Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

16 An Infant L earns Syllabi es Edtfin Schallert Funny things are happening during the babyhood of talking pictures, but the lusty youngster is here to stay. Illustrations by Lui Trugo Though puzzled over vowels, the newcomer is preparing for bigger things in spite of much unfavorable comment. THE year 1929 will go down as the most revolutionary in the history of motion pictures ! Probably 50,000 to 60,000 persons, more or less connected with the world's largest amusement enterprise— to quote the Will H. Hays office ! — have, at one time or another, made this prophecy during the past few months. With all due quiet and reserve that may be given to what seems to be a momentous occasion, I may as well add one more voice to the chorus. Therefore, here goes : The movie year 1929 will be all that folks say it will be — hot, and conversational ! As is quite needless to emphasize, this forecast is inspired by talking pictures — now don't run away ! — in answer to which, many fans may feel in a humor to retort, "Well, what about it?" Some of those who have heard the films with dialogue, plus sundry variations, may even be impelled to exclaim, "Yes, two times, what about it? We have had enough of .^slBCs'"' them already !" However, that isn't taking token of what people think in the new "land of cinenoisea" ■ — not that that matters a squawk — nor of the clinking shekels at the box office. The shekels, especially, seem to say that the public no longer wants the silence on the screen that once was gilt, if it was not actually golden. Maybe you don't like talkies, but you're going to have to accept them sooner or later, if you intend going to the movie theater. Even stopping one's ears with cotton can't be recommended, because pictures made with dialogue aren't very much to cheer about without it. So here's a pretty mess, any way you look at it, and the question is, what to do about it? Not to sound like a recent political campaign, it's really up to the fans to speak out in meeting and say what they think about aural pictures. Mind you, even the movie people aren't all enthusiastic about them. They are probably as divided in their views as are the mass of filmgoers. A large number believe, for instance, that competition with talking films is only going to give new stimulus to the silent drama, and that the screen plays without tender and humorous colloquys will come back with a grand fanfare ere the year is over. Even yet, very little can be adequately settled from mere observations in the colony. Sound stages at several studios, big, imposing structures, have only recently been completed. Comparatively few tests have been made of players' voices. As yet, only a limited number of theaters can exhibit synchronized productions satisfactorily. Many ardent film seers live in a sort of dark, medieval ignorance as to what all the racket is about, while others have been thoroughly disgusted with the inefficient efforts made by their home-town theater owner in providing noise a la mode, without adequate equipment. In some cases the small-town manager has resorted to all sorts of freak expedients to keep pace with the sound development, of which the least obvious, perhaps, is phonograph music. He has procured back-stage talent to imitate the voices of players in song, and to speak subtitles, which he has diligently deleted from the silent film. He has contrived other effects, like the whir of airplane motors, the crying _^f§j§r .-s of a baby, and even the bleating of sheep and the braying of a donkey. Much of this is done without reference to its general suitability or quality, on the theory that the public must have something that "hits" the ear, as well as the eye. Too, machines for reproducing regulation, studiomade sound effects and dialogue, are operated with considerable ineptitude, at times, by the man up in the projection room of the smalltown theater. This is natural, because of his lack of experience. Devices so far put forth are not absolutely foolproof. I recall an instance told me, not long ago, of a happening in a rural section, which reveals the mix-ups that can occur. The theater was showing a locally made film of a county fair, including some glimpses of fine stock on display. A handsome cow, a prize winner, was on view before the audience. She was calmly munching her cud, looking placidly sentimental, as cows have a fashion of doing, when suddenly, to the accompaniment of her working jaws, a high-pitched feminine voice emerged from the screen, with the words, "Is there nobody here who will believe me to be a good girl?" Upon which the audience went into hysterics, and the manager had to come out and explain that the machine operating the records had been started accidentally, in the middle of a sequence. Soon there will be no escape from the talkies, even by this method.