The world film encyclopedia (1933)

468 News on the Screen to the old adage " the camera cannot lie," and captured local colour in a way which the sound film had never been able to do. The first company to adopt this new medium was British ]\Iovietone News, formed in 1929. One of the initial problems that confronted this company was the question of fast transport. The talkie equipment, which then weighed well over a ton, had to be moved slowly, and was installed with great precision and much waste of time. It limited their output ; and their first films consisted of only two items, the Trooping of the Colours and the Derby. It M'as not until the whole equipment was packed neatly into a fast-moving vehicle that a news editor could send his screen reporters anj^vhcre at any time. Some indication of the progress which has been made in this direction is given b}' the fact that the sound newsreel has now equalled all the records of the silent film, and such events as the Grand National and Cup Final are heard and seen at the principal cinemas some three hours after they take place. There is no ver}^ great dissimilarity between the routine of the news cameraman and the newspaper reporter, except that one creates his impressions with a pen, and the other with a camera. Scoops and exclusixe stories mean the same to both, for they are both sent on their errands by editors who, in turn, get their information from the same sources. Time is just as important to the screen reporter as it is to the newspaper man. If the latter has to fly in the air for his stor}^ the former can follow to-day with almost equal facility. In many instances the screen man uses a hand-camera and adapts the sound later. The outdoor staff of the news-reel company generally consists of about a dozen men. Three or four fast sound-trucks or vans are in constant use, and twenty subjects a week are invariabl}^ covered. Of these the editor chooses six, and having linked them together, sends the finished film to the laboratories to be reproduced. Generally 200 copies are made, each of which is shown at about 5 cinemas, and then scrapped (with the exception of one cop\^ which is carefully preserved in a library). The cost of renting a film for its fir^t three days' run is about ^{lo, the value diminishing as the subject grov.s older. Thus on the third week, the cinema need pay as little as ;^3 for a news-reel. No review of this subject would be complete without some reference to the ever-growing popularity of cinemas which devote their programmes entirely to news-films. One of these, with a seating capacity of 500, recently reported that over 2,000,000 people had paid for admission in tlie course of two years. As with most other films the news-reel makes entertainment its principal object, but it is impossible to overlook its historical and educational value. Recently this aspect was brought home very vividl\^ by Pathe Pictures, Ltd. (formerly Pathe Freres), wiio marked the occasion of their twenty-first birthday by showing a film consisting of cuttings from news-reels taken during the compan^-'s long and eventful career. Among the subjects it portrayed were the Coronation of King George V. and the Investiture of the Prince of Wales. It was as though by some miraculous effort the clock had been reversed and we were travelling back over the roads of yesterday. It had its romantic qualities, of course, but it was as a true historian that the film earned its highest praise.