Evening star., 1928-05-27
SCREEN
FROM THE
BY c. e. NELSON.

| harShneSs of sound, etc, will be
modulated to the pleasant tones
of the human voice. But 1t is
certain that such perfection viii
make talking movies generally ac-
ceptable to the public of normal
hearing, without even considering
the deafened? l cannot tell you
how many times in the last few
years l have said to some hear
ing friend how much envied his
or her capacity to enjoy legitimate
drama, only to have that friend
say, half alphabetically: Well, TO
be honest with you, / go to the
movies for real relaxation. The
drama is fine, but one has to be
on the Qui vive not to let ones
mind wander or miss a sentence,
or the show moves on and leaves
one in a quagmire. Even for the
person with perfectly normal
faculties, listening requires much
more nervous energy than just
looking. 1t certainly is reStful TO
go to the movies and just look.
Again, I wonder if the public
realizes, as well as the producers,
what the loss of entertainment
from we'll written captions will
mean. In some instances it
would be difficult for a mere dia-
logue, necessarily dependent upon
the pictures action, to be as en-
tertaining, from the humorous
viewpoint, as the present caption
continuity. I hope you will find
space to present some Of the view
points of the deafened, which
form large class. If there must
be talking movies, there should oc
some arrangement whereby cap
tionS could be inserted, so that
they might be shown regularly for
the deafened. tSigned)
"XARIFFA RENNEAUX"
THE asbestos medal for achieve
! ment goes to the Fox publicity
department on the Pacific Coast.
The best piece of hokum of the
year-the most entertaining fib
from the promotion departments
comes to our desk direct from
the busy workers of the Fox press
agent corps. 1t runs as follows:
The StrangeSt letter-and, with
al, the most unusual compliment
that F. w. Murnau, Fox motion
picture director, has ever received,
came to him recently at the VIII
liam Fox Studios, in Los Angeles.
It was written in Hungarian and
arrived in a box containing five
bullets.
These bullets I send you as a
token of everlasting gratitude for
the great service you have done
myself, my wife and babies" be-
gan the letter.
These same bullets, in a pistol,
were in my pocket all the time !
went into my church to pray that
this temptation pass from me,
and yet / could not overcome the
urging of the woman I clandeS-
timely loved to murder my wife.
with this girl sitting beside me
and the murderouS resolve in our
two black hearts, I saw Sunrise
(Murnau's first American produc-
tom. There, in that theater, /
saw myself. Before my eyes was
a man about to do the murder I
was going to do. With him. suf-
fered all his remorse in my own
life. When the picture was ended
I could not speak. / gripped tight
to the girls arm. I showed her
the pistol, gave her final warning
that would use it on her if ever
set eyes on her again.
81 went back to our farm and
told everything to my wife. She
understood. She forgave me- In
the room where our children sleep
my wife has hung picture Of
you taken from a cinema maga-
zine. The pistol is now in the
bottom of a lake nearby my farm.
The bullets I sent TO YOU that you
may understand fully the good
yOlT have done"