Screen Stars and Films

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 152, 28 June 1924, Page 23

Screen Stars and Films

"The Outline of History"—the story of the growth 01 civilisation, as told by H. (j. Wells —is to be told on the screen. Sherlock Holmes comes to life on the screei: i-i the great British Master pictare "Tkf Hound of the Baskervilles." Hie gripping mystery drama is filled with and action. Irene Rich and Monte Blue, who formed such a pleasing combination in 'Brass." will be seen together again in •'Lucretia Lombard," or "Flaming Pasjion," a special Master picture. The Strand will have a "jazz week," OTnmencing July 11. The management ■mnounce that this is going to be one ■reek of happiness—the film "Love, Life, md Laughter," they say could not aave been more perfectly suited for it. Ijgd it been produced specially for the reason. All sorts of novelties will be aitroduced. and patrons are guaranteed -iat this will be a "never to be forgotten"' week. When O-rors-e Pearson's masterpiece of film entertainment, "Love, Life, and Laughter." was Srst shown, the Press critics found a real prablem in how they were going to pay adequate tribute to it without multiplying superlative adjectives which are usually "taboo" in such notices. They could not get over the difficulty, so they let themselves go on the adjectives, and 'T/Ove, Life, and Laughter" received the most glowing notices ever accorded any British film (says an English paper 1. And it deserved them. A glorious entertainment indeed— lOTjfhter and tears in full measure, beautiful scenes, wonderful acting, a fjgeinatine story of life, and, above all, an irresistible radiation of happiness from Betty Balfour, deservedly described as "Queen of Happiness." The story is but a simple exposition of the oldest yet erer youngest desire of the human heart, the achievement of an earnest ambition. The Boy and Girl—who represent any boy or girl—laueh and weep, succeed and fail, and move onward and forward to an inevitable destiny, and to a climax ■which should live lone in the memory. And added to this winderful story, in which every boy and eirl. old or youns. married or single, will revel, is a beauty in treatment and a delicacy of touch of the emotions the like of which has never been surpassed in any film.

"Araby Bound" is the name of a new tvo-reel Century comedy in which the gisnt star, Jack Earle, plays the leading part. The picture ie now nearing the fiTii«>i under the direction of Noel Smith, who has assembled one of the beatknown comedy casts of his film career. George K. Arthur, known to filmgoers ; as "Kippii," sends to a correspondent of «n English paper, from California, news of Chaplin's new comedy, which is being produced under the working title, "lac Gold Rush." The filt- is a etory of the stampede to the Yukon in 1898, and will apparently mark a revolution in comedy production. A replica, of an Alaskan mining town of the vintage of '98 has been built at the Chaplin studio. Many completed eets cover the floor of the interior space, and others are being built in the open air. Every effort is being made to create a convincing atmosphere for the story, and this is being done on a scale not yet attempted outside expressly spectacular productions. "Day by day, in every way, I'm getting braver and braver 1" That is what Harold Lloyd repeated to himself during the filming of his latest feature comedy, "Safety Last" For when "Safety Last" was selected as Lloyd's starring vehicle, it was determined to make it a "thrill" picture— but a "thrill" picture that would surpass even "High and Dizzy," "Now or Never and "Never Weaken," three of his comedies released by Master Pictures in the past. ~ Lloyd figured that anyone can walK across a board when it is on the ground, or when it is raised a few feet. But place this board across an area twelve storeys or so from the ground, and the feat wonld be almost impossible. To overcome this, Harold practised for a number of weeks, each time having the board raised higher, and insisting to himself that "day by day he was becoming braver and braver." And then the dny for the filming came. The "location" was twelve storeys up with the thermometer registering one hundred dejrrees in the shade—and there was no shade. Clinging to the side of the buildins was Harold Lloyd. Twenty feet out from the building, and twelve storeys high, was Walter Lundin, Lloyd's head "cameraman "shooting" from a narrow balcony roughly constructed.

