Evening star., 1940-04-05

only available large body OF water
with such features as electricity
automatic clouds, waves, placldlty,
in short the most modern of i'm
provements, it is expected to be in
great demand. Naturally, the rent
will be high but renting an ocean is
whale of lot cheaper than build
ing your own.
x X
The ocean, therefore, belongs to
the whole industry in one way, al
though Warmers will pocket the in
come from it.
Its creation also casts light on the
phenomenon of cycles IN pictures. "
The picture cycle generally is re-
garded as the offshoot of the m
dustry's general susceptibility to
success; in other words, the DISPOSE
ton OF one studio to turn the ap-
pearance of one type OF story into a
parade of that particular type.
In connection with Warner ocean
we've christened it that Tor con-
venience sake), it is pointed out that
the availability of a needed type Uf
stage also is factor Influencing
cycle of pictures of one variety. BOX
Office, therefore, is not invariably
the criterion. Thus, should some
studio seize upon the incident of the
Graf Spec, adapting the drama of
1t perhaps to some ehsign-meets-
girl theme, it would not be alto
gether the inspiration of Warmers
success with The Sea Hawk" first
naval battle picture to be filmed on
stage 81, which is the bookkeepe. s
name for this body of water.
The spectacular combination of
architecture and engineering, the
work of Art Director Arthur Grot.
has all the f1exibility of a genuine
ocean. It can do anything a real
ocean can, be tempestuous. or, calm.
shatter ships or become a suburb
of whales occupied by a fair-sized
community of Jonahs. And the
beauty of it all is that it is amenable
to the operation of a few men sitting
at control board composed of
switches and levers.
Riding on the ocean now-it was
empty the day we saw it's a navy
composed of an English carvel and
a Spanish galleon. They are full
sized, fully rigged affairs of a beauty
to arouse the suicidal envy of those
lobbyists who carve ships in minia-
ture.
The illusion of stepping back into
the days of the Spanish Armada
when climbing over the side of the
galleon is somewhat affected by
humping into a bottle of Shasta
water and finding dial telephones
scattered about. the deck. but a man
doesn't have to notice those things.
Or does he?
The ships, exact reproductions of
their 18th century types in every
detail, although not necessarily made
CT the same materials, reflect mod
ern times in another respect. Their
building time was II weeks in this
high pressure century. whereas back
IN the days of Sir Francis Drake and
England's earlier difficulties at sea,
each would have taken year. The
speedup, perhaps.
Quite as interesting as the vessels,
which will give Enrol Flynn one of
his noblest opportunities for brave
living, is the mechanism which oper-
ates them. Each rests on a structure
which looks like a set of those hy-
draulic jacks which lift an automo-
bile so the filling station attendant
can forget to grease the universal
joints. These jacks are submerged
and necessarily invisible. They are
capable of rocking the ship, or ships,
with a violence that might we'll be
copied by real ocean. That's some
thing which takes a deal of power,
let Mr.. Grot tell you, for The Sea
Hawk is a craft of 135 feet long and
weighing 127 tons fully equipped,
with a height of 65 feet from deck
to mast top. Quite ship! With
little reinforcing, it would actually
be seaworthy. The Madre di Dios is
even more of a vessel. It measures
165 feet from stem to stern, or vice
versa, and weighs 142 tons. Obviously,
the two Of them and their ocean con-
stitute the biggest thing since Gone
With the Wind"
Surrounding this huge ocean is a
horizon which suggests inf1nity with
a perfection as startling as it is SIM
Pile. 1t is composed of a gigantic
(you have to talk that way out here)
back drop, a cloud strewn piece of
something like gauze, behind which
three curtains of vari-colored cello
phane ripple with any degree of vio-
lence necessary to simulate whatever
roughness of water a given scene may
call for.
What gadget!