THE "TALKIES."

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19610, 4 May 1929, Page 7

THE "TALKIES."

PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND. FOX COMPANY'S PROJECT

An important step in the film industry in Australia and New Zealand will be the production, locally, of talkie pictures. This announcement is made by Mr 8. S. Crick, managing-director of Fox Movietones, who is at present visiting New Zealand. Mr Criek states that complete equipment for producing "movietones" will shortly arrive, and it is proposed to produce films throughout Australia and New Zealand. Mr Crick says that while the American or Continental-produced silent films were quite satisfactory for exhibition in Australia and New Zealand, the introduction of speech and sound effects brought several complications into the industry. Formerly a film could be given Australian "atmosphere" even though it were produced hi America. The speech factor, however, made this right out of the question. An Australian bushman with a Yankee cowboy accent would be greeted with derision bv Colonial audiences. The apparatus will be quite portable, savs Mr Crick, and will be mounted in a special truck, so that the question of transport will present no difficulty. His company proposes to commence with this project in the immediate future, so that the new films will be available for New Zealand and Australian audieneea while talkie presentation, as far as these countries are concerned, is still in its earliest stages.