Sound motion pictures : from the laboratory to their presentation (1929)

358 SOUND MOTION PICTURES way hopelessly blocked. The situation is delicate in the one case and problematical in the other, but that is all. I see no obstacle which gives actual ground for fear or which forethought and vigilance may not surmount. We may take our cue from the lone eagle among the aviators. His great feat accomplished, he turned to different directions, not in panic over perils still to be met, but with confidence born of achievement. So we, who have safely ridden the convulsion in which sound was to give the death blow to the industry, might well yearn for new worlds to conquer, new impossibilities to tame to our will. Let those who are exhausted or hag ridden drop to the rear, where their nervous lamentations cannot annoy the leaders. We have not revolutionized our domain in a year merely to be plunged into chaos by neurotic soothsayers promising defeat. In that year we altered every aspect and division of our domain. Production, distribution, operation— not one remains what it was. Defeatism is impertinence; we have work to do. And in the contemplation of the tasks that confront us — and in no mere pep-rally enthusiasm — I ask the reader to bear with me yet a few pages more while I point out the realities of a to-morrow, not doomed, but impatiently awaiting our clear thought and our active creation. II. Some Agenda for the Near Future In the opinion of D. W. Griffith, pioneer motion picture director, talking pictures within the next five years will supplant both the silent drama and the spoken. Although the prediction may perhaps be overoptimistic, sound motion pictures with dialogue, singing, music, and incidental effects will doubtless make very important strides. The dialogue picture has the superiority of all the action of the silent film, plus speech and sound of every description,