CINEMA NEWS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 269, 24 August 1945, Page 6

CINEMA NEWS

S '(By “Spotlight”)] * * ❖

SONJA GIVES ADVICE! With the loss of technical and language experts to the war effort, Hollywood was forced to find a new group of advisers. One of the pictures that had a close call from this lack of experts was the new 20th Century-Fox picture, “The Moon Is Down,” the film version of John Steinbeck’s great novel. However, the studio found the very person who could give the much needed expert advice —and right on their own lot. Lovely Sonja Henie, Norwegian star under contract to the studio was drafted for the Avork while she was completing another picture. Sonja proved that she knew her native country, inside and out. Especially valuable were her tips about the small coast cities, the language and costumes of the people. Sonja gave up most of her spare time in order to act as technical adviser on the gripping picture which f tells the story of the brutal Nazi invasion of her home land, well aware that Americans would warm to the plight of her countrymen. 50 YEARS ON STAGE AND SCREEN. For jovial, white-haired, youthfulfaced Charles Winninger this is jubilee year, his fiftieth as an actor. And fittingly, he is celebrating it in MetroGold wyn-Mayer’s technicolour production of “Broadway Rhythm,” by playing an old-time actor. Born in a log cabin, this veteran of show business has lived through many picturesque adventures, with the accent on accident. But, having been an acrobat and trapeze performer in his early years, such things like bioken bones have meant little to him. BICYCLE HONEYMOON IN “MApAME CURIE” A photograph, made almost 50 years ago of Marie and Pierre Curie on a bicycle trip honeymoon through the French countryside, has been authentically reproduced for a scene in Met-; ro-G old wyn-Mayer’s “Madame Curie.” The background of Pierre’s family home near Paris, the costumes worn by Marie and Pierre, and even the bicycles were reproduced for the scene, with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon playing the real life roles of the Curies. NEWS FROM THE BRITISH STUDIOS. s Producer-director Gabriel Pascal is nearing completion of his film version of the Bernard Shaw play, “Caesar and Cleopatra.” In technicolour, picture stars Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains, with Flora Robson, Raymond Lovell, Stewart Granger and Renee Ascherson prominent in the cast. 1 Making a ivelcome return to the fecreen after more than five years in the R.A.F., breezy Garry Marsh is the latest addition to the cast of Michael Balson’s ghost film, “Dead pit Night.” Garry joined up the day .war broke out and was seconded to the R.A.F. Recording Unit. In 1941 he was given a roving commission as a war commentator with the Bth Army. He joined them at El Alamein, broadhasting his commentaries in the thick of battle and picking up his material in the victorious air and land campaigns that took Monty’s army into Sicily and Italy. Bizerta, Salerno, Volturno, Tunjs—these are some of the famous places from which he broadcast his battlefield reports to the world. A haunted golf match is one of the highlights of Michael Balcon’s ghost film, “Dead of Night,” now being produced at Ealing Studios. The protagonists are Basil Radford and Roland /Culver, while the ghost of Naunton Wayne hovers invisibly in the background intent on sabotaging the game, the hall rising into the air and settling in another spot each time Basil Radford prepares to take a swipe at it. “Hungry Hill,” Daphne du Manner’s story of Ireland and its industrialisation in the 1820’s, which * ran serially recently in “Woman,” is being prepared for early filming by Two Cities.

36 THEATRES OPEN IN BERLIN. Russians, restoring Berlin to a semblance of normal, report they have now. 36 film theatres operating to capacity in the city at all performances. In addition to Soviet films, “selected” German pictures are now permitted. The German State Opera orchestra is playing in the Charlottenburg district, least damaged area of city; and the Schiller theatre is slated to reopen with Friedrich Schiller’s play, “Die Raeuber.” The Light Opera Theatre is also planning to reopen soon. 9 FITZPATRICK TO FILM ENGLISH SCENE. British Ministry of Information lias arranged a three-month tour through England for M.G.M.’s James A. Fitzpatrick. He will make a series showing the rehabilitation of bomb damaged British cities for M.G.M. release. M.G.M.’S CHAMPS. “Motion Picture Herald” of June 22, has selected Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in “Without Love,” and Van Johnson, Gloria do Haven and Lionel Barrymore in “Between Two Women,” as the box-office champions for the month of May. CELEBRITIES AT M.G.M. Two celebrities met at the Culver City studios recently and found that they were to travel together on the trans-Pacific plane. They were Sir Michael Chief Justice of New Zealand, and Dr. Malcolm Sargent. Sir Michael was the guest of M.G.M. for luncheon and afterwards made a tour of the studio. He was entertained by director Willis Goldbeck, Reginald Owen, Edmund Gwenn, Frances Gifford and James Craig. He was returning to New Zealand from San Francisco, where lie had been a delegate to the U.N.C.1.0. conference. Dr. Sargent was on his way lo Australia for his A.B.C. tour.