New Film Test Helps to Discover Talent.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 193, 15 August 1931, Page 10

New Film Test Helps to Discover Talent.

The Fox Film Comporation has ! put into effect in New York a new and radical departure in screen tests. This innovation, it is expected, will encourage talent and will give seasoned players full opportunities for demonstrating what they can do on the screen. It will also give studio officials a more graphic yardstick by which to judge whether aspirants meet the requirements of the studio. Before giving players camera and voice tests a vaudeville sketch or one-act play is selected, the cast is chosen from those to be tested, players costumed and then rehearsed in their lines. The .play is then put on. If retakes are necessary they are made. The film is cut and edited and sent to the studios, where studio officials study at their .leisure, selecting from the film test the player, or players who either meet the immediate requirements, or those to be developed. Heretofore, camera tests have simply revealed various photographic angles of the subjects, and the voice tests have registered their tones. Under the new arrangement voice, camera angles plus dramatic ability are all registered at the same time under the same exacting conditions as prevail on the set and on the screen.

An Early Effort. Adolph Zukor first tried synchronisation of voice with motion pictures in 1911 when he hired Lowell Sherman, then a mere youth, and two unknowns to recite lines behind the screen when he showed “ Camille.”

Athletes and Filins. Plans for the motion-picture industry and for £he famous motion-picture actors to entertain the athletes participating in the Olympic Games, to be celebrated in Los Angeles, July 30 to August 14, inclusive, 1932, have been announced by the organising committee. Louis B. Meyer, internationallyknown leader in the motion-picture industry, and a member of the California Olympiad Commission, will head the committee of prominent motion-picture producers who will arrange for the participation of the great stars of the motion pictures in the entertainment programme for the athletes and official Olympic groups. ®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®

Beatrice Lillie. The well-known English actress, Beatrice Lillie, who was seen here in an American talking picture, is in the cast of “ The Third Lttle Show,” at the Music Box Theatre, New York. Back to Stage. Madge Kennedy, once a star in “ silent ” pictures, is appearing in Noel Coward’s “ Private Lives,” at the Times Square Theatre, New York.

Bright Comedy. On Monday, the principal attraction at the Majestic Theatre will be “ Six Cylinder Love,” featuring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Fox and Edward Everett Horton, who were especially picked for their comedy talents. The film tells of the troubles a pair of newlyweds meet when they buy a motor-car that is too expensive for their means. Owning the *machine brings round a crowd of spongers, ...whose principal interest is having the newlyweds give a continuous round of parties. Presently, the host finds that the pace is telling on his pocket-book, but his wife overrules his objections. The final straw comes when she hits another car and he has to find a large sum of money or see his wife go to gaol. The husband sells the house, tells the spongers what he thinks of them, gets rid of his car and squares his debts—harassing for the newlyweds, but providing a multitude of laughs.