Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1928)

The Magazine With the Personality )j MOTION PICTURE. (^L^^«IC Pictures and Personalities By George Kent Shuler Publisher THE topic of the hour in movie circles continues, naturally, to revolve around the talkies. A complete encyclopedia could be written about the various pros and cons of the subject without getting down to the meat of the matter. Most everyone concerned with picture production is becoming panicky. First are the producers, who are hastily installing the necessary apparatus to record sound and vocal efifects to keep pace with their brethren who are cashing in on the new design of the cinema. With this novel process of picture-making confronting them, they are doing their best to adapt themselves to the new order of things. But in their haste they have become panicky. They want to collect — and collect quickly — regardless of the fact that the talkie development cannot be worked out in a day or a month or a year. But those who have story aces up their sleeves should not put the cards on the table too eagerly. Even the best idea in the world can be spoiled with haphazard methods, even though it credits its sponsor with foresight and imagination. Take Your Time, Boys ■"The company that takes its time — that works out a •'clearly defined policy of making talkies — is the one to cash in pretty when the public becomes fed up on the novelty of vocal effects. As most of the boys are working now, they have gone back to first principles. And those sitting on the sidelines, who have a fairly good ])erspective on the talkies, have declared that the screen has gone back 'anywhere from five to fifteen years. These critics are not talking so much out of turn, since screen technique (the mechanical side of production), looks decidedly like a throw-back to "The Great Train Robbery." But the dollars must roll in, since the public has become dissatisfied with the present-day picture and the ten, twent' and thirt' vaudeville which accompanies it. However. Mr. and Mrs. Fan and all the little Fans (all being children of Mother Nature, a fickle old woman and intolerant at best) will ultimately reject it after the novelty is worn off, unless class stands out in the production. The primary quality of pictures is movement. .\nd where actual flesh and blood is lacking, the producers cannot ex])ect to emulate the stage, make their screen puppets a lot of chatter-boxes, and expect to get away with it. Several directors have taken pot-shots at the talkies, some even declaring it won't last a year. Their argument is that you can't develop screen pantomime for twenty years and throw it in the discard for the sake of giving vocal expression to over-night stars who are beginning to spell C-A-T and D-O-G like a child in the nursery. Naturalness, they say. is about to choose the quickest exit for a complete fade-out. More Than Fifty-Seven Varieties Now 'T'he talkies will be worked out correctly in the end. *■ But before the perfect talkie is achieved, several asylums are ai)t to close their doors behind a host of the boys and girls who are now registering indignation, despair, melancholy, delusions of grandeur and a flock of inhibitions. The panic doesn't rest entirely with those who are concerned with the movies. We'll let the cat right out of the bag and tip you off that the sponsors of talkie devices are also running around in circles. At present there are approximately sixty-one devices for the reproduction of talking pictures registered at Washington. And more, doubtless, are on the way. Those in the highest state of perfection will naturally eliminate those that are not so good. A few of the devices are already operating. But it will take years of ex])erience, years of toil, years of disappointment and despair before the movie introduces the perfect synchronization of voice and sound — with perfect screen qualities, as they are recognized now, dove-tailing with voice and sound. Keep Out the Old Army Game ^^UR advice to all the Higher-Ups and Lower-Downs ^^ (and we're all in this talkie thing up to our neck) is to step out of the panic and come down to earth. There's nothing wrong with the movies except the business of playing the old army game — hitting the public in the face with too many pictures. The screen, as constituted today, is a vast commercial enterprise. The idea back of it all is to develop a constant Turnover to the tune of Supply and Demand. The supply has far exceeded the demand. Maybe the talkies will solve it. They've got to be good. The public is still from Missouri. 15