Screen Stars and Films

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 8, 10 January 1925, Page 23

Screen Stars and Films

Mar Murray's lutest pictures are "Mademoiselle Midnight" and "Circe, the Enchantress." EacqiiPl Miller, classed as one of the world's seven most beautiful women, is tlio star in "The Oppressed," a Paramount production. All interiors on Harold Bell Wright's "Re-Creation of Brian Kent" have been eonipK'tt'il, 'iiid tlie cast, headed by Helene (liaduick. Kenneth llarlan, and Zasu l'itts. loft for Trurkee, where the exteriors for the picture are to be filmed. Universal lias purchased the most popular scries of stories that the Saturday "Kvening Post" ever ran—the "Winnie o' Wynne" series, by Bertram Atkey. The "Winnie O' Wynne" stories have appeared in novel form and in the form of a play. Earl Hudson defies the movie world to beat (he chase which will be seen in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Lost World." In this picture a prehistoric dinosaur, such as rejgned supreme about 10,000,000 8.C., comes to life on the picture screen, and runs amok in London. Ho chases crowds of panic-stricken people down Piccadilly. C rl Laemmle has elgned Georgie Grb-'dee, known on the vaudeville stage as Georgie Coan, to a long time contract. This protege of William Desmond, ■who appears in Desmond's latest picture, "The Meddler, , ' has made a very fine impression on the L T niversal City producers. William A. Seiter. Universal director is on his way to Honolulu with a Universal company of stars, players and technicians, to film "Dangerous Innocence," adapted from the popular Pamela Wynne novel, "Ann's an idiot." The starring roles are taken by Laura La Plant and Eugene O'Brien. Edward Laemmele's production of Gerald Beaumont's "Flower of Napoli" story has been changed in title to '"The Man in Blue" since it was scheduled in Carl Laemmle's famous "white list." Another addition to the "white list" is Elmer Davis' novel, "I'll Show You the Town." Erie Kenton, who gained fame as the director of Jack Dempsey's "Fight and Win" series, will direct, and Tom Geraghty has already prepared the continuity. Reginald Denny is-the star. A blonde from England is the latest girl in the picture world to flash upwards from obscurity. The naming of Lillian Rich for a leading rol-e in Cecil B. DeMille's new picture, "The Golden Bed," marks a new addition to the list of those on whom the star-making wand of this director has rested. Miss Kieh, a blonde, and Miss Vera Reynolds, a brunette, are DeMille's latest candidates for the shoes whence Gloria Swanson, Bebe Daniels, Agnes Ayres and I.eatrice Joy rose to stardom. The grand staircase and foyer scenes representing the Grand Opera Ball in Phantom of the Opera," will be ifilmed in coloured photography in order to bring out the beautiful colour values as well as the bizarre effects of the costumes which Rupert Julian has chosen for this world celebrated annual event. Progress on this gigantic photoplay, in which Lon Chancy will follow up his great success in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," is slightly ahead of schedule. Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry will support Chancy. Tragedy broke in upon the happy company making exterior scenes for First National's "Frivolous Sal." One of the professional guides, who had led the motion picture folk over dangerous mountain trails, fell to instant death over an inaccessible peak near Mount Rainier, Washington. The accident occurred on the guide's "day off." The victim was a youth of 21. He showed the utmost concern for the safety of his charges, but when out for a lark by himself he attempted to scale a rock to a point no man had ever reached. He. slipped, with the tragic result stated. "East of Suez," Pola Negri's newest Btarring picture for Paramount, has a number of links which are seven hundred years in length. These are the links supplied by the oriental furniture in the picture, many pieces of which were made and ornamented by artists who have been dead for seven hundred years. W. Somerset Maugham, eminent English novelist, wrote "East of Suez" and it was given a stage production in Australia quite recently. It is being made into motion picture form by Raoul Walsh, with Noah Beery, Rockliffe Fellowes and Edmund Lowe. A recent new American film which deserves special notice is the Vitagraph production of '"Clean Heart," adapted from A. S. M. Hutchinson's book, and directed for the screen 'by that experienced Anglo-American, J. Stuart Blackton (says an English review). Even tad the