A press sheet from Hollywood assures , us that only French is being spoken in ! I the Paris street scenes in "Poisoned 1-■ Paradise" because the director says that | f if the illusion of a French crowd is to - be carried out, the players certainly must '" not be talking English." Would they he 1 talking English anyway? We have become used to all sorts of I weird American slang phrases, but we t have to admit that "the sea-serpent's 1 adenoids," which formed part of a sub- 1 title of a picture shown here last week, c was the best (or worst) to date. |s 11 Universal has purchased the "Islp of • Life"—a novel of modern Italian life, by -] Stevens French Whitman—fur tlie use of House Peters. This will be the third i of the House Peters six. The first two • are "The Tornado," by Lincoln J. Car- -, ter, now in production, and "Miracle." f by Clarence Buddington Kelland. 1. In the action of "Safety Last." Harold : c'imbs the side of a skyscraper, and to | do this and not bring a serious injury to himself, the comedian recognised that ' he had to make himself familiar with thp ! art of climbing buildings; for when one is clinging to the side of a building ' i twelve storeys from the street, there ia • only one way to fall, and that's down! ! The forthcoming picture. "Beau Brum- 1 mell," in which John Barrymore is star- 1 ring, is declared to be the most pretentious production ever made by Warner Brothers. In regard to caste," sets, and costuming, this production is most : elaborate. Nearly 1000 costumes typify- . ing the periods of 1795. 1814, and 1821 I have been assembled by the research and i wardrobe departments for the filming. Universal announces a strong schedule of feature releases for the month of May. j Four pictures will be released, and will j include one picture with an all-star ! cast, one made by Jack Hoxie, one by Herbert Rawlinson. and one by Laura La Plante. In the order of their release, they are:—"Eiders Dp," with Oeighton Hale and Ethel Shannon; "Ridgeway of Montana," starring Jack Hoxie; "The Danserous Blonde." starring Laura La Plante; and "High Speed," starring Her- . bert Rawlinson.

According to official statistics issued> in Washington, during the month of j January, this year, Australia was j America's best foreign customer for posi-; tive films—films, that is to say, ready to i be thrown on the screen. The total was ; approximately two million feet. | Sid Chaplin tried to act in a burlesque ' scene of "Romeo and Juliet" in Coleen! Moore's picture "The Perfect Flapper." j The ladder tipped over and smashed Mr.; Chaplin's foot. Which shows that you I must not take too many liberties with the immortal Shakespeare. Theodore Roberts, "the grand old man I of pictures," was brought back from the East on a stretcher the other day, having escaped with his life from the bliz- I zards and pneumonia. When they lifted j him down from the Pullman, he had just strength enough to grin and whisper "Never again." Pauline Bush, one of the first and most popular of the screen stars, is returning | to the screen. After an absence of , several years, spent in a leisurely tour of the world and a long residence in , China, Miss Bush has just completed an ' important role in the new James Cruze j production, "The Salamander." Thomas Meighan will again be seen in Auckland soon in his latest picture for Paramount, "Pied Piper Ma-lone." It is the story of a seafaring man, who after doing all he could to save a foundering ship, found a rival in love had slandered his name before he could arrive home to clear it.

The list of Paramount's coming pictures includes the following:—Gloria Swanson in an Allan Dwan production, "Manhandled"; Zane Grey's "Wanderer of the Wasteland," with Jack Holt, Kathlyn Williams, Noah Beery, and Billie Dove; Leatrice Joy in "Changing Husbands," directed by Frank TJrson and Paul Iribe; Rudolph Valentino in "Monsieur Beaucaire," a Sidney Olcott production, with Bebe Daniels. Lois Wilson, Doris Kenyon. and Lowell Sherman; an Alan Crosland production, "Unguarded Women," with Bebe Daniels and Richard Dix, supported by Mary '■ Astor; a James Cruze production, "The i Enemy Sex," with Betty Compson; Pola i Negri in "Compromised. 5,

