Page 2 Advertisements Column 2

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2405, 21 January 1909, Page 2

THE CALL OF THE WILD. :-1 WHAT THE OPERATORS GO THROUGH. A HUGE -BUSINESS. Not even those who make a- -weekly, pmcticc of attending a kinema-to-grap-h .show can imagine, -what an enormous and fascinating industry has been created iby tlio invention oithe kinematograph, and though it is developing in giant strides no one can foretell what uses it .may he put. to in the future. It is heartily enjoyable to visit a- theatre and see Hashed upon the screen the gems oi scenery in all -parts of the world, the strange people of stranger countries engaged in industries the results oi corner grocer’s, shop, and the models of .life, national customs, dances, ceremonials, etc., of nations kin and foreign to ourselves; hut one seldom thinks of the great enterprise, thought, and labor that lie behind the attractive animations at the end of the hall. -Some idea of what it all means -was obtained the other day by a- “Dominion” reporter from M. Leopold iSutto, the manager of an expedition fitted oiit -by Rathe Freres, oi Paris, producers oi the highest-class kinematograph films in the world, which was commissioned to exploit the more remote islands of the South Seas. The expedition is only one oi many sent out to every part of the world at enormous cost, the whole oi which is controlled by the Expedition Department, -which in turn is only a section of the enormous business of Patlie Freres, whose sign bird, the rooster rampant, ero-ws with the setting sun every hour of the twentyfour all the civilised world over. Some idea of the amazing capacity of this big business will be gathered from the fact that the firm employs 3500 people, it has large estates and parks in the north -and south of France, and three theatres in Paris, where the story and play pictures are enacted under the all-seeing eye of the kinematograph camera. A NEW DEPARTURE.

31. Sutto, who at present is' milking the round trip from Sydney to 3lelbourne for the sake of his health, says that his firm last year contracted with the Comcdie Franeais —the national theatre of 'France —to have | some of its performances ldnemato- j graphed, and we may before long have the great pleasure of seeing Bernhardt, Coquel in and the brilliant coterie of .artists of the finest company in the world give performances of tile greatest of classical and modern plays. We are sure to,see these pictures' later, as 31r Sutto states that 3lr T. J. West has paid the sum of £2OOO for the sole right of exhibiting them in Australasia. This, again, is only a section of the work undertaken. If there is. a meeting of Kings somewhere on the other side of the world, a big naval review, a railway smash, a great horse race or athletic event, representatives of I’m the Freres arc on the spot, whirring round the little wheel, at the side o['”thc camera, that makes the incident, episode, or function "'the common property of the world. 1 IK' THE SOLO3IOKiS. 31. Sutto {(irae to Australia with sdefinite idea. Armed with credentials and a letter of credit for £BOOO, and supported by a couple of expertoperators, he was to visit the less known of the South Sea Islands for the entertainment and education of the masses over the seas. -He succeeded 'beyond his highest expectations. His first objective was- the Solomon Group, in some parts of which civilisation as we understand it is yet undreamt of, and a price is placed upon the head of a white man. The party proceeded from Sydney to Xulaga (where two houses and the same number of officials represent the ' British 'Government), and there fitted out an expedition consisting of three or four whites, off the rubber plantations, 50 natives, end three boats, and proceeded on the Guadalcanal and into the interior (by river) for some distance, until it 'became unsafe to proceed any further. There the Solomon Islander was located in all his primitive glory, his dress (if any) being an apron, and n stick thrust through that part of the nose that divides the nostrils. Proceeding up the river was in itself -a hazardous business, ifor beautiful as was the scenery and gorgeously exotic the vegetation,-there was a continual menace in the air. It was, for instance, admitted by the white men resident on' the island that it would not be safe to proceed far into the forest, as the -bush tribes were very treacherous, and there were the germs of malaria everywhere rising through the .steamy atmosphere. Now and again they would have to wade up to the middle in the river to pull the boat over rapids, and then sit in their wet clothes in the broiling sun.

Despite all drawbacks M. Sutto states that the results were worth all they had t-o endure. They secured the native at his wildest, at his dances, his food, in costume and out of it, armed with the weapons of war and with the implements of peace (very few of these), and engaged hi fishing (and the few native pursuits necessary for the support of life. When he returned to Tulaga, he arranged a “fake” attack on a white man’s camp. The natives creep on the hut, .fire it, and though the inmates make a gallant defence, they * ire all speared to death in the course of a demoniacal scene. M. (Sutto was assured hy the natives that the method adopted was just how they do perform such deeds in reality, it

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