latter's bold attempt to represent in moving pictures what is essenti-1 ally a psychological study of character I ended in a complete fiasco, it would have none the less deserved to be treated with sympathetic respect. As it is, the skill with which Mr. Blackton makes us actually perceive the eddying ■whirlpool of emotions Which sap the mental equilibrium of the harassed and overworked journalist is truly marvellous. Percy Marmont identifies himself as closely with the author's creation in this film as he did in the screen version of Mr. Hutchinson's "If Winter Comes." The visit of the King and Queen to a London picture house is an auspicious event for the cinema (writes Alder Anderson in the "London Daily Telegraph"). As an unequivocal Royal recognition of "the pictures," it is bound to have far-reaching consequences, for the news, trumpeted with 3ightninrr speed abroad, will give the final quietus to the erroneous belief that the screen can only provide entertainment of an inferior order. This, in turn, will, it is to be hoped, react on produce's, stimulating them to more original efforts, in order to win the applause and support of more cultured pieturegoers. "Zeebmgge," with its direct, " unvarnished tale of almost superhuman heroism, has won the ungrudging admiration of an elite headed % the King and Queen, as also of persons of the most various stations and avocations. The fact of the matter is that this film is a startling demonstration of what the too-lonfr-neglected Powers of the screen can achieve. That it will make a triumphant tour of the World is practically certain, and already, we understand, steps have been taken to give it worthy successors.

The story that an American film company produced a "Christmas" pict re with a close up of Santa daua in check plus fours, arriving in a Ford car, lacks foundation. "How to Educate a AVife" should prove very helpful to husbands who have spent a lifetime trying to brine/ their wives up the way they'should go, I and have made a successful failure of ;n. Marie Prevost and Monte 151 no costar. Six reels of pure farce at its cleverest I and funniest—that's "Why WorryY" 1 Harold Lloyd's latest picture, according to reports. It is all about one of those revolutions that explode every once-in-«-while in South America, and that means that there is a full measure of romance and adventure, of thrills and ! suspense. Clarence Brown has been chosen to direct "The Plastic Age," tlio romance of youth and college life, by Percy Marks, which caused so much discussion and which was one of the season's best sellers in America. The screen script, being prepared by Will 11, Ritchey and Melville Brown, will be ready for the production soon. Lillian Collier, an unknown perron in the screen world, was assigned in an emergency to a small part in Hoot Gibson's latest picture, "Taming the West-" In one short week she demonstrated a remarkable pictorial ability. She has been given the leading feminine role in Ernst Laemmle's company for three pictures. Mr. Beaumont Smith, the Australian producer, who is searching in Now Zealand for screen talent, will shortly make tests of Auckland applicants at the Strand Theatre. Mr. Smith has made all arrangements so that aspirants for screen careers (how many are there in Auckland alone?) will be te.-ted under real studio conditions. As before stated in this column, Mr. Smith has promised employment to all applicants who meet his requirements. Jacqueline Logan, pretty show girl of the Follies, who made an instantaneous hit in pictures, has signed one of the most important contracts to which a young woman of 22 ever affixed her signature. Miss Logan has signed a renewal of her contract with First National for a period of almost five and a half years. The amount involved in this contract is said to total a sum that could scarcely be comprehended by the average young miss of to-day. Much interest is being taken in the strange German film, "Warning Shadows," which was recently shown in London. Its inclusion in the programme of the Tivoli theatre was something of an experiment, for the film has no sub-titles, and its subject matter is weird and '"creepy." Those who saw it privately vouch for this, with the assurance that they felt as if they had been hypnotised. The name of the German producer has not yet been announced. Lois Wilson has the only feminine role in Alan Crosland's production of "Contraband." She is the talented, beautiful and daring owner of a country newspaper in this Clarence Buddington Kelland story. The male members of the cast are Noah Beery, Raymond