DISMISSAL OF FOREIGN STARS WRONG POLICY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19060, 3 May 1930, Page 19 (Supplement)

DISMISSAL OF FOREIGN STARS WRONG POLICY .

(Written for the " Star SINCE the arrival and great success of the talking motion picture, I have been approached by my acting colleagues in the foreign colony of Hollywood and asked my opinion of the fate of the foreigner who is employed in picture production in Hollywood. Unhappily for some of these very fine actors from distant shores, their producers, losing sight of the needs of the future, have seen it fit to dismiss them because of their accents, but it is my opinion that the time will come when they will return to the fold and be greatly in demand. I am a foreigner myself in Hollywood and I am still working. Happily I am a director with a Continental training in stagecraft, and I am fortunate to be given such productions as “ The Squall,” which has a Hungarian locale, because First National Pictures believe that I could give the Continental touch to the production which a native American could not obtain. Being a director, I am, naturally,

Hollywood’s Ousted Aliens

by Alexander Korda.) doomed to silence while the photographing and recording of a scene is taking place, and my broken English, heard during the rehearsal of the sequence, is now conveyed to the actors by illustrative gestures. But to return to the plight of the foreigner who has won .success in American motion pictures, 1 base my prediction on the fact that in more than 50 per cent of the motion pictures produced here a foreigner is needed in the cast. Too many film productions have had a Frenchman portrayed on the screen by a comedian’s idea of how a Frenchman should act. An example in a recent talkie was four different pronunciations of the word “ monsieur.” Germans and other nationalities have been grossly misrepresented also. Now, to cope with these characterisations, what would be more natural than a foreigner to play them? I will agree that his accent must be understandable, but at the same time it should have that Continental tone to it, an accent which is above criticism from the student and scholar of foreign languages. There are many who wonder about the foreigner in the film colony and why he did not master the English

language during his residence here. I can easily explain that. Foreigner® are peculiar, inasmuch as they seek others of their kind for companionship and remain with them. Hungarians. Germans and French band together for social functions and speak their own languages. Perhaps it is the natural love for the foreign food that is to blame. But the point I am trying to make is that this banding together brought no opportunity for these people to learn the English tongue. They spoke their own language among themselves and just picked up enough English to make themselves understandable and to be able to comprehend a director at the studio. And they learned words to enable them to take care of their business ventures and contract controversies. Trust a foreigner to learn the words he needs to know in that regard. From my standpoint as a director, however, two great benefits have resulted from the advent of the talking picture. First, they have brought about a great change in story prepare tion. Stories: must be the complete and polished article with all dialogue intact before the camera can start turning. Second, the stories will not be chosen to fit the actor, but the actor will be chosen to fit the story. So, with our story complete and our cast ready, we can commence a production, not putting in bits of talk here and there, but making a single, definite coherent thing—a picture started at the beginning and continuing in a logical way to the finish. Otherwise you come out with a thing that is neither fish, beast nor bird. (Anglo-American N.S. Copyright.)