William de Mille is directing '•'The Bedroom Window," in which May McAvoy and Malcolm MacGregor are jointly featured. After this picture Miss McAvot will help Glenn Hunter make "Merton of the Movies." Estelle Taylor has recently taken her first step to stardom via the Cecil B. De Mille route. Mr. De Mille announced that he has signed Miss Taylor to a lung-term contract to take the place of J.eatrice Joy in forthcoming De Mille productions. Miss Joy has been made a star by the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation as a result of her work in "The Ten Commandments" and "Triumph."' It is said to have been Miss Taylor's work in the former picture that won her the ripht to succeed Miss Joy. Her first picture with De Mille xvill be "Feet of Clay." a story by Marparetta Tuttle. Mr. be Mille. aY director-general for Paramount, has made a number of :-tars. including Gloria Swanson, Agnes Ayres and Bebe Daniels. Mrs. Wallace Reid is starting work upon her new picture. It is to be produced by Thomas H. Ince. and directed by John Griffith .1 ray, the same people who made "Human Wreckage," Mrs. Reid's great anti-narcotic lilm. The success of her first picture has been so great that Mrs. Reid was anxious to do another at once, using some theme equally as vital as the battle against the drug evil. biie wrote letters, therefore, to leading women all over the United States, and asked them to tell her what they considered the most . vital theme before the women of America to-day, , which could be presented in dramatic form upon the screen. Upon their advice, she had selectee the great theme of the responsibility of mother love, and around it will make a vital and compelling drama. The cast has not yet been selected. ' The largest cash guarantee ever put in pictures has just been placed in a fund by Carl Laemmle, of Universal. The amount is one million dollars, and is to go to Jack Dempsey as his salary for ten pictures in which he is to be starred. Work on these ten productions is to be started at once and, according to the contract, they may be spread over a period jof two years, if the studio deems it necesI sary. In the event that a heavy-weight championship fight be signed for Dempsey before the completion of his contract, IpeYmission will be given him to fight, 1 provided all his preliminary training is j done at Universal City. Also, if Dempsey should lose the championship before the ten pictures are completed, the contract for the productions still holds 1 good. Egyptian landscapes, immense build - 1 ings!" walls, ramparts, and palisades, ' spranc up like mushrooms, and, like 1 mushrooms, were torn up and chopped 110 pieces, when they had served Ernest I Lubitsch in his filming of "The Loves of Pharaoh." The cost ranged well up in the thousands. This most elaborate picture by the creator of and "Deception" is a romance of a pretty serving maid and the cruel King of ancient Egypt. During the ten months sr nt in filming this massive spectacle, in which more than 100,000 persons appear, Ernest Lubitsch was almost as powerful a monarch as Pharaoh himself. He was the ruler of this mimic Egyptian glory, of all these supers camping on the sand, and the field marshal of the greatest battle ever seen on the screen. Emil Jannings, Dagny Servaes, and Harry Liedtke are the featured players in this tremendous production.

Very British is the American film version of "The Green Goddess" (writes Alder Anderson, in the "Daily Telegraph"). It will run simultaneously with the play at the St. James' Theatre, and will thus afford an excellent opportunity to judge the relative value of stage and screen. In both versions, Mr. George Arliss gives his masterly interpretation of the suave, feline Eastern, rendered more sinister by his skin-deep Western veneer. Considering how much the smooth, measured diction of thia clever actor adds to his stage performance, it is little short of marvellous how well he succeeds in creating a similar impression by means of gesture and facial expression alone. M. Louis Mer- ! canton is also again going to try his hand on an English theme. He has selected "Two Little Vagabonds," by the I late George R. Sims, and is coming from Paris this week to complete his arrangeI ments and select a cast. Among recent American films shown privately, mention should be made of "'Human Wreckage." ! This has been produced by Mrs. Willace I Reid, widow of the late well-known : screen actor. In its way it is very well ! done, and is a striking warning against a j vice which we have been assured from ' the Bench within the last few days, is making numbers of victims in all classes. A most inters-ting event promises to be the first performance, at the Albert Hall, lof the great German film "The Nibelun<*s," based on the "Nibelungenlied" which inspired Wagner.

A GLOSSARY OF TERMS AS APPLIED TO THE MOVIES. A Human Document—Any film in which a poor old mother is deserted by her children. I A Classic —Has two good actors in the ;cast. I Turning Them Away —Even the comj plimentarie? can't sit through it. i Superproductitra —Over 150 extras iused. Dashing Juvenile —Any actor under 40 ' years who measures less than 35 areund the waist. A Gigantic Spectacle —Any film that is long on costumes and short on story. ! A Stupendous Drama —Any foreign , film which the distributor has bought ■ cheap. ; .i Revelation —Six reels and not a J single close-up of a jazz band or baby. A Smashing Success —Has scenes showing villan breaking chair over hero's head. I Million Dollar Production—Any film i that cost over 147.000 dollars to produce. I Bis Special —Has some good fire and 1 flood = scenes clipped from the Pathe I News. i Bis Outdoor Drama —Features several smooth-shaven cowboys from the Times Square district. A Masterpiece —Fairly good. A Sensation — Xot ?o good. A Triumph —Terrible, but must be sold. ,