Talking movies (1927)

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TA.LKIXG MOVIES ennobling heights, to which the silent picture, however lovely, has never yet attained. The weekly News Items which are now recognized as an appropriate part of every film program can be made vastly more interesting and informative to the audience if, in a few terse sentences, the scene depicted be also described, or the situation, which is frequently so inadequately told by the picture alone, be interpreted by the voice of some well informed, entirely invisible, speaker. Once this form of pictorial news service has been adequately introduced, I venture to say that the average audience will feel that without the spoken accompaniment, these pictures have lost their grip their lively interest. In the realm of the comedy immense possibilities for the Phonofilm unquestionably lie. The humor of many ludicrous situations can be screamingly increased if the right words, the right jest were spoken at the right time, in the proper dialect, or vernacular, or tone of voice. Similarly in animated cartoons, where the little animals or manikins can speak their funny thoughts as well as act in their funny ways, the humor of this new type of comedy can be readily doubled. The filming of notable men, characters in the public eye, presidents and rulers, candidates for public office, etc., will be made many fold more interesting and genuine to the audience when their voices also are reproduced, instead of the present more or less inane mockery of their moving lips accompanied by silence. Picture for a moment what the Phonofilm will mean in the future in perpetuating our really great men for coming generations — How priceless now would be the film reproduction of 57