THEATRE CONTROL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20743, 10 December 1930, Page 16

THEATRE CONTROL.

PLANS OF FOX FILMS.

VISIT OF MR. S. S. CRICK. TALKING PICTURE DEVELOPMENT. "There, is no intention at the present moment of the Fox Company becoming thcatro owners in New Zealand," said Mr. S. S. Crick, managing director for Ihe Fox Films Corporation in Australia and New Zealand, on his arrival from Sydney by the Ulimaroa yesterday. This statement was made with reference to tho recent acfion of the corporation in taking over the lloyt chain of theatres in Australia.

Speaking of talking picture developments in tho United States, which ho recently visited ii connection with the Australian purchase, Mr. Crick said tho most interesting move was the proposed establishment by American film-producing companies of multi-lingual studios in Europe with the object of overcoming the language difficulty. All the big corporations were discussing this problem when fio was in America, and tho trend seemed to point to a transfer on a largo scalo of film-making activities to London, Berlin and Paris.

When tho "talkies" came in, said Mr. Crick, tho American companies found their field narrowed down to tho Englishspeaking nations, and all kinds of ideas had been advanced to enable tho field to be widened. From what he had gathered lie believed that almost immediately tho big American interests would begin making 20 per cent., or perhaps 25 per cent., of their films in the capitals of Europe, employing English, French and German actors alternately in each film. It was difficult to adopt this plan in New York or Hollywood, because the supply oj foreign actors was far too limited, but by building studios in Europe foreign actors could bo used freely, and tho samo settings could bo usod to produce a film in several languages at tho same time. Since the introduction of tho talking picture the legitimate play in America bad "gone by tho board," said Mr. Crick. "I was in New York in the fall," he said, "when all tho companies were dressing their windows with their latest wares, so to speak, and in every theatre tho legitimate play had disappeared, with the exception of such plays as 'Lisistrata' and 'Green Pastures,' which present a novel viewpoint to tho public. "Can the talking picture retain that position ? Definitely yes. It can do so by improvement, and improvement is manifest. Tho tendency is now to get away from all this backstage and musical comcdy-cum-ballet stuff and replace it with good strong drama with novel situations. In other words, the producers are realising at last that tho play is the thing. In this advance I include Great Britain, which, although handicapped in the past, is now coming into her own with good solid drama."

Mr. Crick said he believed tho fullstage screen, which has been tho subject of much experimenting in tho . United States, would not come into general use for some time. Tho difficulty was the undue cost of the plant. No doubt portions of a film would be enlarged whsro desired, but that would be achieved by the use of a magnified film and not by an enlarged screen.