234 CINEMA THEATRES 



noticeable. The intensity of the light is of course increased to preserve the brilliancy of 

 the picture. Minor improvements have also been devised in the nature of the screen 

 on which the image is thrown, in the rapidity of the lenses fitted, and in the arc lamp 

 which is always used to illuminate the film pictures, until, at the present time, films 

 in good condition properly projected by the most modern apparatus worked by a first- 

 rate operator show pictures which leave little to be desired as regards brilliancy, steadi- 

 ness and freedom from flicker. 



The camera in which the negative film 'is taken, from which all the subsequent 

 prints are made, is practically the same mechanism as is used in a projector, but it is 

 placed in a light tight box. The lens used in taking is an extremely rapid one of the 

 highest quality so that the utmost detail may be secured. The pictures are invariably 

 taken at 16 per second, or one foot of film, and the necessary alteration of the exposure is 

 made by stopping down the lens. This taking speed is never altered, as the films are 

 always projected at this speed and thus a natural. effect of motion is always secured. 

 If the film is projected faster than it was taken the effect is very hurried, and if slower 

 an opposite but equally unreal effect is attained. 



The films after exposure are mounted on frames (holding from 150 to 300 feet), 

 developed, fixed and washed in large tanks, and then wound on drums about 4-5 feet 

 in diameter and dried by being rapidly revolved in warm dry air. The positives are 

 then printed from these in a special printing machine in which the positive is successive- 

 ly exposed to light behind the negative pictures. It is developed, fixed, washed and 

 dried in the same way as the negative, and is then ready for the market. One or two of 

 the largest French film manufacturers produce their positives by means of automatic 

 machinery, but this has not yet been generally adopted. 



In the early days, the subjects of the films were of the simplest possible character, 

 scenery taken from a moving train, a woman washing a baby, boys bathing and so forth : 

 but they have become more and more complex until at the present time no expense is 

 spared to render the pictures correct in every detail. The actors are dressed with every 

 attention to historical accuracy and the plays are in many cases acted in the places 

 where the scenes depicted actually took place, large numbers of people being continually 

 employed by all the film companies in preparing, rehearsing, and acting the various 

 scenes depicted. A French firm employed 2,500 people to act a film of " The Siege of 

 Calais," and an American company spent 20,000 and employed sixty actors for months 

 in Palestine to act " From Manger to Cross." 



The business has developed into an enormous one all over the world, and has reached 

 its highest development in the United States. There the most insignificant villages 

 have their picture " show," and more than five million people go to see the plays every 

 day, at least 26,000,000 being taken at the doors in a single year. In England, though 

 the progress has not been so rapid, the business is an important one. There were over 

 4,000 theatres licensed in Great Britain for pictures in 1912. Each of these shows 5,000 

 to 6,000 feet a day, so that over 20,000,000 feet are projected every day. The life of a 

 film is only six weeks in constant running, so that over 3,000,000 feet come in and go 

 out of circulation every week. As this film is supplied by the manufacturers at an 

 average price of 3^. it follows that a large amount of capital is invested in this business, 

 even though it has not yet reached its fullest development. All the countries of Conti- 

 nental Europe have adopted the new form of entertainment. 



The most important countries for manufacturing the film are in order France, the 

 United States, Italy, Great Britain and Germany. In the early stages, England had a 

 monopoly of this branch of the business, but this was lost partly because climatic condi- 

 tions were unsuitable and partly because the fear that the craze would be a transient one 

 frightened capitalists. There is now no doubt that this form of entertainment will con- 

 tinue to attract: there were 90 picture theatres licensed in London in 1909, but in 1912 

 there were over 400. It attracts audiences partly from those who previously never went 

 to places of amusement at all and partly from music-hall and theatregoers. It has 

 recently been shown that the seven leading London music-halls made on the average 



