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138 <^ ^ -^ The Motion Picture Industry
the motion picture industry. Moreover, it came with terrific suddenness, and scarcely anyone was prepared for it. It is, therefore, perfectly natural that its limitations and its value could not be determined at once, and that there were a great many very necessary experiments as to the type of picture to which sound was best adapted and as to the manner in which it could best be used. All this is a real justification for a certain amount of floundering in the early days of sound. At the same time it is also true that, instead of attacking the real question, producers in time tended to rely upon the novelty which this innovation created to draw people to the cinema. In other words there was a temptation, not infrequently yielded to, to depend upon the novelty aspects of the play rather than upon the scenario and the acting to hold patrons of the motion picture theater. As has been suggested, there was some justification for this, since many companies were forced into the use of sound by competition before they were ready to launch out in this new direction. Moreover, there is something to be said for the idea that the novelty appeal might properly be resorted to in the interim between the appearance of sound pictures and a decision, however tentative, as to the proper placing of this accessory to the art.
The tendency of the producer from time to time, to place emphasis on the incidental thing rather than on the play, may be illustrated in other ways than by reference to the experience with sound. Every now and then considerable discussion arises concerning the use of color in pictures. By 1929, there were in the United States over 20 colored-film companies each of which claimed its own basic patents, although with the exception of the Technicolor and Pathechrome processes none of these companies had offered a product to the theatergoing public. The use of color is still very largely experimental, and it must be said that in most cases its use detracts from rather than adds to the appeal of a picture. Even in the filming of musical comedies and historical dramas and travelogues, the coloring frequently has