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16 The Kinematograph Year Book.
THE
YEAR
IN
AMERICA.
By the New
York of the
Correspondent
Kinemato
graph Weekly.
THE fourth year of the sound era finds the American industry well settled in the technical grooves of production and reproduction. Although there is still great room for improvement in the presentation of sound pictures in theatres, the handling of the new mechanism has become less and less of a myster\', and " good sound," in any theatre worthy the name, is now tlie rule rather than the exception. The wiring ot houses goes on apace. .Some 8,000 installations have now been made, according to latest figvires, and the unwired house is rapidly passing.
From the production viewpoint, the technique of sound, so far as the mechanics go, is in excellent condition. But as to the t\-pe of picture which is best fitted to sound, there is still considerable range of opinion, as there doubtless will be, always. Here, just as emphatically as in the silent era, the public decides, but the public doesn't decide until after it has seen and heard, so the hazards of production are just as great as they ever were.
The " Musical " Invasion
One notable development of the year, however, has been the great recession of interest in " musicals." For some reason, which now seems quite illogical, the industry, in the first flush of the sound revolution, decided that the fate of the strange new thing was somehow hinged pretty largely on music, probably because the picture that brought the revolution, " The Ja/z Singer," was song, in its great effects, and only dialogue in one sequence, and that confined to two sentences. The result was, of course, that every picture had to have a theme song, and the public was thought to be very keen to see musical comedies and extravaganzas. This cycle definitely wore itself out, before the producers realised it. Consequently, some of the most expensive productions of 1930, which were " musicals," did not get very far at the box office, and some of them were total failures. The argument still rages, however, as to whether the public wants " musicals " at all. And the answer seems to be, as always, that it all depends on how the thing is done. As this is written, " Whoopee," a " musical/' if there ever was one, is clicking at the box office. It is Eddie Cantor plus Ziegfeld, and obviously has something most of the other later ones didn't have.
As the "musical" era waned, the straight dramatic dialogue pictures came to the front. William Powell, playing the detective or crook story to perfection, rose to great eminence. Ruth Chatterton continued her great vogue as a dramatic actress. Greta Garbo talking is no less popular than Greta Garbo silent. Ann Harding, recruited from the legitimate stage, went into the first flight of stars in " Holiday." These are only examples of personalities the public clamours to see. There are many more. On the other hand, the spectacle, no less than the intimate drama, scored when it \^'as superlatively well done. An outstanding instance is " All Quiet on the Western Front," Remarque's war story put remorselessly on the screen as he wrote it, and a great box office success.