THE MOVING PICTURE BOOM.

Grey River Argus, 24 November 1910, Page 1

THE MOVING PICTURE BOOM.

■■ •. • ■ .■ /■^■^- -■■- -„. ■ i . ■••'.-■.vV , 'Greymouth, .ljke":m : ost o.ther towns ip New Zealand, numbers .among its >rei sidents a goodly number of moving picture patrons and anything relating to the business is. bound to be of interest. It is exactly twenty-one years ago since the idea of moving pictures broke from its bud, Discovered by/a mere accident on the part of a worid}lamed scientist, master minds- set to work to perfect the idea, and it rei mained for .that 'modern wizard, Edison, ;to introduce the moving picture \as we know it. to-day.. t Writing in a magazine recently h e said :— A faithful and natural reproduction of a scene, with all its details, and with all the motions of the objects in the scen^ was the end I had in view when I started on my experiments which re^--1 suited in 1889 in the modern moving picture. . . Undoubtedly stereoscopic pictures in correct colors in combination, with a reproduction by a phonograph of all . the sounds will soon be available,, and we. shall then have a device which will give, to the eye ancl ear practically the same effects as the original production did. When .vhis ii accomplished, moving , pctures, even more than they, do .now, .will bring tb everyone an absolutely correct idea of foreign peoples, their manners, cus|toms, and speech, of the scenery of; the world, of all the industries anti pursuits of man, with a fuller realisa--tion of 'the toil and skill required to gi/e us the common objects which we use daily.. Moving: pictures have already had a Jtremendous education^ effect. This is true of the seemingly pxirely amusement moving pictures^ Little cross sections of life are shown in them, staged and acted infinitely ■ better than are the cheap shows given at considerably higher prices. When to these are added the thousands of historical, industrial, scientific, arid scenic moving pictures which have been shown in the past 15 years, it is

obvious that the moving picture is an important, factor in the -world's intel- ' - letrutr^dtveldpment. ~ 'This geriefH.' diffusion of information is having and will have a great upliftng effect on , the morality of mankind. It will wipe out the narrpW-minded prejudices whichT are founded ' on ignorance, it will create a feeling oT sympathy and a desire to help the downtrodden peoptes of the earth, and it will give new. ideals to be followed. For this reason", I believe that the moving picture presents a ready means in the hands of the broad T minded,-. intelligent and informed workers for the world's good, for the innocent amusement, efficient instruction, and the moral advance of the great, masses of the people.'' - „,. ...-• „,

As showing the dimensions of the boom in New Zealand it ds computed that on Monday, November 21, there were 55 theatres or shows-, 'devoted wholly or in part to moving pictures, and of these. one firm, John Fuller and Sons, either directly controlled or supplied with films 34, involving the handling of some 150,000 feet of film weekly. It seems only a matter of ti.ns when the flesh and blood actor will c unknown to audiences except per medium of the wonder working kinematograph; as a remarkable vogue has set in for what is known as "Picturesdrama," which consists of, in the first place, dramatising, a book or play into a form suitable for the kinematograph, photographing the dramatisation, and when reproduced - ; have the whole lectured on" from, the stajfe. This form of entertainment, it may be stated, was introduced to Australia by the enterprising- MacMahons, who, it will be remembered, first introduced the kinematograph to New Zealand. They have successfully produced two picture 'dramas, the first of which, founded on the late Marcus Clarke's world-famous book "For, the Term of. His Natural Life," has been secured for' New Zealand by the Fullers, and will shortly be presented here by the Taylor-Carrington management.