Evening star., 1926-08-22
The Moving Picture
By Robert E. Sherwood

BY Robert E. Sherwood
THERE are now two attractions at
the Warner Theater in New
York One of them is a manor,
rather. the shadow of a man; the
other is a delicate, intricate and Uo
my unscientifc mnd) incomprehen-
Sible machine.
The man Is John Barrymore, who
is appearing on the Warmers screen
in Don ,Tus n''--a celluloid imper.
sonation of that gay. aAlorous, heart
warming. but heartless. Spa niard,
who sta nds out az the supreme lady
killer of history.
The machine is the phone. a,
contrivance developed land almost
perfected) after years of studious ef-
fort by scientists in the laboratories
of the Western Electric and Bell Tel.
ephOne companies.
1t seems to be the prevalent i'm
preston up and down Broadway that
the vitaphone is the more substan-
tial attraction of the tWo--that the
great Mr.. Barrymore, with all his
eyelashes and all his fervent en-
braces, is less thrilling than this mar
velous product of engineering skill.
x x x 4
The vitaphone is the latest sand by
far the best device for the synchroniza-
ton of pictures and sound. 1t is
similar in principle to the De Forest
phonOfilm. in that the sound is photo
graphed on the film itself and relayed
to the audience through radio loud
speaker. 1t is not a mere phono-
gra phiC attachment.
The demonstration of this amazing
ContriVance was extremely impressive.
in that the services of many spec
tacular musical artists were enlisted
| for the occasion. First came speech
by Will n. Hays. hailing the vita
phone as a great step forward in the
progress of the cinematoGra phi. This
was followed by an overture by the
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
and solos by Marion Talley. Giovanni
Martinell. Anna Case. E.frem zim.
balist. Mischa Elman and an excep-
tionally gifted young jazzist named
| Roy Smeck
The audience could see these ar
lists on the screen. playing or sing
ing, and the sound of their voices
or their Instruments seemed to emerge
miraCulOusly from their shadows
OF these Signor Martinell and Mr..
! Smeck were the most effective in re
production Miss Talley failed to reg
! lister we'll through the vita phone and
some of the lower notes on the vio.
| lins of Messrs. Zmbalist and Elma n
sounded distressingly raucous.
The accOmpa niment to the feature
! picture, played by the Philharmonic
! Orchestra, was perfect-and only
once (when the film broke) did the
audience realize that the orchestra
! was not actually in the theater.
X X X
Just how practical the vitaphone
| may be l cannot a t the moment say.
1t may be terribly expensive device
to install. in which case its use will
be limited to the bigger movie thea
! terS. If. however. it can he adjusted
to the size and the economic scale of
| the smaller film parlors. il is due
! t" revolutioniZe the movie industry.
For one thing. every film that is
made will be able to carry its own
musical accompaniment Thus thea
| ter owners Will be spared the expense
of paying salaries to trombone play
ers. trap drummers, orga nists and
other musicians.
For another thing, movie theaters
everywhere will be enabled to present
to their patrons the finest artists of
the musical world. The audiences at
the Gem Palace In Dimville, s. Oak.
will have the opportunity to hear
AL Jolson. Galli-Curci. Paul White.
mans Band or Jascha Heifetz. and
to see them in action at the same
time.
very much doubt. however. that
the aphOne--wonderfu as il NAV
be-will result in the production or
| talking moving pictures Having con.
versed with many film stars. | know
what their voices sound like. and
come to the conclusion that they
should be seen and not heard.
| One OF the greatest virtues of the
silent drama is it's silence.
Now, as to Don Juan"
| Here is a picture that will appea,
principally to the feminine element In
the audience. 1t is just one violent
love scene after another. punctuated
| with closeup views of John Barry.
more's justly famous profile. Most o.
the more decorative ladies in Holly.
! wood appear in suppo~t of the star
and all of them are effectually over
! Whelmed by his unrestrained ardOr
Among them are Mary Astor, Estelle
| Taylor. Jane WintOn. Phyllis Haver
June Marlowe. Helen Costello. Myrna
|
and many other celebrated beauties
+, Ziegfeld himself could not have as
| sembled d more ornamental troupe
| Don Juan" is rather deficient as &c
story. and much of it will have to be
| submitted to a series of ma jor opera
| tiOnS in the film-cutting room. Blu,
it is we'll directed by Alan Crosla nd
and It is played by an unusually com
petent cast.
II II r
| | offer this bit of advice to all the
love-smitten young men of the North
! American continent
Don't take your girl friends to see
Don Juan They will come away
from this picture with strange looi
say. How long has this been gOins
on?"
**
There has been another important
opening In New York recently-Lil
liam Gish in THE Scarlet Letter" di
rected by Victor Seastrom. havs
had go much TO say about the vita
phone and John Barrymore that there
is no space for further comment.
The Scarlet Letter" will he ths
subject of our sermon next week.
+
Another epic has been announced
The Surf Man" which tells Of those
heroes Of the Coast Guard who spenc
their days and nights chasing rum
runners. A visitor complained the
other day that the weather was in
sufferably hot. The chamber q
| coripoerce ordered thia nuestjona hi,