International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1930)

-76 U N R N It looks as though the sound film had firmly established its sway in Europe and there is little chance of a return to the days of lively debate that we remember some few years ago on the rival claims of the two forms of cinegraphic art that disputed the screen : the silent film and the sound or spoken film. Rene Jeanne, writing in the Gazette de Lausanne evidently holsd a somewhat different view, however, and expresses the opinion that the sound film can never fully replace either the theatre or the mute film (F. 10/260). Though it may be over bold to prognosticate, there is, nevertheless, some truth in the affirmation. The sound and talking film are still in their infancy. Leaving aside for the moment the recent statements made by Louis Gamier, Director of the Paramount Film Co., who traces the origin of the spoken film in France some twenty years back, to the time when he was director of the Pathe Firm at Montecarlo {The Film Daily, New York F. 10/257), it has in fact been going but a very short time, and, as in the case of all new things, there is room for improvement. It is, however, already making its way not only in the public amusement halls, but also in the field of teaching. But much technical knowledge and artistic skill are necessary for an invention of this kind to yield worthy results. The sound and talking film are at this moment starting on their social career outside the theatre. William Fox is of a contrary opinion to many others (see« The Religious Film » in this issue) and declares unhesitatingly that this type of film must content itself with three specific domains: teaching children ; religious propaganda, and filming the most arduous surgical operations as a means of training medical students (The Film Daily, New York F. 12/455). Don Ezequiel Padilla, Secretary for Public Education in Mexico, recently announced in New York his firm intention of making a wide use of the talking film for educational purposes in Mexico (The Times, F. 10/246). The R. C. A. Photophone, in its turn (see the Cine'matographie Franpaise, Paris F. 21/354) has already launched a new portable model projection apparatus for talking films, which can be easily used for school and lecture purposes. The film has stirred up less controversy in the field of operatic reproduction than in others (Exhibitors' Herald World, Chicago 12/485). The orchestra conductor, Bruno Walter, declares that by this means the remotest townlets and villages, which up to the present have been cut off from all real artistic life, will now be able to enjoy as fine performances as the big centres of musical education and culture. Here also it behoves us to differentiate between the purely sound part and the talking part of the cinema. The first may be said to have attained perfection by now and to reproduce sound quite faithfully. The latter still calls for careful study and improvement. Quite apart from the purely technical aspect of the phonic perfection of speech reproduction, the problem of language, which is an essentially political and national question, restricts for the time being the talking films 's chances of expansion and tends to accentuate the national spirit and national susceptibilities of the several States and peoples. Meanwhile, improvements are being made from day to day. According to a statement in the Regime Fascista, of Cremona, (21/358), Baron Vientinghof Scheel, of Vienna, has succeeded perfectly in transmuting light into sound, and vice-versa on the film. While the Western Electric Co. is defending its patents in the Berlin Courts against those of the Tobis and the Klangfilm Cos. (The Daily Telegraph, F. 12/486), the Washington Patent Office has registered, up to date, over 8,500 patents, bearing entirely on sound films and the uses that may be made of them (El Debate, Madrid F. 21/335). Among new inventions of indisputable value, the Capital Theater Supply Co. has launched on the film market a new screen made of non-inflammable silk, specially adapted for the projection of sound films, since it imparts greater luminosity to the image and does not interfere in any way with the repro