NEWS FROM FILMLAND

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 104, 1 May 1920, Page 18

NEWS FROM FILMLAND

Over £120,000,000 is now invested in the business of producing films. The daily attendance at picture houses in America is 25,000,000 people, or one. in every four of the population. One of the -most useful films ever taken was shown recently in a college where medical students are instructed. It was of'a man's digestive organs, and of the slow process of digestion. It was taken by a- machine which combines the virtues of 'X-rays and the cinema camera. "Movie Chats" is the title of a scries of one-reel pictures which are being released by Mr. Charles Urban, who ia, ifamed throughout the world for 'his wonderful film issues of an educational character, in which he has during the past twenty years. These "Movie Ohats" include stories and episodes of actual experience. The news that the Broadwcst Film Company have taken over the entire control of the Windsor Company is highly important from the British producer's point of view. By the acquisition of these new studioe, "it is snid that Mr. Walter West is now the possessor of more studio floor space than tiny other producer in Europe. "Flouring" an elephant is tlic latest stunt in photoplay production. The scenario of Matlge Kennedy's picture "The Blooming Angel" called for a pinlc elephant. The owner of Eno objected to the use of paint or whitewash, so they tried covering her with flour. Eno developed a liking for the stuff and kept sucking it otV with her trunk. It kept a force of property men busy, all morning applying fresh flour, until she lost her appetite for it. It is a nuisance to hear crying babies during a cinema performance, and some mothers cannot leave their little ones at home. This problem has been solved in America, -where they have instituted the "noise-proof" cin«ma' theatre. As well as the usual auditorium for adults, there is built along one side of the theatre a glass enclosed space, in which noisy Ibabiea can <;ry to their hearts' content in their mothers' arms, while the mothers can sec the "pictures" on the screen .quite easily through the glass. "The authorities are preparing a strong anti-flu' campaign in which the film features prominently," says the "Weekly Dispatch." "The Ministry of Health have approved a eeries of pictures, sent over from Paris by aeroplane, illustrating the best methods of preventing infection. They will he exhibited all over the country, and it is hoped that by this method much will be done in the way of educating people to ward oft the disease. The film illustrates the. best method of gargling with permanganate of potash—one way of preventing an attack." The value of California for taking widely different environment without going beyond the State borders is well illustrated in the new Croldwvn picture "'Roads of "Destiny," starring Pauline Frederick. An Alaskan dance haJl, a beautiful home on Long Island, and a Mexican ranch are nil shown in the picture, and all were filmed iri California. The snowy mountains round Trutkee j furnished "the setting for the Alaskan j scene. The desert near Victorvillc was the background for the ranch scene, and ! a palatial home in Los Angeles was j rented for the Lond Island episode. Miss j Frederick plj(ye four different characters in "Roads of Destiny." It is an interesting fact that both Maurice Maeterlinck and Vincente Blaseo Ibanez are great believers in the sterling worth of the cinema, as demonstrated by their printed statements. The author of 'The Blue Bird" has already viewed his work on the screen: and the Spanish novelist is to see the' most celebrated of lite stories in fi,lm form within the next few weeks. Tt was Ruth Clifford who was singled out by the Belgian poet for the greatest compliment of her fife. Maurice Maeterlinck named, in an. interview, ths stars whom he deemed best in American films. They -were Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, W. S. Hart, Bessie Love, and > Ruth Clifford, The poet met Miss Clifford subsequently, and was the guest of a dinner given by the star to him and his, wife. Judging by tho following incident related in a Birmingham paper, it would seem that fact is stronger than film": Sir. E. E. Bashame tells of an extraordinary experience while filming the story of "Salvage," for Dr. Barnardo'3 Homea. Not ap hour from London there is a primitive village, the houses of which are squalid, desolate and very dirty, taking after their occupants. Mr. Bashame with his camera men and party discovered the farm setting required, I and were about to take "shots," when out of the dismal dwelling opposite there appeared some strange specimens of humanity. The women, both old and young, were hideous, with thin, tousled hair, many of them partly bald. Their teeth_ were wide apart, more like fangs than respectable molars, and their eyes appeared to be devoid of lashes and very small. Some had sacking round their shoulders, and their skirts hung rather more off than on. Their speech consisted of guttural grunting. Mr. Bashame was so struck by this extraordinary state of affairs that he is having some special photographs taken,of these prehistoric people in their Stone Age surroundings. The Birmingham "Weekly Post"' makes the following remarks anent cinema stunts: "The pictures of motorcar accidents are really acted. The producer of to-day knows that he cannot afford to fake accidents. In one case a motor-car was supposed to dash just in front of an express train. It I did so, but just a fra«tion of a second too late, with the result that the latter half, of the car was carried clean away cut off as it. were with a knife. The driver escaped unhurt. Some time ago, in a film entitled "The Perils of Pauline," the heroine jumped from the top of a cliff and was lassoed in mid-air."- They are, however, a little out of focus in regard to the "Perils of Pauline." The real incident was this: Pauline was captured by Indians, who arranged her exit from things mundane by the gentle agency of the "Death Ston«." She was given a start down the hill, and a huge boulder was sent rolling after her. Her rescuer lassoed Pauline within a~few feet of the Death Stone. This intended awe-inepiring boulder, even to the uninitiated eye, judging by- its remarkable bouncing proclivities, resembled an imperfectlyshaped gigantic football rather than asolid rock.