Screen Stars and Films

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 23

Screen Stars and Films

Franl Lloyd's "The Silent Watch r," featuring tiii'ii Hunter, Be:*?ie Love and Unhurt H«isH'orth, his first production Miioj making -The Sea Hav.k." Coy Pnmerny. the -wizard who parted 11,,. waters of tin- Red Sea in "The Ten ( iimmamlmenf.-,' , is attempting something far more, dillirnlt in "Peter Pan." Pi-nrlijn Staniaws. Ihe artist, has uisiinl a I'liiitrart to produce a series of represent mi, :i I'rench syndicate, said (hat Mr Sianlaws would t >robably sail from America fur France next spring. Two reels of "Peter Pan" are said to h«ve been completed. Contrary to custom, n print of this footage has hecn sent to Npw York. Ernest Torrence has jnineii tho cast of "Peter Pan.' , in which lie will figure as Captain Hook. The Dim is progressing rapidly. Pnla Negri's leading man in "East of Suez' , is lo he Kdmund Lowe, a player who has made vast progress in the industry since his first appearance opposite --Mty Cumpson in "The White Flower" ftwo years- afro. Also in the ca-st, which is ?ot yet complete, are Noah Beery, Sojin and Mrs. Wong Wing. Fiaoul Wulsh is directing. Cecil B. de Milie has taken an entire production unit and a number of the featured players in his cast of "The Golden Bed" to the snow-topped heights of Mount Rainier, ir>,ooo feet above the State of Washington. Here a number of the "thrill" scenes of Jeanie Macpherson's adaptation of Wallace Irwin's novel will be. made. Accompanying the Paramount director-general are Lillian Rich, Theodore Ko=loiT and Robert Cain. P.ohert Service's novel, "The Roughneck," is being made into a picture at t , . William Fox studio, and will be given the title of "Thorns of Passion." The leading roles will be filled by George O'Brien and Billie Dove, and others in the cast are Harry Morey and Cleo MadiFou. "Thorns of Passion" concerns an athletic young man who becomes a prize fighter and eventually a fugitive from ju-stice. Most of the action takes place in picturesque Tahiti. According to the latest advices from Paramount studios, preparations are being made for D. W. Griffith to commence work. The title of the picture has not been decided, but will be something quite big. Griffith will have complete control of the up-to-date machinery of the Lasky studio, and it will be interesting to watch for the next achievement. He has seldom disappointed the moving picture public, and his association with Paramount will be a new era in the art of the screen. After taking Europe by storm and distributing over a million dollars' worth of foodstuffs and other supplies to the stricken orphans of the Near East countries, Jackie Coogan has returned to the United States. Hia next picture, "The Hag Man," is finished, and waits cutting at the studio. For the first time in the history of the Greek Government a child was decorated with the Order of George when the Greek Foreign Minister decorated Jackie Coogan in recognition of his humanitarian service. The presentation was made at the historic Acropolis at Athens before thousands of people. Jackie was welcomed to Greece by the President of the .Republic and other Government officials, the Mayor of Athens, the American Minister, and others. A new three-storey bunding is under construction at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Culver City, which is to house the furniture and- properties brought from the old Metro and Mayer studios, and to accommodate the new stores of equipment constantly arriving from the East. Complete elevating equipment is being installed in this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer building. Two of the stages from the former Metro studio at Melrose and Lillian Way in Hollywood have been taken apart, moved in sections a distance of six miles, and put together again at Culver City Studio, making a total of eight immense stages, all furnished with the finest electrical and technical equipmen procurable. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio is the largest in the world. ZANE GREY. Cable news is to hand to the effect that Zane Grey has left America for London, from whence he will travel to New Zealand to spend a fishing holiday. He will later go to Australia, where he is expected to spend some time, particularly in studying Australian conditions and tho manner in which they parallel the phases of his world-famous novels. The best-known of his works to have been produced as motion pictures are "To The Last Man," "The Call of the Canyon," "The Heritage of the Desert," "The Border Legion," and "The Code of the West," the last two of which have yet to be released by Paramount. In the instance of all five of these pictures, they were filmed in the actual locations describod by the author and were personally supervised by him in the making. As such the.y bear his stamp of unqualified approval. Zane Grey was born in Zanesville, Ohio, 49 years ago, and although he practised as a solicitor in New York for a number of years he has been writing novels exclusively since 1904.

