BEHIND THE SCREEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1922, Page 18

BEHIND THE SCREEN.

Charlie Chaplin has sued an actor named Charles Amador for imitating the Chaplin vagabond clothes and putting out films under the name of Charles Aplin. Charlie is seeking an injunction to restrain Amadors enterprise.

Edward M. Kimball, father of Clara Kimball Young, and himself a wellknown figure of the screen in elderly parts, was .married recently to Mrs. Alyse Hunt Whitaker. The bride is a former magazine writer who has taken up scenario work.

There is a new heiress to the considerable estate of Thomas Mix. She arrived the other day, and has been named Thomasina (writes our Los Angeles correspondent). The child's mother i* Victoria Fordc. who retired from the screen when she married the star of western pictures.

Since the Universal Company has begun to make a film serial of Robinson Crusoe, reports have come in from public libraries all over the country, of a grfc&tly stimulated demand for flhe classic so popular with youth. The producers are making a swashbuckling role of Defoe's hero.

Unworthy persons are to be weeded out of the Hollywood studios. The Federation of Art, composed of writers, cameramen, actors, and directors, has been formed to boycott undesirables and convince America that the movie personnel is on as high a moral plane as that in any other activity.

A movement is on foot to have screen stars who send out their photographs enclose a statement regarding the true conditions in Hollywood, California. In this way it is hoped to offset in thousands of minds the unwarranted attacks that have been made on the general body of the players because of a few black sheep among them.

A motion picture into which the interesting aspects of Hollywood, California, will be incorporated is to be made under the auspices, of the Los Angeles and Hollywood Chambers of Commerce. The enterprise is planned to offset some of the sensational stories representing the beautiful residential suburb of Los Angeles as a sink of iniquity.

The Solar Film Company was formed 'primarily to undertake the production and exploitation of films dealing with travel, exploration, adventure, and science. Brig.-General Sir Percy Sykes has been producing a travel film in Morocco, which is to be shown very soon in England, and later on in New Zealand. The film is one of a series the several subjects of which are "Burma," by Major-General L. Dunsterville, "Timbuctoo," "China," "Persia," and others.

"Oh, Lady, Lady," is another good "Realart" picture, just privately shown by the Gaumont Company. Lately "Gaumont's" have encouraged one to 'believe that they are really trying to stay the slump in the cinema business by finding good pictures, says a -Home paper. Bebe Daniels is the heroine and Harrison Ford the hero in this light and amusing story. It bears traces of its origin—the musical comedy of the same name by Bolton and Wodebouse—the humour is sometimes forced, but it makes a good entertainment, and should be noted.

The screen version of "The Sentimental I Bloke" has just 'been released in Engjland, and of it a reviewer says: —"It is i not quite like any other picture I have seen; therefore, on that score alone, film lovers owe the producer a debt of gratitude. There is originality, there is humour anil flashes of wit. Sentiment, of course; not quite so thickly and blatantly' applied as in American pictures, but enough to go round, and a bit over. There are many fascinating pictures, and the spirit and humour of the poem has been cleverly preserved. This film has a charm of its own; it will make a wide appeal, and probably prove an overwhelming "box office' success."

Fireproofing moving picture films is the latest accomplishment of German industry. The inventor of the process is Gustave Schaff, a Berlin engineer, who recently demonstrated his innovation in film production to experts. Ordinary celluloid films are put through a certain process of impregnation which renders them absolutely uninflammable. Fire makes them melt, but they do not burn. 'A aO-yard reel of film was thrown into open flame and left there for a considerable time. Only a few inches melted, the rest remaining intact. Experiments showed that the impregnated -films were no different to ordinary ones in other respects. The German film industry is expected to make the most extensive use of the invention. In France just now a law is in preparation prohibiting the use of inflammable films in France and her colonies. This law would have given Pathe Frercs the monopoly in the French film market had not Herr Schaff made bis discovery. The German film producers now are able to avoid the ban which the proposed French law would have put upon their products.

The weakest spot in films as entertainment has always been that side which deals with comedy. It is always pleasant to be able to record any effort in this direction which takes film production out of the slough of banality and absolute rubbish. It is even more ant to be able to write about something which is not only good stuff, but also may be fairly described as representing the best work which the screen can perform. Artistic Films, Limited have produced a couple of the delightful stories of W.- W. Jacobs, which had been screened in such a way as to preserve the full flavour of these master, pieces ,of English fiction. The first story is that of the mind-starved nephew, who has been waiting for his uncle's death for years, and who found, when that happy event occurred, that his uncle had drafted a will which gave him all the property, subject to his consenting to marry the first woman who asked him in the presence of two witnesses. This is the raw material out of which is built a love story and a comedy which compels laughter,"even from the man who has just received his income tax papers. The acting is brilliant, and some of the incidental pictures are as beautiful as the film can show. "Sam's Boy," the other example, is one of W. W. Jacobs' sea stories —the one in which, it will be remembered, that the mate is an ardent Salvationist, who thinks that the crew will be much improved by following his example. The story has a richness and a flavour which will be relished by all. There are no barbed shafts to hurt, the comedy depending upon a deft appeal to the play-boy in all of us.