Films and the Studios

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 750, 24 August 1929, Page 27

Films and the Studios

'jrES>TERNS FADE OUT— Once it was claimed that, whatelcr happened, ■western motion pictures would never die. Among the first Aims made were a Jew • westerns," and their successors have survived vogues and fads innumerable. Bui those who predicted their everlasting qualities did not anticipate the talkie revolution. In the ruin of silent film structures, westerns appear to have been crushed. Travellers on the Californian hills no longer run across hardworking people with cameras, horses, and wide-brimmed hats. In announcing forthcoming productions several big companies make no mention of westerns. It is sad news for schoolboys the world over, whose weekly thrill has consisted of two fleeting hours spent on Saturday afternoon in shrieking, whistling and stamping while "Two-gun Men” held screen sicay- Tom Mix, hero of a million youngsters, is reported to have ioined a circus. "Hoot” Gibson holds a £250,000 contract with Universal but little is known of his production schedule. Studios are providing excitement with mystery thrillers, murder problems, and the like. Theme song pictures are. the vogue, their popularity vicing with that of negro shows, newspaper stories, and melodramas. “GRANDEUR” FILM IMPORTANCE OF SCREEN INNOVATION An important announcement has been made by Mr. S. S. Crick, of Foie Filins, who returned recently from America. He tells of “Grandeur” dim, destined to bring about another screen revolution. The process consists of using film twice the width of the present standard. Experiments are now being made with the wide film in the United States, and strict secrecy is being observed, although several samples have already reached Australia.