When, approximately two years ago, Warner Brothers, Hollywood Motion Picture magnates, announced that they would shortly present "talking" moving pictures everyone thought they were crazy, And at the end of their first performance everyone knew they wore crazy. Some people left the audience say-_ ing "I told you so—even science can only go so far." Others merely Iaughed. The first attempts in the Vitaphone would have been pathetic if they had not been so ludicrous. Tt became quite a usual thing to ce, in a picture, a chair hurled across the room and to hear the evidence of its collapse several minutes after the event had occurred. Likewise one got very used to the idea of overhearing tele-Phone conversations, a masculine Voice issuing from the dainty lips of our heroine, and her sweet treble Keeping pace with the movements of the mouth of her be-mustached friend, Tt was not unt the achievement of Al Jolson, in "The Jazz Singer" that any intimation of the possibili, ties of the Vitaphone could be seer Tu that picture it became evident two- or three moments of successful dialogue in that production. Nevertheless they: were snee At the present time Shanghai has progressed slightly beyond the Al Jolson stage in its efforts with the "talkies." "It is a recognized fact that in America the talking picture is not only permanently established and the silent drama dead for ever, Dut it is also a success to the extent. that it is robbing the legitimate Stage of its best actors and actre ses and has actually closed dow many theatres on Broadway, In Shanghai it is still a phase of cinema industry which has to be tolerated with many a sigh for the old regime of captions and written The Operator's Training The reason for the overwhelming difference is-fairly obvious. Tt is because there is any great diserepaney in machine equipment, It Jo true that improvements in roproauction systems are being tantly but it is only a few weeks before the Provements originating in America are at the disposal of Shanghai theatres. At present there are three systems in this city; the Ginephone, operated by the Powers Company, and installed in the Odeon Theatre; the Western Electric, now' in" use' at the Carlton, Grand, Capitol, Isis and Peking Theatres; and the Radio" Corporation America, installed in the Embassy and Apolto Theatres. All of these equipments reproduce both by. film. and by dise and may be used according to the needs of the picture.
In Wmeriea the film, industry is one of. the biggest and mbst Iuerative industries of the country. It is up to the American exhibitor to spend a great deal of time, money, and study in making his' theatre acoustically perfect. If he did not, he would be immediately ignored by audiences who are too pampered in the matter of perfection to have to endure imperfection. Operators for the talking machines are-skilled and trained technicians. Before they can take over and run any machine they must have passed rigid examinatio#s before two boards. These operaters are paid $125 gold a week and they are worth it, No "Show Men" in the East There are no "Show Men" in the East. There are two big reasons for that, one is the unsettled condition of' the country which would make the necessary output of much money for perfect cinema produetion here an indiscretion to say the least. The other is that n cosmopolitan city like Shanghai has so many dialects and so many accents that only the American element in typical audience can "get" all of a picture which has been sent from the States, The majority of films are sent from that source, In Shanghai the Movietone and Vitaphone operators are all Chinese boys, most of whom are not even mechanically inclined. Even if! they were able to grasp the idea of the talking picture they would not, be able to repair the equipment, or to manceuvre mechanical details into perfection. The Chinese operator gets $40 a month for his dubious, efforts. It is only occasionally that, he is worth it, Nevertheless, in spite of the institution of Chinese help in Shanghai, there is hope for improvement here. Theatres may. be perfected acoustically and managers are! learning more and more just what is needed. Constant research and invention in the matter of equipment will some day eliminate the necessity of depending upon an operator to such a marked degree, Herod Out-Heroded Ju the meantime there are certain types of films which are more suceasful than others, Tu America it was once thought that the advent of the talking' picture would definitely substitute melodrama for drama. The reason, until the present stage of perfection was reached, was obvious, "At the Carlton Theatre, this week, there is a picture being shown called "Speakeasy" a typical replica of the once popular run on underworld and crook pictures in the States. In that picture the Vita-Phone appears. to be very good. The reason is this: there is a great deal of blurred noise, none of which needs to be distinct." The roar of! the subway, the eternal hum of traffic, and. in the climactic scene, the uproarious shouts at a prize fight, reproduce more or less as they occur—indistinetly but convincingly. There is also a great deal of shooting in this film. It was an early discovery in America that the report of a pistol reproduced remarkably well. Consequently the film magnates went in for gun play to such an extent that the Chicago underworld began to seem like a tame place after all. Even the dialogue in this play was noticeably' good. This is due to the fact that metallic, hard voices, always reproduce' more effectively. In _a crook picture it is necessary for voices to be hard. Even the heroine in "Speakeasy" supplied the necessary metal to her speech although she was a sweet young thing.. Perhaps that may be explained by the fact that she was also a reporter on a New York paper.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.