IN FILMLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18215, 7 October 1922, Page 8 (Supplement)

IN FILMLAND.

Tho alchemy of make-up played ane.ven more important part in the life of the professional beauty in tho days of Napoleon than it does at the present time. Recently, the research department of the Norma Talmadge Company discovered that the Empress Josephine owned a toilet set of some 120 pieces which had heen presented to her by tho city ot Paris. Miss Talmadge said to have had an exact duplicate made for the boudoir scene in " The Eternal Flame.

Thanks to iChaplin, English comedy has conquered the American cinematograph field. Tho comic American films were made up—and many still are—of stupid knockabout and slapstick comedy. When the Keystone Company engaged the young English mime, seven or eight years ago, his first appearance gave the management a surprise. He' already knew the value of expression and Fred Karno had taught him that to fling the limbs in no matter how joyous a frenzy comes to nothing unless the movements or lacks of movements are correct to the desired typo.

In .the old days, when the proud mother took dear baby to have his photograph taken, it was a trying time for all concerned—especially for baby. Refusing to be taken in by the polite fktior that if ho kept still and looked at the gentleman he would Bee a little dicky bird pop out of the camera, he rolled about and howled, and very properly resented tho entire proceedings. But now that film photographs are fashionable, ho doesn't have to keep still at all, and does just what he likes, while the. camera man stands by and turns tho handle. Tho result is a living picture of tho sweet infant which will ultimately bo projected on the drawing room wall for the benefit of admiring friends and relations.

Vienna's world-wide reputation as a centre of medical science is likely to bo enhanced by a remarkable experiment, in the application of tho cinematograph. Under tho auspices of tho State a series of films has been taken for educational service in the highest branches of surgery. The most important are two pictures of operations performed in the University surgery by Dr. Lorenz, one of the most famous of European surgeons. Intended for posterity, as woll as for the instruction of present-day students, they are described by experti as likely to become classic examples of surgical science. Not only is each phase shown in closest detail, but critical stages are reproduced in enlargement. These films are intended for tho exclusive use of doctors and students.

During the war, film production in England, and indeed in most parts of Europe, came practically to a standstill. The United States flooded every available marke.t with films, of which some were good and some were bad. Of their present' output there arc certainly vastly more bad films than there are good ones. Now matters are beginning to take on a very different complexion. Swedish films, in particular, are as good as any which have yet been produced, while with British pictures not only is the rapid recovery something quite phenomenal but British producers are beginning to turn out films which may rank with the very best. Such a film is " A Prince of Lovers," the Gaurmont production and third on the National Film League programme, which has had recently a good run at the Philharmonic Hall, London. It is British from beginning to end— story, artists, producer, and settings alike. What is, perhaps, just as important, this same story—the romantic career of Lord Byron—-while being so thoroughly British in every respect, is calculated to excite profound interest in other countries than England.