Screen Stars and Films

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 4 August 1923, Page 23

Screen Stars and Films

THEATRE. STRAND NATIONAL EVERYBODY'S

PRODUCTION. "Hunting Big Game in Africa." "The Christian." "The Light in the Dark."

■n • "There if nothing that requires more m serious effort than the successful creatn. ing of motion pictures or stage playa ia that will make the public laugh, , ' says is I.upino Lane. "Since I was a. mere youngster I ? ;iave. ibeen studying" and practising the business oi eomio pantomime, and in every performance on the etage, and in every picture on the screen 1 have learned something n ,, "' and vahiaWo to aid invocation. Literally hundreds of people have asked mo what it i? that makes people laugh and I have found it the moiC difficult of all questions to answer, rttit there are several fundamental principles is Inch always hold good. Iα the fust place, it always is the unexpected which hrings the moat spontaneous outburst of laughter. There is another principle ■which makes for success in the 'art' of pantomime. That is tiie. fa- t that the. average prrson takes preat do light in sceinir his frllow man in ridiculous or embarrassing circumstances. There isn't a one of us who can resist tec temptation to laugrh wupn we see a man slip on the icy pavement and fall, despite the fact we feel exceedingly sorry for him. However, when wo Imppen to slip ourselves, we become exceedingly angry at anyone whom we see laughing at us. It is more or less the same way when we. are looking at a motion picture comedy- Wβ love to laugh •when we ccc the 'other fellow' get himself into ridiculous, embarrassing or precarious situations —and when this is followed hy the performance of eornetiling entirely unexpt-oted, it. just adds to our general feeling of merriment.' .

'• Shadows of the North" has been selected a? the final title for William Desmond's second TTniversa! attraction. TVsmond is supported by Virginia Browne Faire and Kintintin, the famous canine star. "Thundering Dawn' , has been chosen as the final title for the Jewel picture which Harry Garson has been producing tor the last two months at his studio near Universal City under the working title of "Havoc." A tidal wave and earthquake arc the features of this production, in which Anna Q. Xflsson, .T. Warren Kerrigan and Tom Santschi play the major roles. Kow they say that Mnx Under, having recovered from a fall from an alp and a smash-up in a automobile wreck, has disappeared, disappeared utterly, and efficiently, and completely. But nobody ie very muoh worried, lor they say, in Parisian circles, that the little French oomedian has eloped with the daughter of a millionaire who, like the heavy father in 'Tho 'Studio Secret." does not approve ef motion-picture idols for sons-in-law. The laet few monthe tor Max have ibeen something of a scenario, with the usual affectionate fadeout. Sherlock Holmes ie one of the twst knoTrn characters in fiction of the present generation. His name and fame have be«n carried over the civilised world tintil merely to pronounce tinname conjures up a vision of a master detective of almost euper-human intelligence. In every language the words. Sherlock Holmes, mean a detective of uncanny ir.-ight. Arthur Conaji Doyle's famous character will t>c .«ocn in Auckland shortly in tho fihn version of the stajre play based upon the stories. Dhe photoplay has been produced by Goldwyn. and will present John Barrymore in the role of Sherlock Holmes.

The reproduction <->f rlio voice Fynehrpiiously uith the movement promi&ca a now ora tor t'i<- motion pioturo, and apparently this has already been e«cffii»£ully Mr. Vivian Brain, a Pylr.py graduate, in a rct'ont letter from t!ie General I-Jeftri.' Works. S.-heneotarly. V.V.. saye: "I semi you a piece of the film used in

