The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Mar-Apr 1923)

THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. April 7, 1923. THE STAGE AND THE STUDIO. ~ What the Theatre has Borrowed from the Film. VEN the most bitter enemy of the film would be bound to admit that in one respect it had made great strides—that on its technical side it had in troduced some ingenious effects, and had made possible some most fascinating illusions. One has only to think of the superb use that has been made of double photography in creating the illusion that the actor or actress represented is two and not one person, to realise the possibilities that the science of photography opens up when it is used by ingenious minds and handled in a. competent manner. Indeed, in the matter of photography and lighting the advance in film production has been more noticeable than in any other direction. That being so it was only to be expected that the elder sisters of the film, viz., the drama, should adopt new methods of presentment, and make use of the advance in this direction that recent years have speeded. The theatre has made some bold experiments in various ways in certain Continental centres, and methods of lighting developed to suit the special needs of the theatre are among the most promising of these experiments. It must have struck many theatre-goers who are also patrons of the kinema how great is the difference between the fixed and artificial scenery of the theatre in outdoor scenes particularly, and the same scenes in the film. Depth and distance are much more convincing in the latter, and the knowledge that they are mere pictures (as of course the theatre-picture backgrounds are) recedes, as on the screen actor and background seem to possess the same substance and thus the same kind of reality. a a ef But the experiments in the theatre lead one to suggest that it is the competition of the sister form of entertainment that has caused the less youthful one to peep into the younger one’s bedroom and discover what are the means by which the results are gained which cause such admiration, and one of the most significant of recent happenings in the theatrical world is the really wonderful use which has been made of the arts of the film producer in the new play, ‘‘ Angelo,’’ which opened at Drury Lane on Wednesday, last week. Here our old and valued friend, the ‘‘ flashback,’’ is made to do service in no halfhearted manner, and assisted by a clever use of lighting, the whole performance becomes a triumph of the use of perfected mechanical devices to produce a new effect—at all events so far as the theatre is concerned. Out of the utter darkness a scene will emerge, give the picture that is needed and be gone again, and the story proceed, giving way to yet another and another. | Now whether or not this makes for improvement in a theatrical play may be open to question (Indeed the gen€ral opinion among critics is that it does not) but it does testify to one fact and that is that the ease with which it ig possible to flash back scenes upon the film is one that has been appreciated by, at all events, one writer of plays, and its adoption in a play of another type would probably emphasise its great advantage. It is interesting too, as showing that the new spirit that is evident among the more enterprising personalities in the theatrical world are not averse from taking a leaf out of the filmproducer’s book. The presentation of dramatic stories upon the screen has followed the convention of the play in so many directions that it would be churlish to grudge the theatre its borrowing of the ‘‘ flashback ’’ as a means to produce any desired effect. There is, however, yet another way in which the film has an advantage over the stage, and that is in the different angle from which it is possible within a very short space of time.to view a scene. The interior and exterior of a hut, for instance, cannot be shown effectively through the proscenium arch of a theatre at one time, but it is possible to show the characters without and those within in a very short space of time through the medium of the film. It would be interesting if the method followed at Drury Lane (which is altogether one of lighting) could be adapted to help in this direction, and in this and in many other ways establish new and helpful conventions. That theatrical presentation is not standing still but is endeavouring to discover better means by which to appeal to its patrons is evidenced by the recent publication of a book by two American writers on stagecraft, as a result of a lengthy journey to various Continental centres. They record the depth of setting which they found in some centres and which German film producers are emphasising in their newer productions (an example of which has recently been seen over here in ‘‘ Peter the Great ray and they chronicle too the new ways in which lighting is used to intensify effect. It would be difficult. to estimate exactly the debt which the stage owes to the studio in such matters, but it is certainly not without significance that the stage which, so far as its mechanical effects go, stood practically still over a long period should, since the development of kinematography, have made such adventurous efforts in scenic effects, and such noteworthy experiments in lighting and presentation as those obtaining at Drury Lane: Owing to the absence of the spoken word the film has been obliged to emphasise the visual medium of telling its story, and this need has led to the development to an extraordinary degree of the limited range of its appeal: There is, however, no reason why, if the results already achieved can be used in other directions, the theatre should not take over for its own use many of the methods-hitherto looked upon as the special province of the film.