LIFE OF FILMDOM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 102, 1 May 1936, Page 9

LIFE OF FILMDOM

CHANGES IN TALKIES FROM COLLEGE TO STARDOM CHARLES FARRELL’S VISIT Quiet and friendly and happy as the day he left college twelve years ago, Charles Farrell, film star, talked of his experiences and life to the ‘Chronicle’ yesterday afternoon before going on to the stage of the Majestic Theatre to talk and sing. ‘‘Yes, America was pulling round when 1 left there four months ago. She’s moving up all the time. On the Californian Coast we have a lot of retired people and so wc don’t feel the depression so much in that section as in some other .parts of the country. “Aly v\dt to Australia and New Zealand has I seen unique in Hint the climate ami scenery is very different from what 1 have been living in. ami it is a pleasant change. The experience of being down here has been a very interesting one, showing a. slant on life which I had not experienced before, and J like new experiences. In Filmdom. “Hollywood is an interesting place and particularly so to those of ns engaged in the film-producing business. Personalities rise and go out, but the olfl personalities are still there fitting into their own particular niche. Home of course, retire to private family life

as you would naturally expect them to <lo, and we see the stars of other days sometimes. It is refreshing to see them. Production has improved tremendously in the technical sense. You will notice that scenes are shot from interesting angles, seldom from straight-on views. This enables the actor to move from »»nc room to another and remain in view, thus economising the changes. And another thing the scene is cut more quickly than formerly. The scene is over and done with and on to the next. There is no delay in action nor in moving from one scene to another when the film is presented to the public. The art of the producer, of course, is in knowing when and where to make the breaks so that the mind of the audience is neither wearied by a long scene nor confused by the gap between the scenes. The mind must jump these gaps naturally, carrying with it the continuity of the story. The Talkies. “The coining of the talkies has made film work much harder for the actor. There is an added factor to contend with, or to fulfil. You way get action and expression right, but you also have to get the voice right as well. Yes! There is a leaning towhat might be termed the English voice on the part of producers in the studios, but out in the small towns of America there is no such preference- Whether the English voice is better is a matter of opinion; English people naturally prefer it, while in some sections of America they don’t want it. “How do actors get into the films'? Well, now, I don’t know. No. they don’t graduate from the college dramatic societies. The stars of college acting rarely make the first base on the professional stage. I remember I tried hard to get the leading part at college, but the boy who did get it has never made out at all. I suppose the producers see a. type they want and they pick the individu—i out for the work they desire to be done and from then on ho or she goes forward. 1 started in Hollywood because 1 wanted to be an actor on the film and I ‘arrived.’ and that is all I could .tell you about that. Actors as Investors. “Actors are bad investors as a. rule, but a lot of us have learned sense by experience. I tried my hand at the •Stock Exchange but 1 lost money. I now know that the best thing an actor can do is to invest in good class Government bonds and take a moderate interest’ and make sure that one’s money is safe against a rainy day. Old-fashioned idea, I know, but it works well and that’s what interests me. As a rule to-day actors do not invest in the making of picturesCharlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Bill Hart did that;, but the actor of to-day leaves production to the producer and concentrates his attention on acting alone. It is just as well because you cannot learn a new business in a few months.”