Hatton (working in "The Top of the World" at the same time), Raymond McKee, Charles Ogle, and Luke Cosgrave. This will be the first picture Crosland has made in Hollywood, his other two Paramount productions, "Sinners in Heaven" and "Unguarded Women," having been made in the Long Island Studios in New York. Prizes to the total value of £650 are being offered by Welsh Pearson and Co., the celebrated British film company, in conjunction with the London "Referee," for a film story to feature Betty Balfour. Of this sum £250 will be paid to the competitor whose story or scenario is considered most suitable to this famous actress. If the film is produced within two years a further £250 will be paid to the author, "the copyright for all purposes and throughout the world" lying with Welsh Pearson. In addition to "this a second prize of fIOO will be awarded to the writer of the next best story suitable to Betty Balfour or any other artist, and £5 is offered by the "Referee' , each week for ten weeks to the sender of the best suggestion which might be embodied in a lietty Balfour film. One of the largest and most picturesque outdoor sets ever built at Paramount's Long Island studio occupied the entire lot in the rear of the main studio building. The set, made for Rudolph Valentino's newest starring picture, which Joseph Henaberry directed for Paramount, "A Sainted Devil," was an exact duplicate of a picturesque hacienda of modern Argentine. The main building is representative of the home of Don Alonza (Valentino). Alongside of the main building, and separated by a stone wall, are the smaller houses of the peons and servants of the family of Don Alonza. These are but little more than huts with straw roofs, with one main room in which the peon's family ate and slept- In bad weather the ciiiekens and pigs would be chased inside of the huts and allowed to etay there until the weather cleared. Surrounding the entire group of buildings is a massive stone wall, a relic of the days when lawless tribes roamed the country. The only entrance to the grounds and houses is through enormous wooden doors set in this wall. The museum of Kingston-on-Thames, near London, contains-the first machine for projecting moving pictures on a screen. It was the invention of a native of Kingston, named Maybridge, who went to the United States and became director of a photographic survey of the Pacific coast. In California there was a fierce discussion as to whether a horse while trotting ever had four feet off the ground. Maybndge tried to settle a wager between two millionaires by means of instantaneous protography One of his photographs showed all four feet off the ground. Not quite satisfied, however, he conceived the idea of taking a series of instantaneous photographs in rapid succession. On* of the millionaires, who owned a stud of horses, granted facilities for experiment So successful was it that Maybridge continued his investigation, and followed it in 1884 by inventing an apparatus which projected his photographs on a screen. Tins apparatus lie called the Zoopraxiscope, Ins photographs being confined to animals m motion.

Agnes Ayres has started work on "To-morrow's Love" under the direction of Paul Bern. Pat O'Malley is to again be her leading man and another featured member of the cast is Ruby Lafayette, the ci, hty-year old lady who is able to display lots more vivacity than many people a quarter of her age. Howard Higgin adapted the story of "Tomorrow's Love" from the Saturday "Evening Post" story, "Interlocutory." D. W. Griffith, in his forthcoming picture, of which the exteriors were taken in Berlin, has abandoned, says the "Kvening Standard" picture-columnist, what the Americans call "sure-fire stuff" (the stuiT they put in to please exhibitors, who think it pleases the public, who hate it like anything). This new film is going to be life, and Mr. Griffith, as would naturally '•« tl"> h=». is ''the first American producer to risk a fortune in such a cause.' This sounds promising, especially after the unbelievable bathoß of "The White Rose," one of Mr. firifiitll's recent concepts of life. But, all the same, the title, which was to have been "Dawn," a good and expressive title, it seemed to mc. has now been changed to "Isn't Life Wonderful»" In film maters it certainly is. Lupino Lane has now been added to the caste. A film record of the petroleum industry in the Dutch Kast Indies, controlled by the Royal Dutch-Shell group, was sliown to a small party of guests invited by the associated British companies. Apart from the fact that as Rll "interest" film