TALKIES PREFERRED.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXI, Issue 5595, 4 July 1930, Page 4

TALKIES PREFERRED.

SCIENCE FORGES AHEAD. FATE OF THE COUNTRY ’ ( PICTURES. (By “ Cinema.”) This Friday evening, for the first time for many years, the Ngatea Public Hall will be deserted, and tomorrow evening will likewise see the beginning of a period of silent Saturday nights at the Waitakaruru Public Hall. After having screened pictures regularly once or twice a week since November 16, 1920, Mr H. A. Hamilton, of the Capitol Picture Circuit, has had to close down at Ngatea. Three years ago his circuit consisted of fourteen screenings a week—henceforth it will be two.

Science forges ahead, and in its advance old methods are cast aside. First came motor cars to take people to the towns and cities .where they could do their shopping before attending the luxurious picture theatres. Then came radio to provide amusement at one’s own fireside at a minute fraction of the cost of pictures, and finally the death knell was sounded , with .. the advent of the “ talkies.” " Already hundreds of picture shows throughout the Province have closed down, and it is confidently predicted that within six months there will not be one single old time picture show remaining. Not even will remote back-blodk settlements away from the influence of the “talkies”- benefit by the closing down of shows nearer the large centres, for so keen has been the competition in the past few years that had any place warranted' even a tri-weekly show it has been provided. So small has the demand become for silent films that exhibitors have begun to experience difficulty in securing programmes. They are not being made . In fact, the advent of the “talkies” to New Zealand caused hundreds of films to be shipped back to the American film exchanges without having been cleared from the bond stores. ,

Talkies and Radio. There is no doubt that in time the “talkies” will become as popular as the “silent” pictures were in the days before radio entered the field of popular entertainment, but that time is some distance off, and meanwhile it is the centres like Ngatea and Waitakaruru which must suffer. The attendance would not be sufficient to warrant the installation of a permanent plant costing many hundred pounds for one or two nights use a week and, as yet, the manufacturers of “talkie” machines have been too busy to turn their attention to the production of satisfactory portable machines. There are cheap portable machines on the market, but few exhibitors would risk their reputation and their money by using them, while the good machines ' cost considerably more in initial outlay and also in .service charges than the splendid plants in the big theatres. The Portable Machine. Prices are coming down for machines, just as they have come down for “talkie” films, as the supply has increased to meet the demand, and possibly within a few months’ time such exhibitors as Mr. IJamilton will be able to secure a plant which will meet the requirements of a country circuit. Then, unless in the meantime science has forged still furtherahead and made television popular, or the drift to the towns becomes too pronounced to be arrested, will the small country halls, such as at Ngatea., Waitakaruru, Nether-ton and Patetonga become the: general weekly meeting place for- the community. In the meantime, the Hauraki Plains is fortunate in having a good “talkie” installation at'Kerepeehi,, where splendid pictures are frequently “seen and heard,” while Paeroa, as of yore, draws its big quota of persons from “the Plains.”