Margaret Landis, sister of Oullen Landis, whose screen experience already includes a very fine, part in "What Wives Want," has been cast, to support Roy •Stewart in "The Love Brand.'' just going into production. Enthusiastic reports come from' Berlin of the first film made in (Soviet Russia, "PolikuscWca," dramatised from ft novel fry Loo Totetoy. The story la about a peasant who lived on the Tolstoy family estate during the period of serfdom, and the principal role ie taken '\v .T. "SI. Maskvin, a member of the Moscow _\rt Theatre. Tim film was protlur-ed wnder great difficulties, but the members of the Totetoy family and ■the curator of the Tolstoy Museum in Stoecow are so satisfied with it that they have decided to make attempts to prevent any Tolstoy films being made "uttide Russia. The profits of the film arc to be yiven to the International Workers' TTelp for Soviet Russia. "The moving picture business has 2iven much promise of becoming a definite part in the culture of a community, but at the present time it is facing a crisis which will finally determine whether moving pictures will be creations of art to educate and inspire the or mere entertainment for holiday times." dpclares Rodolph Valentino. "1 know people to-day are asking 'what is the matter with the movie?,' and they have every right to ask this question, for it is a pertinent one. I se e it, the 'matter , is just this, a film star's reputation is built up to a. point where a. definite turnover can l>e relied upon for releases in which he is featured, then the pictures he appears in are cheapened both in the etory and setting used and the -fJTfrJlic is expected to patronise -these pictures becauJfe of a particular star. This system works unfairly all round in thnt it hurts tjio local picture-house owner's business. destroys the star's reputation -with tut; PU'olic'and disguste tbe latter Tvith the TO kole moving picture business."

I the pallo-photophone. This is the new machine that hae been invented by an i engineer named Hoxie. at the works. llt photographs eound, and then by 'directing v beam of light through the . tilm on to a suitable photo-electric cell !is to reproduce the aound. The I long word pallo-photophonc comes from I the Greek words, which means enakingj light-speech. I ha w it in operation. I reproducing speech through two loud .speakers. A machine having the appearance of a cinema wae in the centre of the room, and through it was running an ordinary 'movie , film, which, however, had none of the ordinary scenes on it, merely the strange comb-like markings which you sec on the sample. Through the film was shining a small tout intense beam of light, which played on a glass tube similar to a vacuum tube. This v.ac the 'shaking light' but of course, its vibration* were much too rapid to ibc seen by !he human eye. The loud speakers «.-,■<. giving a lecture. T put my hand in the light beam and tiK-y were silent.. I took it away and tliey picked up the lecture again. Pound is received into a email horn and directed on to a diaphragm which i s connected ■to a m;nute mirror with an cquallv small lever system. Vibration of the diaphragm rotates the mirro- in one direct.on or the other. The light is reflected oh the mirror on to the film to photograph the SoU nd. The feature which makes for such good reproduction oi sounds, especially o f speech, is the KIT v , thß dia P hra ? ni and lever extern, which are of eU cfa small mass £$ have * natural frequency of ° W " P er <*«»d. This enables them to catch practically the whole of the £?tXthTLr££r movie p lrtU res. with which the vo i* WOUltl 'be synchronic,!" Thr nallo Photophone records Ure a,o *£„ transmitted by wirelcas

NEW RELEASES THIS WEEK.

BRAND. STAR. Diz. Goldwyn Mac Busch & Richard First National Hope Hampton.