it is too long, it may bp regarded as a very successful piece of photography. Many of the scenes were taken in beautiful country, and the process of drilling for oil and dealing with the oil when found make very good film material. But if this record is to be released for general consumption, it will be necessary lirst to take out a great many still-life scenes, such as birds-eye views of relining and storage plants, and, secondly, to have the subtitles put into better English. The film might be made into a sound educational item, according to a. review. The largest liner in the world, the British White Star Company's pride. R.M.S. Majestic, is speeding a tin of film across the Atlantic. It is addressed to Sir .lames Barrie, and contains the first finished print of "Peter Pan." It was produced by Herbert Brenon, and the company are anxiously awaiting the verdict of the author. Sir James, who probably owes the majrr share of his knighthood to the delicacy and world sentiment of "Peter Pan," is reported as having said these last words to Producer Herbert Brenon just before Brenon left London for Hollywood to commence production upon the picture which has since evoked such powerful praise over the cables: "There are no automobiles or telephones in "Peter Pan." It was given partly as a statement of fact and partly as a warning; but. says the "Exhibitor," to a director of the fineness and poetic perception of Brenon, the warning portion of it was not needed. Both "The O'Brien Girl" and "Little Nellie Kelly" have met with striking success 'n Wellington, where packed houses have proved the rule at His Majesty's Theatre. The dressing is a striking feature of Hugh J. Ward's famous musical comedy successes, the first of which, "The O'Brien Girl," will follow the Seymour Hicks season at the Opera House, commencing Saturday, March 7. The fabrics used are all of the finest quality, many of them selected in London and Paris, and shipped to Australia to be made up. The fashioning of the hundreds of beautiful frocks worn in the production was done in the workroom of a leading Melbourne firm. Not only has a wide range of novelty in modern style been secured, but each frock has its appointed place in the fascinating colour scheme of one or other of the beautiful ensemble. "The O'Brien Girl" can fairly claim to be the bestdressed girl on the stag-> to-day, and though her wardrobe cost thousands of pounds, Mr. Hugh J. Ward says, with an expansive gesture, "She's worth it."

The Very Rev. Neal Dodd, the film pastor, marries Lewis Stone and Mary Astor in "Inez from Hollywood." Father Dodd does not cultivate the nuptial countenance worn by many clergymen and which seems to say "You're supposed to be liuppy, but I'll bet you won't." LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION. The expedition which, at the instance of the Hope Films Ltd., left England in October last year to make a film of the finding of Livingstone by Stanley, arrived in London on Saturday evening. Consisting of six white men and two I white ladies, the expedition throughout I a great portion of their journey followed tlie route taken by Livingstone to I'jiji. and they have brought back with them a wonderful series of pictures. Livingstone, it will bo recalled, set out in 1 SOS to discover the sources of tlie Kile. For about three years no coinrmmicntion was received from him, and tlie fact tlint be was still alive and well was only established in November, IS7I. when Stanley discovered the missionary explorer at I'jiji. on Lake Tanganyika. Livingstone, declining to return with Stanley to civilisation, resumed his explorations of the southern end of Tanganyika, and he died, in 1573, near Lake Baiimveolo. as the result of dysentery. His body, roughly pmhalmel. was carried with great peril to the coast by hia faithful followers, and was brought home to Kn<rland for interment in Westminster Abbey. Ino Hone r itm <WT)P<|itir»n poti si sfo>"i of Mr. Jf. Wotliprell. leader and producer, who impersonated Livingstone: Mr. TT. Walton, who fork the uart of Stanley; Mr. nous-Ins Caton IDr. Moffar. an insect collector). Major John Maekay (treasurer), Mr. fiuotnv Pnli [first camera maul, and Mr. C. Wctherell (second camera man); Mrs. Wctherell (Mrs. Moffat). and Miss Molly Rogers (Miss May Moffat, who became Mrs. Livingstone). The ladies accompanied the expedition to Capetown, and on to Kuruman, whence they returned to London after a series of films had been taken, including the courtship and marriage of Livingstone, his family life, and the discovery by him of Lake Ngami.