Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-15
Flashes From the Screen
News and Comment of the PhotOplay
By C.. E. Nelson.

: our run of backStage musical
stuff, then the long chain OF un-
1. derworld thrillerS, now being fol-
8 lowed by jungle scenes and noises.
"a large part of Washington turned
= out last Sunday night to view the
u =751,7sIt showing CT grader Horn"
many Simply curious, IL must be
admitted, to see the sort OF pic
ture made from the best-selling
hook. After q fashion, the film is
interesting. The story is about as
thin as clearinghouse soup, but
it manages to carry along one OF
the strange adventures OF the
master story teller, old Trader
= Horn himself. A large part OF the
t, action, if one may call it that,
consists of views-Splendidly pho
tographed-of wild beasties jump
ING hither and thither through
bush and over the landscape.
While all this is going on Trader
Horn talks to his young COM
panion, telling him of the various
animals and their curious traits.
What measure of success there
: Is in Trader Horn" may be cred
: tied to the director. The three
principal players have little to do,
and there is no reason to place
:, EdWina Booth among the Holly.
wood stars. Harry Cary, one OF
the pioneers Of the screen, plays
the part of Trader Horn, but not
in any way to make his role out
standing. The director and MS
cameramen have turned an ordi-
nary picture into very entertain
ing one by clever. photography.
This, in my opinion, saves the Sit
uation. The "shotS" of the jungle
animals, in this day Of wonderful
photography, are not remarkable.
We have seen other jungle pic
lures, pictures from the two poles,
and pictures of all sorts of animal
life, so that the Trader Horn"
scenes have nothing remarkable
to recommend them, as far as the
animals themselves are concerned.
But it is the way the pictures we're
made which makes the film OF Spe-
cial entertainment value.
And, although you may be pref
ty well fed up on African animals,
the Rialto announces that it has
= scheduled that SuperSpecial, RAN
CO." for next week. This particu-
lar monkey picture" has been
hailed by the critics in New York
and elsewhere, so you may expect
something out of the ordinary.
Warner Brothers announce the re-
lease of Adventures in Africa" a
+ series of IL two-reelerS, each a
{ complete story, produced under
: the supervision Of Wyant D. Hub
bard, fellow of the American Geo.
graphical Society. Nothing like
it has ever been filmed before"
according to the Warner Brothers
press department.
And all this started with en-
gagi," a picture with words and
music from Hollywood Maybe
the monkey shines" came from
there, too!
SEVERAL of the motion picture
studios have entered into a
movement to improve the quality
of sound and eliminate a large
part Of it. This, from all indica-
tions, should be popular reform,
and it comes, largely, through
complaints from motion picture
patrons. When sound was first
put on a practical basis, and when
it was universally adopted by the
producers, the latter went Sound
mad" Each and every picture
had to be noisy; there was no let
up in dialogue, and sound pic
ture reSembled a barnyard con-
vention. If there was nothing else
I to do, player burst out in song
a good song or bad song; good
T voice or bad voice-anything to
keep up the noise. The song may
: have had nothing whatever to do
: with the picture and it's plot.
Now, however, the public has
become pretty tired of this sort of
thing. It wants its dialogue, of
course, when dialogue is necessary.
: 1t wants the rat-tat of machine
guns, but it does not want the ma
chine guns and the conversation
all the time. And song may be
all right in its place. The pro-
ducers were little slow in an
Swering the complaints of the
movie patrons, but they are now
: ready to cut down on the noise.
Several of the reading production
companies have issued orders that
: dialogue be cut to the minimum
: that is, just enough words to carry
the Story-and that all useless
noise be eliminated altogether.
The public is to receive the bene-
1T from orders. No doubt of that.
x \ *%
a s regards the star system in use
in practically all the American
studios, Roy Del Ruth blames the
public for making the stars. This,
in an indirect way, is the truth,
sfor, after all is considered, it is the
sbox Office which places the player
in the star field. Let Mr.. Ruth
: tell you how he considers the mat
ter:
1.-THE Importance of the screen
personality, basis of which is
known as the star system, again
looms as a factor in film produc-
tons more formidably than ever
before. This is interesting, espe-
cially inasmuch as the decline of
the star has been freely predicted
by observers since the advent of
sound. Their predictions appeared
TO have reasonable ground until
recently, when the vogue for the
individual player with outstanding
ability and personality began to
assume unprecedented favor. It