MUSIC IN PICTURES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 108, 8 May 1936, Page 10

MUSIC IN PICTURES

• COME TO STAY, SAYS CROSBY (By Bing Crosby). (Screen lovers will welcome this article about the hold that, screen musicals have taken on the general public. Bing Crosby, the writer of this article, has ju»t completed a leading roly in the screen version of the musical stage shew, “Anything Goes,’’ which ran on Broadway fur twelve mouths. Paramount, the producers of the him, have given their production the same name as the stage play and incorporated the Cole Porter sung “hits.” Air. Crosby says, “The screen public is music conscious for the lirst time. All the glamour, vitality and movement of the glittering musical comedies of Broadway have at last been captured by the screen, with this difference, that the screen has succeeded in bringing a richness that the stage finds impossible. Some people wonder if the vogue of screen musicals represents a fad that, will go the way all fads go. 1 have appeared in them, sat and enjoyed them and studied the reactions of movie audiences all over the country. Afusic on the screen has come to stay. Il has a place there. The screen musical brings to audiences a freshness, a relaxation, they cannot find anywhereelse. J. am so convinced that musicals are now fixtures of screen entertainment, that 1 go further and prophesy, within the near future, the introduction of opera on the screen. Ihe popularity of opera over radio and of the symphonv hours, proves that the public, likes the so-called higher forms of music entertainment. Because it can give pace and colour to a story, the screen will be able to modernise opera, make it really popular as it never has been in the world capitals. When opera at last captures the hearts of the movie-going public. I believe that the story will be told in action and dialogue, with the famous solos, ducts and quartettes interspersed. Walter Connolly. Walter Connolly, Columbia’s noted contract player, has a leading role in Grace Moore’s forthcoming starring vehicle “The King Steps Out.” now in production under the direction of Josel Von Sternberg. Franchot Tone plays opposite Miss Moore. The music is by Fritz Kreisler. Walt Disney. The hero of Walt Disney's latest technicolour production is an amateur doctor who practises surgery with the skill of a veteran. He uses only the highest grade, vacuum cleaned, aircooled sawdust in the transfusion episode of the picture. The optimistic hero not only makes figures to fit by his private process, but furnishes eyes on demand that can match your hair or automobile. All Walt Disney productions are released by United Artists.