The Daily Alaska empire., 1931-07-24
Film Talk from France.
(New York Times.)


 Mass production has struck snag in the talk
 ing pictures In the days when the screen was still silent Hollywood could grind out miles of films have the captions translated and supply sats- factory movies to every country in the world. But when the screen became vocal Hollywood couldn't turn into Babel overnight And American-speakng films, after their first novelty had off, failed to satisfy Americas worldwide film market A complaint from France is uttered in the Revue deS Deaux Mondes under the title, La France ct le Film Parant.'
 As Rene Jeanne sees it, movie audiences have become more fastidious since the films found a voice. Newcomers have been attracted by the hope that talking pictures would provide entertainment on a higher plane than the silent But they have been disappointed. Then too, satisfactory talke technique has been achieved. Spectators are accustomed to certain code of theatrical verities and to a totally different convention of cinema vsrities. The talkies neither the the other The nearest approach far to satisfactory form has been that of the filmed opereta. But the ideal genre is still matter for debate
 With a more difficult audience to please the French writer Americas firm hold on the French market gradually slipping. Holywood's ef- forts to retain her French clientele he regards as desperate but intellectual At first French director did the best he could with actors of various na- tionalities who could speak some French. Then French stars were imported and put to work The exodus of French writers and actors to all the larger California studios increased. Then Para mount took an even bOder step establishing studios at Joinvle to produce in large quantity, and as cheaply as possible French films for Europe and for South America. For economys sake, film made in America with no thought of a foreign audience rushed to Joinve, complete with scenario, text of dialogues sketches of sets and arrangements of lighting effects The idea to make as literal French transcription possible Eight such pictures were turned out in less than a year. together with thry short films. But these films though labeled films parants francais" and briStling with names of French actors, directors and writers are not really French Their inspiration is not French they do not truly portray French manners, GUS toms, modes or settings They only copies from the American
 American leadership in the cinema industry has tended to make other nations jealous for the sue cess of their native films. Talking pictures promise a form of art which every country would like to developed in style indigenous to it's soil. Even a Super-Holywood cannot be all things to all men, It could not hope to catch the rare Parisian charm of Rene Claims Sous les Toits de Paris" But to ostracize all foreign non-national films would be deliberately to limit the field of enjoy ment. Admittedly, a film cannot be translated as easily as a novel But simply because books lose of their by a change of language, no nation has considered banning all translated literature Barring French version of American film from cinema houses in France would be like prohibiting transations of French books in Amer- can libraries French-American films, as well as transations in the reverse order, give a wider range of entertainment for those who speak only one language. New York herself has heartily well comed foreign films that really good-witness the long run of "zwe Herzen" and "Le Million"