■■Following "William S. Hart's Tetirement, which the whole photoplay-loviruf ! world' hoped was only temporary, we hail ' arrived at. a point where we lioped to Ibe .it>le to announce his return to the | scree.n." cays Jesse h. Lasky, first vice- . president, of the Famous Players—Lasky ■Corporation. "When this trouble, based ,on the chargn which now has been absolutely repudiated, arose, I was firmly lennvin.-ed of Mr. Hurt's integrity and I the public".* ability to reacli just con I elusion*. Knowing Jiiin innocent, I rcjpeiitedly urged him to appear again as la star in Paramount Pictures. Mr. Hart < - arae to we mc several times. I knew no one believed the charges against him, and I strove to convince him that this was so. But Mr. Hart, splendid man that he and supersensitive, refused to return to tile screen until there remained no shadow of doubt us to his innoceme in the mind of a tingle person in the whole world. He possessed strong convictions upon tho necessity of keeping faith with the public. He resolutely refused to return iinlese he could eharo liis old-time sense of comradeship with those he worked to entertain.' , "No one appreciates the value of an intelligent censorship of the movies more than I." eaid Rodolph Valentino in a recent interview. "I believe that the censorship is desirable, but what I t.iiJik is needed is an intelligent censorship. My own idea of one would be to have the 'board composed of outstanding pcopla engaging in the moving picture business to pace on the pictures, j Of course thoso selected should be of upright moral character, and have tho t confidence of both the public and the moving picture people fhomaelvce. This may geom a far-fetched idea to you. but I 'believe, that suoh a board would be far more cab&ble than the present censorship boards for this reason: the people on the board would have a very good idea ac to what people in the moving picture business were prone to produce "risque" films "and would be aible to bar these without injury to productions of genuine artistic merit. Then again, such a iboard would bo freer from political and prudieh interference than are those at present. As an example, in the State of Pennsylvania the word '"love" must not appear in print on the screen, and the reference to motherhood la likewise forbidden. Such a censorship is quite as harmful to the development of truly artistic moving pictures as no censorship at all." Fane hart) Vfome familiar wifTi the greys, the browns, the amber, the tones or greon, u-ith whioh producers have of la.te years emphasised morning and evening effect?, or have 'lidded -beauty to scenic eliota and thing* like that; but they have etill to see fho emotions of the actor's intensified and softened •by colours as the story unfolds. There has been a growing use of lighting — atmospheric lighting, it has Wt4l called —end combinations of high lights and sha<ioive to emphasise the action; but these have usually been put on the screen in greye. It remained for one of ' the delegates to tho recent international ' on motion picture arts in New j York to urge the application <if all '■ knowledge of colour psychology io filmmaking. This man is Alfred S. Kitchens, of the reeearch department of tiieAns.'o Company, Xcw s'ork. "One of the important things ivt tho production of artistic motion piwuree, although up to now it has been somewhat neglected, , ' he said, "is the proper selection of colour for sets, make-up, and the geometric proportioning of sets. It is true, of course, that the bigger pictures are. satisfactory both from an artistic and photographic standpoint, •but a largo percentage of the minor .pictures are anything "out pleasing. The -matter of tinting and toning is one that calls for some attention. Apparently there ie no serious attempt to utilise tho available knowledge of colour j psychology, and results arc frequently! seen upon the screen in colours that' ■bear no relation, and more often than not are entirely opposed, to tiic eraoI tions portrayed."' Some interesting thoughts on motion picture progress were voiced to an interviewer when Maurice Tourneur was in Xew York, after his return from England, 'VVithjn the last decade the art of making pictures has developed in an amazing way." said Mr. Tourneur, "and yet we arc just at the beginning. There is no way of preserving human thought more vividly than in the movies. Suppose you want to counteract corruption or graft? Instead of using a lew preachy sentences that would make your audiences yawn and squirm in their eeats—the close-up of a 'big check thrown on tho screen hits the audience between the eyej, and shows them the enormitj- of the theft. We are becoming more adept every year in tho use of symbolism and suggestion in the films. We have learned to do mui'h in conveying an impression. Pictures do not need to be realistic. An actual photograph of Africa might bo tar le«s impressive to us than an artist's impression of Africa." "There is too much obvious striving fonbeauty in screen pictures." Mr. Tourneur continued. '"In fact, it has degenerated in Eomc instances to mere prettineeSj and in admiration of that quality the onlooker loses his interest in the etory itself. Another thing that often d<*tract* from the interest of tile story ie the emphasis put on certain plajtrs. A strong dramatic story couid be told with no 'big names in the cast of players. Then the interest would centre in the action of tiie piece and in the vital iinpuUe underlying it, and nobody would caro whether the leading woman lobbed "her hair or how often the leading man changed his neckties or his I hats."