New York Brothers' Screen Initiative

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22949, 29 January 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

New York Brothers' Screen Initiative

AID TO PRODUCERS Have you noticed scenes in recent films in which shots, obviously old ones, of historic events —revolution, war or processions—were included to give an atmospheric or period touch? asks the London Film Weekly. The chances are 10 to one that the shots came from two brothers in New York who have built up what they claim to ho "the largest stock shot library in the world." Their names are Morris and Sidney Kandel, and as time passes they will become more and more important. For instance, those scenes of the hero being feted on Broadway in the traditional way, with clouds of paper from torn-up telephone books, are made with the help of .shots of the Lindbergh reception supplied by Messrs. Kandel. All the producers have to do is to cut in close-ups of their own star smiling and waving his hand. Nobody, except Lindbergh, notices the difference. And if you want them, the Kandels will supply you with shots of events considerably previous to the cinema ago —Caesar crossing the Rubicon, Crusaders storming tho walls of Acre, but purchasers must not ask how it is done. Their boast that, from the 20,000,000 feet of film in their library, they can supply*any shot asked for, has brought the Kandels some very curious requests. Recently, they helped a distraught young man who had agreed to give a 'lecture on Egypt, complete with lantern slides, to a women's club. Tho Kandels efficiently pieced together an engrossing 30-minute talk complete with running commentary. The talk was a spectacular success.