The Talkie-Talkies
THE whirligigs of time, whatever they may be, bring round their revenges, and Mr. Bernard Shaw, who was formerly and frequently accused of writing plays that were not plays, actionless, talky-talky pieces, may sit back and observe the revenges galloping past him. Not only has he established his right to produce plays full of talk and with no other action than that of the mind and the imagination, but he has influenced ideas on the form of the play to such an extent that even the film-factors, whose entertainments were exclusively concerned with physical action, are now hastening to add " talk " to them and may, if they are not careful, find themselves manu- facturing films full of psychological or intellectual interest. In America the " talkies " have become a riot. Film- manufacturers, when they are not totally dazed by the development of the " talkie," are announcing that they will produce no other than sound pictures. Consternation is rife in Hollywood. Stars of great magnitude feel them- selves shooting into outer darkness, and ladies who have vamped the world tremble for their reputation when they shall be heard. It is said that the single flourishing occupation in California to-day is that of the voice- producer. Elocutionists, a despised race, are everywhere packing up their traps and preparing to descend on the bewildered film-actors and actresses whose one cry now is, " Teach me to talk " Actions, in this instance, do not speak louder than words. Words, indeed, are about to make actions ludicrous, and highly paid ladies and gentlemen, who formerly shrank from nothing, are afraid to open their mouths. One word from them, as they habitually speak, and they are ruined ! A lovely lady, famous throughout the illiterate world which delights in movies, knows that even her illiterate admirers will howl with derisive laughter when she replies to improper sug- gestions : " Vat vas you sayin' to me, eh ? You vas askin' me dat, vas you ? " How can the handsome Wop who has thrilled the hearts of emotional maidens on several continents hope to continue his conquests when he is heard murmuring :" I rota likes dat vay of talk-a, no I You love-a me, yes ? I love-a you, no. Vell, vot the hell-a ! I no' care-a von damn-a, yes, no ! "
These, of course, are the small consternations of the " talkies," and will not long continue to disturb the film- world. If the half-educated or totally uneducated persons who now, in large numbers, predominate in the moving- pictures are reduced to ruin nobody will seriously grieve about them, except themselves and their immediate rela- tions. Actors who can speak English in clear and intel- ligent tones will swiftly receive their reward, and it is interesting to note that film-manufacturers are now offering very large sums of money to authors cf repute merely to supervise the "dialogue " of the " talkies." While I was in New York I met a number of novelists and dramatists who were on the point of departing to Holly- wood, with contracts for as much as twenty-five thousand dollars per annum in their pockets, to make talking- pictures. Enormous sums of money are being spent or offered in connexion with "talkies," and it is unlikely that the men who are spending these great sums will be content to let them waste. The adverse criticism, there- fore, that has been passed upon the " talkies " seems to me to be shallow stuff, especially when I observe that crowds of people everywhere flock to the cinemas to see (or ought one to say hear?) them. Faults are easily dis- cerned in the " talkies," but there are fewer faults in them than there were in gramophones fifteen years ago when gramophones had been popular for a long period, yet who will deny that the modern gramophone is a fine instrument, capable of quite delicate performances ? I prophesy that the " talkie " will be a widely popular and extremely effective form of entertainment in five years from now. Its influence on the world of drama and music will be immense and profound, for, just as a villager in the smallest hamlet in this island can now listen to a piece of music being perfectly mechanically rendered, so he will be able, by the aid of the " talkie," `to see and hear plays superbly performed. Consider the difference between the performance of a play in London or New York and the performance of the same play in Kettering or Oshkosh, and then consider that the in- habitant of Kettering or Oshkosh sees exactly the same performance of a Charlie Chaplin film as is seen by the inhabitant of New York or London. Extend your con- sideration of that fact to the " talkie," to television, when it comes, and then invite yourself to realize what the effect of all this will be on theatrical and operatic performances as we now know them. • Mr. Chaplin, the genius of the movie, is inflexibly opposed to the manufacture of " talkies," and has announced that he will not open his lips in them. That is a sound decision for him, for Mr. Chaplin is a great clown, and clowns rarely speak. What they do is more important than what they say. We are here dealing with a matter of technique and style, although Mr. Chaplin is inclined to think that he is dealing with a question of fundamental principle. There is no reason on earth why the silent and the sound picture should not co-exist, although I imagine that spoken pictures will ultimately triumph over silent ones, just as the spoken drama has routed the pantomime. The fact that silent pictures arc universal, while sound pictures must, by the nature of their speech, be local in their appeal, will probably pre- serve the silent picture from destruction, although it may be that some device will be found by which " talkies " can be done in various languages ; but even if the " talkie " continues to be more limited in its scope than the silent picture, the scope will be large enough to make operation within it profitable. The English-speaking world is a big world, and becoming bigger. English " talkies," therefore, though they cannot hope for popu- larity in Poland or Moldavia, can afford to dispense with that popularity when they can find auditors in Great Britain and Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, and the United States of America.
I do not anticipate the performance of miracles as the result of " talkies," but I do anticipate that with the influx into the movie-world of better educated players than are now to be found there and the advent of authors with a sense of style and address, the quality of the pictures will improve. No _ one who frequents moving- pictures even rarely can fail to be struck by the extra- ordinary disparity • between the quality of the picture, as a piece of mechanics, and its quality as a piece of entertainment. A magnificent apparatus is employed for the production of puerile stories. There- can scarcely fail to be an increase in the mind of the pictures when they find tonnes. Things that are too silly to be said can be sung, but things which are silly enough to be pan- tomimed are too silly • to be spoken. And perhaps when some of our mumbling and " fratefully refaned " actors and actresses have heard their voices reproduced from a screen they will feel a shame for • themselves that will compel them to learn to speak dearly. The " talkie " offers nothing but great opportunities to English players who have hitherto had less place in the moving-picture world than they would seem to deserve. - If they fail to seize them, they will have none but themselves to blame. In any event, though great results may not follow from the development of the " talkie," I can see no harm coming from it. I can see much good. , .•
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