' At the Ufa studios in Tempelhof, Gcr- [ many, work has l>een commenced on a l film'based on the well-known English novel, -The Woman Who Did." In the cast are Lionel Barrymore, the talented . Russian artre\-s. Sorina, Frieda Richard i and Ilertha Muller. TO-MORROW'S BRITISH FILMS. Sir Philip Gibbs, the Knclish writer, in an article on tlie above subject, says that, in spite of many disadvantages, mainly financial, there is a tremendous chance for the cinema in England. In dealing with the advantages in Britain he say*: "We Have our scenery readymade—old castles, cathedrals, villages, market places, manor houses, thatched , cots hardly changed by time since great history was made in them. Our people love their own history, and no English ' producer will fail to lind his crowds if he wants them.' . Our masterpieces of literature have hardly been touched as ■ \ct for the art of the cinema. They 1 are simply crying out for a man like ; Hex Ingram.' Take, for instance, •'Barnaby Rudge," with its pictures of ■ the old English countryside and old inns, still standing, and that marvellous chapter of history, the Lord George Gordon 1 riots. Properly produced, it would ' beat "Scaramouehe" all the way. Take 1 Thackeray's "Henry Esmond" and 1 "Vanity Fair," or "The -Mill on the ; Floss"' by George Eliot, or Meredith's "Diana of the Crossways." Each one ; of these novels would provide unforgettable drama for the screen, English in ' spirit and scenery, universal in emotion and genius. Think of Hardy's "Tess of the D'l'rbervilles" or "Far From the Madding Crowd." It is impossible to adapt them for the stage, or very difficult, but as pictures on the screen they ' would be wonderful. There is no phase of English history which has not been dealt with by great writers in fiction, and Sir Walter Scott is a gold mine for any film producer '. with a touch of genius and a little money. I would choose "The Fortunes of Nigel," -with its living portraits of James and the Duke of Bucking-ham, or "Woodstock," with Amy Robsart and the Earl of Leicester and Queen Elizabeth. The old house is still there where Leicester hid his sweetheart. The walls of Kenihvorth still stand. Warwick Castle has not lost its glory. I am inclined to think, too, that English producers of such works as this could get -i lot of amateur talent, who would be gad toco-operate in a great film production without wanting salaries for their acting, leaving the chief parts to the professionals. What is wanted, concludes Sir Philip, is a genius, with imagination—a fellow like Alexandra Dumas, up-to-date, with a touch of Charles Dickens, seeing the enormous ! drama and comedy of life, making his plots -while you wait, hurling his personality at the screen, as it were. If I were a man like Sir Oswald Stoll. I would -waylay and capture G. K. Chesterton, J. M. Barrie, and Arnold Bennett, and keep them honourably interned until they had produced a set of movies ror popular delijrhfc. It is a pity, anyhow, that men like that have not been enlisted on behalf of the cinema, or have not realised the newscope for their genius which lies in the film, "THE PICTURE YEAR." "Looking back on the picture-year, one comes to the conclusion that the public taste has improved," said Mr. Phil. Hayward, in talking of 1924 from a film point of view. "Some of the productions that have been shown in Auckland this year would not have been looked at before," he added. "For instance, we have had a large number of costume features. They proved immensely popular, but ten years ago they would not have gone down. Films nowadays come in cycles. There is a run of costume productions, then a series of some other type of screen play, and so on. But undoubtedly the taste of j picture goers has improved." British films, like the public taste, have shown improvement, but it is apparent that the public do not appreciate them. From a box office angle, they have proved failures. The trouble in this case is that some deplorably bad films have come from England. That | fact must be admitted. The position now is that English pictures are improv- j ing, but the public are suspicious, and I to many the mere mention of a British film, is enough for them to condemn it and pass on to the nest show. What is needed, as Sir Phillip Gibbs says, in an article quoted in this column, is an able producer. America un- ' doubtedly possesses all the men worth calling producers. "Carnival" was an excellent example of a British film well produced—by an American. It had American technique, Italian atmosphere and English acting—and was a great success from every point of view. Still, Rome was not built in a day, and, with the coming of the Now Year, it is hoped that Britain will go on getting a firm footing on the picture ladder, and that people will wipe away prejudices and patronise their own industry.