Hollywood Spectator (1937-39)

Hollywood Spectator Page Five we must remember we are regarding the art from the standpoint of the business interest of those who control it. Anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of the fundamentals of the art, is aware audible dialogue is a rank anachronism, a poison which would kill any art which lacks the great inherent strength screen art possesses. But a little dose of it can act as a stimulant to the forward progress of a screen story; the public will accept it, and is it good business expensively to strive for perfection when the public will be content with something less? When it is put in that way, we must accord dialogue a rightful place in screen entertainment even though we do not recognize it as a legitimate element of screen art. But the talkie is not moderate in its use of dialogue, and equally immoderate is it with mechanically created sounds. Instead of using its vocal powers merely to expedite the progress of a story by enabling it to cut corners, and recognizing the right of the art to play the most important part in the story telling, the talkie goes to the extreme length of murdering the art and presenting its remains for our entertainment. Previously we have established the fact that audible dialogue harms motion pictures by making their appeal intellectual instead of emotional, as is should be. Here we find it does further harm by virtue of its being an intrusion of reality in an art whose strength as entertainment is derived solely from its status as an art of the illusion of reality. {In the next Spectator we will discuss the screen as a business.) * * * * JO those who wail about the burden of their income tax I recommend the philosophy of Una Merkel. “My!” she exclaimed as I encountered her immediately after she had squared her debt to Uncle Sam, “I never imagined a few years ago that I’d have the thrill of paying so much income tax.” The thought behind her words constitutes a sermon in contentment. * * * A NEWSREEL I saw recently contained some shots Cm of a mother Boston terrier and her litter of puppies, all suffering from mumps. When the mother was shown in close-up, her eyes half-closed, her whole attitude one of resigned dejection, a long drawnout, “Oh-o-o!” went up from the entire audience. At two more previews I caught the same scene and both times the audience reaction was the same exhibition of warm sympathy for the suffering little mother, audible reaction I never have known a human being to inspire. And still picture producers cannot get it into their thick skulls that a series of real dog pictures would have great box-office value. * * * MOT that I necessarily want to see another war picture, »w. but if a producer is thinking of making another before they finally go out of fashion, I would recommend for his background material, I Saw Them Die , an extraordinary graphic record of an American young woman’s experiences as nurse behind the World War lines. The author is Shirley Millard, and her diary was edited by THE NEXT SPECTATOR WILL BE THE ELEVENTH BIRTHDAY NUMBER Phone: Will all those who have expressed their desire to take advertising space in this Special Issue, do us the favor of getting in touch with us as soon as possible? We will appreciate it. GLadstone 5-2-I-3 Adele Comandini, the gifted author of the Three Smart Girls screen story; publisher, Harcourt, Brace & Co. If you wish a livid bit of the war served up to you again, or if you appreciate beautiful writing for its own sake, I think you will enjoy this little literary meal which you can consume easily at one sitting. * * * £VER since Metro purchased The Shining Hour, in • which Jane Cowl appeared at El Capitan Theatre, I have been waiting to see it on the screen. In order to be of the utmost service to Metro I herewith cast the picture for it: Joan Crawford in the Cowl role, Franchot Tone as the husband, Madge Evans as the wife. My renewed interest in the play was prompted by my having seen Madge in a recent picture. The wife in Shining Hour would give her something that long has been denied her — an opportunity to play a part she can get her teeth into, one that will enable her to demonstrate her ability. Few girls on the screen can match the charm of her personality, her inherent sweetness, but she is not cast in parts which permit her to exercise her talents as an actress. * * * rHE desirablity of abolishing double bills and restoring the showing of pictures to a sound business basis is agitating exhibitors. Like all evils, this one should be attacked at its source. When producers cut out threequarters of the audible dialogue their pictures now contain, and restore the camera to its rightful place as their medium of expression, they will be giving as much story value in one production as audiences now are getting in two. Talkie technique requires much more footage than it takes to tell a given story in cinematic technique.