Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29
- DING out with 1929 Is the no.
ton that a talking picture can
bn y,ofhiY1o V,onra than a mo-

O4NG out WIFI 1879 - the mo-
ton that talking picture can
r be nothing more than a me-
~ chanical imitation of a stage
play. One year ago that no
ton was being broadcast from house
tops by all those sensitive souls who &C
cepted the invention OF the novietone
as a personal insult.
THE talkies are numbering the high
art of the cinemal" they cried out
although this was the first time that
most of them had ever mentioned the
words art" and cinema" in the same
sentence.
There are, fortunately, very few of
them left, and those who still utter
feeble protests are animated by perverse
petulance rather than by sincere con-
viction; they consider 1t undignifled to
admit that they could possibly have
changed their mighty minds in so short
period of time as IL months.
The vast majority of intelligent OBJ
servers, who go to the movies regularly
and appreciate them, will now cheer
screen lost nothing by the addition Of
sound, but it has actually gained a
great deal and stands to gain a great
deal more.
Hollywood has had to work terriflcally
hard to achieve this recognition, and
be it said that Hollywood has worked
with thoroughly unexpected and I'M
characteristic intelligence.
Before the dawn of 1929 there had
been only three or four all-taking pic
lures, including such dreadful exhibits
as Lights Of New York" and "The
Terror" and the smooth but drearily
motionless interference"
Since last New Year day there have
been:
"The Broadway Melody"
1.-THE Letter"
"Alibi'
"Close Harmony"
Madame X"
Bulldog Drummond."
"Thunderbolt."
1.-THE Dance of Life"
"Hallelujah."
Young Nowheres."
1.-THE Cock-Eyed World"
".Welcomee, Danger"
1.-THE Tanning of the Shrew."
General Crack"
1.-THE Love Parade"
Flight"
THE Last of Mrs. Cheyney."
1.-THE Sky Hawk"
A few of these were palpable repro
auctions of stage plays, especially "The
Letter" THE Last of Mrs. Cheyney"
and "Disraeli." But most of them
and certainly all the best of them
we're genuine motion pictures.
AS further proof that the art of the
cinema still lives-in fact, that it
thrives-there have been the Laurel and
Hardy comedies, the Harry Langdon
comedies, the Walt Disney animated
cartoons with perfect sound, and,
above all, the news reels.
Whn ran Goa and haor fha nintI1rnc
of Elders 97-yard run in the Army
Notre Dame game and then say that
the microphone has taken all the old
primitive thrill away from the screen?
x \
SPEAKING of thrills, the talkative
- members Of the Keep 1t Silent Club
used to maintain that the use of
dialogue would necessitate the elimina-
ton Of all the glorious, spectacular
melodramas Of heroic action that used
to thrill the film fans and fill the Aim
parlors.
The answer to this Is 1.-THE Sky
Hawk" one of the most ambitious of
the spectacular melodramas and also
one of the most successful. There have
never been any melodramatic effects on
the screen more exciting, more moving
or more convincingly truthful than are
the air raid scenes in THE Sky Hawk"
Any one who saw London in the dark
days Of the Zeppelin and Gotha raids
knows that these scenes are Startlingly
realistic. Indeed, it seems to me that
the whole tragedy Of wartime London
is told in the one brief sequence in a
music hall when the red-nosed comedian
steps out to make formal announce
ment to the audience that they all may
be blown to bits at any instant and