TRANSITION

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 57, 8 March 1930, Page 11

TRANSITION

SILENT TO SOUND

FILM EXHIBITOR'S PURSE

HOW IT IS AFFECTED

Three years or so ago exhibitors of motion pictures were, as the saying goes, on a fairly good wicket, but that was in the day when the silent film held sway. Exhibitors then knew to within a fair degree of accuracy as to how they stood. But about two. years ago the talkies suddenly burst upon the horizon of the cinema world. They were hailed as the greatest novelty ever seen in the entertainment world, "and exhibitors, at least those who could find the requisite money, tumbled over each other to install the latest of.talkie apparatus. Prospects were certainly alluring. Within a short space of time thirteen out of the twenty-five picture theatres in Wellington and its suburbs were showing talkies, and it was much the same in other Centres.*

But' however reticent exhibitors may be on the subject, it is common knowledge that the advent of the talking picture' has not been an unmixed blessing.' There are troubles in the trade which tend to give exhibitors sleepless nights, and as to the future of the talkies there is a lurking doubt in some minds, although this hardly finds audible expression just yet. But the doubt :is there. Is the fickle public going to tire of the talkies and demand a return to the silent film, or .will it give some other kind of entertainment quite, different? The writing is already on the wall, say some. : , "Without speculating at present. as to the future, it scarcely needs a Sherlock Holmes to diagnose the posi.tion of exhibitors, as it is to-day. The installation of the talkie equipment necessary to keep pace with competitors has cost the exhibitor _ several thousands of pounds, and he is never sure that the morrow will not bring forth a new type of talkie equipment or projection that will render his present installation obsolete. The talkie films he rents cost roughly on an average quite twice as much as did the corresponding quality of silent film, but audiences, iiow that the novelty of the talkies has, somewhat worn off, are- hardly bigger than they used to be in the days when the silent-film reigned . supreme. Not so yery long ago the very fact that an all-talking programme was advertised was sufficient to ensure capacity houses. But talkies are now the accepted thing, and. it. requires a good talkie to, fill a tig theatre daily for a season. "And," says piie exhibitor, "good' talkies are few and far between. For those that really."are good the film . exchanges charge such high rentals that the showing of "them tends towards, ceasing' to be an economic proposition." Bad talkies', he went on to say, were infinitely "worse than bad- silent films, and easily eclipsed the'latter as.theatreemptiers." ."I suppose the reason is," he added, humorously, "because one can sleep/lulled by the orchestra, through a bad silent picture with far greater ease than is the case if tinned music and tinned voices are incessantly blaring at you." TAKINGS AND RENTALS. A : "Post" representative making_ inquiries:- on- the subject found Wellington exhibitors - inclined to 4)e reticent oii the, subjection -the charges, made^ t>v film exchanges for talkies. Although not as talkative as: the exhibitors ■in Auckland, who are reported as having said that they are grossly overcharged and are going to take concerted action to bring the rental prices ,of talkies down to a more reasonable level, it was obvious from several conversations held that' much the same feeling exists in.. some quarters amoiugst ./Weir lington exhibitors^ It seenied. .to. ; be the general impression that prices would fall, as the new industry adjusted itself, or,. failing that, that there would be a crash somewhere. The smaller theatres, it was pointed out, could not carry on much longer as things were. , It was stated, but the statement may have been inspired by the spirit of rivalry,.that quite a number of talkie theatres were now admitting children free if accompanied by an adult. t This was a move to help to swell diminishing audiences and was practised in the smaller theatres which, not being able to afford the high rentals for good films, found their box-office receipts getting smaller and smaller. This statement, it should be understood, was made in reference to Auckland, where talkie competition is keener than it is in Wellington, since over twenty of the northern city's -picture theatres now possess talkie equipment. . ■ There are two ways by which an exhibitor secures a talkie film from a film exchange. He may rent it for a given period for a definite sum. If the film proves, to be a good draw, the exhibitor, will.reap the benefit; but, if, on the other hand, it proves to be a frost, then he must stand the whole loss. This flat-rate method of hiring a film is, therefore not very popular, and it is-suggested that much of the squeal about high rentals comes from those who practise it. -,•.-. Although there is no fixed rule on the subject, the method nearly always adopted in the renting of a star production is for the film exchange to let the film on a percentage basis. They require a guarantee of a certain amount and a percentage of the takings. The amount of the guarantee required varies within wide limits according to the nature of the film and other circumstances, but the percentage requirtd is usually from 25 to 30. Exhibitors as a whole prefer to hire on the' percentage basis as it makes their position more secure against the fluctuations of fortune. PROPHETS ARE SCARCE. Speculation as to the future of talkies exhibitors are not inclined to indulge in: the problems of the present are enough for them. It was, however, suggested by an exhibitor that before long the smaller theatres would all be installed with talkie equipment. This the small man could not possibly afford to do himself: even if he did manage to raise sufficient money for the purpose, there was no guarantee that his apparatus would not be out of date in. a year's time, hence he could not take the risk. The installing of talkie equipment, however, would be done by the film exchanges themselves or by the powers behind them in order to pxpand the market for talkie films, the release of which increases by leaps and bounds each month. But another exhibitor characterised this suggestion as sheer nonsense. In his opinion there ■ would remain a demand for the silent film plus a good orchestra, a demand which could be adequately met by the smaller man. Concurrently, talkies would continue to flourish in the bigger tneaires. "Prices," he said,1 "must inevitably adjust themselves to the law of supply and demand, and the song that some exhibitors are now making about rentals is a. passing phase while the industry adjusts itself. Prices for films certainly are too high and must come down, I'lMieve. One thing which cannot, happen is the raising of the price of. admission to,theatres: that the public will never stand, and, if you are ■ repeating for the benefit of the readers p£ fee 'Bost* what I have said, that

is what they will appreciate most. As long'as the public can continue to hear a good talkie or to see a good silent film, whichever they prefer, at the price to which they have been accustomed, the woes or otherwise of exhibitors will not concern them much.".. NOT PUBLIC'S CONCERN. Any agitation about the reduction in the price of film concerns only the exhibitors who do the hiring, and is no concern of the public, declared Mr. Beaumont Smith, . tho managing director of J. C. Williamson Films. "It is a domestic argument," he said, "and I personally refuse to be a party to any agitation in an appeal to the public for support for the reduction at the present time of film hire. My company buys (and other companies likewise) many more films than their theatre or theatres can possibly absorb, and many of those pictures that cannot be used in their theatres are paid for (without the public ever seeing them) with one idea, and that -is to keep the standard of picture entertainment as high- as it is possible. If individual theatres have shown a fall-ing-off. in patronage it is not due to the public tiring of talking pictures, but to the fact that more theatres have opened with talking equipments in every centre, whether it be Wellington, Auckland, Christehureh, Dunedin, or any other centre, and consequently the patronage is being divided between the houses that have talking equipments.

"The film manufacturer and the exhibitor must go hand in hand. If the exhibitor fails, the film manufacturer fails, or vice versa. There is no necessity to bring. any argument between the theatre manager and the picture manufacturer before the public eye. The public looks to the theatre manager to give it the entertainment .that it wants, and when one theatre manager fails to fulfil his duty to the public, then that public will go to another. It is the old juriglo law—the survival of.the fittest!"