Picturegoer (1934)

March 3, 1934 British Supremac by Paul Stein PICTUREGOER. Weekly gress, here in EnglaDd I now find myself again in the midst of a film boom. " For there can be no doubt that at present in England the film industry is making great strides, and in record time, so that she is now not only the second most important film-producing country in the world after Hollywood, but also a serious competitor to Hollywood itself. "Apart from this, my work here gives me the opportunity of comparing the two countries and of drawing, from my own observations, conclusions which help me in the practice of my art. "But work here in England is much, much harder than in Hollywood. First of all, the technique of the film has already been perfected there. While one is always hindered here and has still to overcome difficulties which cannot even be remembered any more in America, where the technical machine runs almost automatically. Wiile the director in Hollywood has help on all sides and everything at his disposal to lighten his labour, here he is relied upon for everything. This, it is true, makes his work much more interesting and often more personal, but naturally it is much more exacting and nerve-racking. " Of course the English companies know exactly where their weaknesses lie and value the work of their producers proportionately higher. And this too convinces me that when England has overcome her technical difficulties she will not only catch up with Hollywood, but will be able to compete with its productions. "There is only one serious limitation, as I see it, to the scope for marketing English films in America. It is the tremendous difference between the mentality of producers and actors in England on the one hand and of America on the other. "This does not apply so much to New York and other large cities in that continent, but to the small towns which, as is well known, form the majority of American film 'consumers.' "In these little towns people often just don't understand English films. They laugh at the treatment of the story and indeed even at the accent of speech. The public is conscious of a foreign body with which it is not at ease. "That West End dialect upsets them. And for this the English industry must find some remedy, sparing neither money nor trouble. It must, as it has, as a matter of fact, already done to some extent, bring over American actors; but at the same time in spite of this it must preserve a distinctively English character. " A part from this, of course, I am well aware that Xx. films are produced here which are intended exclusively for the British Empire and which can therefore dispense with the need of flirting with the American film-market. This is what we call ' Heimatindustrie ' — goods for home consumption. "England stands at a turning point. In an ascending course which in my opinion neither can nor will be interrupted. I am lucky indeed to be able to play a part in this remarkable triumphal progress. I know that my work is still far from perfect. But it is already better than it was. "I feel like a schoolboy who learns something fresh and something more in every form. In my case the film takes the place of the school. Until NEXT WEEK " Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad West ?" " Picturegoer " writes an Open Letter to the star of the hour, Greta Garbo, whose big come-back gamble has been one of the major sensations of 1934. the spring I shall continue to work in London. "Soon we shall be commencing a new film in which I am presenting Richard Tauber the famous tenor, one of the greatest of the present day. " Tauber is considered the most perfect Schubert singer in the world and now in a film he will reincarnate the composer whom he interprets so marvellously. But this Schubert film has nothing to do with Lilac Time; it is just a play set to Schubert's original music. "When this work has been completed I shall go back to Hollywood, where I am still under contract; but I hope that my activities in England will be interrupted only and not finally terminated by this trip." II ■