TALKIES IN CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

TALKIES IN CHINA.

CAPTIONS IN ENGLISH. INFLUENCE OF HOLLYWOOD. The vogue of the talkies has swept away almost all the silent film cinemas in the big cities of China. In Hong Kong alone there are nc fewer than ten theatres which are catering for the popular taste and presenting American and British sound products. So great is the demand that cinemas which formerly screened only Chinese silent films have replaced them with the victorious talkies. The result is that many of the " old originals " are now being shown, and several of the ancient " theme songs " are being hummed and whistled by youthful Chinese fans. Recently a party of Chinese hiker:;, sticks, shirts and shorts complete, was seen carolling their way along the highway, singing in English (or American) J' The Broadway Melody." The effects of the talkies upon " pidgin " English are noticeable. A visitor was impressing upon his bootmaker that it .was imperative that a pair of shoes shouid be completed by a certain date. Instead of the usual "Be can do" he replied blandly, " Okay, chief." There is no doubt that a considerable amount of English will be learned by the aid of the talkies, but what kind of English will it he?

The English pictures which have been shown have not proved very popular with the native population. They have been mostly of the stage farce type, which though the British exiles have attended in full to acclaim them, do not contain a. sufficiency of custard pies to appeal to the Chinese conception of humour. Films must not rely upon scintillating dialogue to please the Chinese picture fans. They demand action. They revel in gangster stories, backstage drama and musical shows with plenty of " legs and tomfoolery." And they adore jungle pictures.

Probably the best box-office attractions which have been shown in Hong Kong were: "Trader Horn," " Africa Speaks," and (until "it was exposed in a letter to the local press) the clever fake, " Ingagi." It seems strange that Britain, with her vast tropical possessions, has not produced films; of this type. It must not be thought that China is without its own talkies, though, strange as it may seem, they are not very popular. The reason is that only a small proportion of the audience can understand the dialogue. In China, though the written characters are the same throughout the immense country, the spoken

word :s entirely different. A Canton girl given in marriage to a Shanghai boy would hardly understand a word of his conversation. The talking pictures already produced have been spoken in the Mandarin tongue, intelligible only to the more educated classes and the natives of the north.

The writer of the article recently wit

nessed a Chinese talkie. Here, ho thought, , would be something really different —life from the Chinese angle. He was wrong. It was very shoddy, Hollywood in an Oriental setting. It was heralded as an " A'il-Chinese, all-singing, all-talking, alldancing drama of Chinese life, entitled, 'So This is Paradise,' featuring Miss. Butterfly Wu (with English titles)."