silence — and to many of us who love the motion picture that is a severe loss. It has lost artistically, and only lately is beginning to pull away from the stage technique that would have destroyed the motion picture as an art. Interesting and individual screen technique was side-tracked for sound experimentation, and must fight its way back. And the producers of motion pictures have lost their sense of proportion. They do not seem to realize that even as some stories can only be produced with dialogue, some can only be successfully produced without dialogue. A score of productions of the past year suffered because their makers insisted upon forcing them to be dialogue when dialogue only confused and injured them. When dialogue was utterly unnecessary. The sending of Jannings back to Germany was an example of poor judgment. Jannings was great beyond the need of speech, and his millions of admirers did not need to hear his voice. The attempt to make the box office leader Chaney talk was not wise. Chaney would perhaps draw better in his first talkie, but he could not change his voice with his make up. His pictures would continue to draw with sound and without voice. The non-dialogue film is not dead. Allow me to predict that it will play a part in the 1931 programs of the producers. And while we are predicting: The talking picture will become the greatest educational force the world has ever known; and will eventually become the means of spreading a universal language — probably composed chiefly of American. The perfection of sound was the jolt that Hollywood and the entire amusement wrorld needed to spur it to renewed efforts and to pull it from the rut. How well it succeeded in that way can be shown by an examination of last year's productions. The pictures were intelligent. They were on the whole far more mature than had ever been the case before. They had a higher entertainment value. The average film was of higher quality. That quality must be held up. All ready their have been signs of a slip to the old standard. That slip must be prevented. And schools for projectionists must be developed. Talkies will never be a success until Available For Screen "A SON OF TWO NATIONS" (In Dialogue) ALL READY TO SHOOT BORIS CHARSKY AUTHOR OL-9422 MO-19186 the small town operator knows how to run them. Poor projection can utterly ruin the finest talkie. Two things I believe we should remember. 1. No matter how poor a silent film -was, one could sleep thorugh it, but there is nothing so awful on the face of this earth as a bad talking picture. One experience is likely to ruin a patron for months. 2. Silence, dialogue and sound — but the greatest of these three is SOUND. Sound with dialogue, sound without dialogue — in sound lies great opportunities. The sound film is great. Its possibilities are so vast that no one has yet fully grasped them. AH other developments or hoped developments in the motion picture field — color, wide film, depth — fade into insignificance beside it. It places before the great public of the village and small town the finest singers, actors, musicians and music. It is the great entertainer. It can become the great civilizer. It brings to the people of the world history in the making, music that they did not know existed, the beauty of lovely plays, language education never before possible, the melody of the country to the city man, the roar of the city to the country man. It will bring the world closer in understanding, and knot the ties of understanding between the peoples of the nations. It lies before us, an unlimited field, ready for conquest. There will be epic tales of its exploration. The books of history are ready to be in scribed with the names of its pioneers. It is a challenge. All hail to those who dare to experiment— to those who go into the unknown fields and conquer! HAROLD LLOYD "Welcome Danger" was his first talkie, and it is breaking all records wherever it is shown. Harold Lloyd's oral film was one that had 'em all looking for it, for many predicted that Harold might find it hard to hold up his high standard of fun making as a "talker" but, he fooled the wisest of them, and Paramount has a great bet in the popular comedian. Compliments of the Season RAMON NOVARRO tt DEVIL MAY CARE" CARTHAY CIRCLE SOON