THE "RUN THROUGH"

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2217, 1 August 1914, Page 6

THE "RUN THROUGH"

•-•' THE NEW FILM. 1 ,; ■ BEFOREI "CHANGE" NIGHT. '.-..■ (Bt Ata Ata.) . The new star film is baring'its trial run through in th> deserted picture theatre, and the ■management, censors for the nonce, are carefully studying the actors ras they play their'parts in the development of the etory:' The monotonous . click of the , machine suddenly, ceases. The screen is blank.-In the operating room two men bend over a yard or more' of picture" film. • , Snip, snip, and the scissors "expurgate" a good twelve inches of the film. An application of film cement and the'severed drama is once more whole. Again thr i screen becomes a stage of life undei tho alert(pyes of the censor, for.his reputation ,as a manager and the' good name of his theatre is at stake.. From Producer to Soreen. From the producer to the screen there are for the average film three' distinct stages.- The producers sell;or lease k'.' film to a distributing firm. The: distributing firm generally has a circuit of theatres! to supply, andyflie. fihn is hired out to the managers of these theatres,'and the film is at length thrown on the screen for the benefit of the patrons. From fourpence to, sixpence per foot is the , price of an ordinary programme item, but not always does the producer sell outright. There was shown recently in;a Wellington theatre a picture play of more than usual magnitude, and of this its makers permitted the film distributors to have only the lease. A few years'wear and tear and the celluloid would he seared and scar-, red, and the maker's name would fall into disrepute, so this particular drama . 'is to be returned at the expiry of the lease,- when it will probably be destroy-.' ed, and a copy , reissued. "With minor productions, however, this .]is, not so, and the big purchasersfforward-their ■ goods te agencies throughout the world , , and .after the vicissitudes .of_a short lifetime.-.they 'are usually to ■ - oblivion.-.''■.■■■•::.■/;. -■'■■;: -■•-■;:-;■- ■•-■ '.."'.

■ Sixty feet, of film are rattled through' the machine a minute —the patrons of the modern picture theatre, see thirty shillings' worth, of kaleidoscopic photo-' graphy.'' An hour and a- half ,is the,.' length of the usually continuous programme, and in that time between five and six thousand feet of film have pass-' ed through' the machine'., The tastes' and '' desires of his patrons gives constant-food I'for thought to the manager.' Experi'erice alone tells him when he has pleased. '■ ,- . Of Dramas and "Comics." Drama is the chief portion of hie, programme.. One of the. 5000 feet oi, items, 3000 and sometimes- more is, given -to drama. And anything will not do. Cheap • sensationalism of the melodrama iype is not appreciated.. The. slow-moving and stately acting of some Continental producers is, on the screen, ineffective. The highly-coloured and . improbable plot and machinations of s principal villain are treated with pension. The drama of, aristocratic life, is i-enerally overdone. The play of modem society .life is ■ apparently what. - draws. But no matter how. excellent; the acting, How brilliant,the setting, or how emotional is the appeal to the sympathies, tho undemonstrative, spectator gbas little or no sign; only the manager's instinct, sixth, sense,:-., .or. whatever' else it might bo called, in.forms him whether or.not.the.picture ie going to draw. , "Comics" come second to drama, and ■a 1000-foot film is considered lengthy. Here again the likes and dislikes of the public change. A few; years and th€ } 'chase" picture.. showing a .ludicrous pursuit by crowds of nondescripts, the crockery-smasher, and .kindred knock*., about ''comics" were strong draws.. This idea, of humour was evanescent and of it theatregoers will now have none. "Comics", of more • doubt ul kind leaving an. unpleasant taste, alse &ad their day WfW ™nd" comedv is demanded, and the demand Supplied. However slow to show apvrSU the habitue , of the pictures, f<; not slow to show his displeasure-and to obviates the, necessity of a censorship. . ...''- ■ " ■