HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 264, 7 November 1931, Page 5 (Supplement)

HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

GOSSIP FROM FILMLAND.

(By JIOLLIE MERMCK.)

HOLLYWOOD, October 5.

The "one-man" picture, perfection in film production, may be arrived at yet. Carl Laemmle, jun., has just appointed Edwin Knopf to direct his own story, which brings the finished product well into the concept of one brain. Since talking pictures meteored across the sky, every criticism has included the one that too many hands stirred the talkie pudding, all have agreed that the nearer one arrived at the "one man" picture the more close to perfection the product would become. The success of all great stage plays—the phenomenal story of Belasco —the reclame received by Max Reinhardt for his theatrical spectacles, are all due to the fact that they represent the tangible inspiration of one man. "Nice Women," the Edwin Knopf story, will have William A. Grew and Sidney Fox in the cast. Sidney Fox is another of the legitimate stars who bids fair to go a long way in talkies.

Lionel Barrymore is one of the busiest (and the best) actors in Hollywood today. After sitting more or less on the side lines for some time, Barrymore is coming back into popularity with a vengeance. He is still busy in the Lubitsch picture, "The Man I killed," and as soon as this is finished he will play the part of the detective in "Arsene Lupin," which will be Jack Gilbert's last picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer under his present contract. The sudden enthusiasm for Lionel-Barrymore is doubtless prompted by his excellent performance in Norma Shearer's last picture, "A Free Soul," in which he played the. part of her father.

Those over-zealcus journalists who keep reporting Gloria Swatvon's marriage before her civorce is final also have Constance Bennett and tne Marquis de la Falaise on the qui vive for the same reason. Pre-divorce marriages have occurred in Hollywood. One or two were celebrated in Mexico, and with dire after-results. Rudy Valentino and his bride were separated following their ceremony in order that they might comply with the California laws, which did not recognise a Mexican marriage ceremony antecedent to the time-limit of the interlocutory decree. Gloria Swanson hasn't troubled to deny the report in person; but her manager points out the foolishness of such proceedings. And since Gloria Swanson has had more than one divorce, she would not he guilty of ignorance of the law in such a case.

It's a race between Constance Bennett and Marion Davies as to sartorial splendour these days. Marion Davies invariably goes in for simplte clothes. But of a cut and a quality! Constance Bennett is the protagonist of the extreme. The ostrich-trimmed frock in times (when feathers are a vogue), burgeons out from

her knees and plays like a fountain about her feet. They're both blondes. The foregoing reminds me of a story told by a friend about her encounter with the proprietor of one of the most famous dressmaking shops in New York. "I go to the same parties as Miss So-and-so," said the lady, mentioning a very famous star, "and I would hate to duplicate any of the models she has bought in another colour —or in the same shade. It would be embarrassing." "If that is the case," said the proprietor of the dressmaking establishment, "we can do nothing for you. Miss So-and-so has bought one of every model we created this year!" That is dressing as it is done in Hollywood.

Possibly the most interesting figure in pictures during the coming year will be Jimmie Dunn —if he gets stories as good as "Bad Girl" with which to carry on. Beautiful and charming women are a frequent occurrence in films —it's first and foremost a field for women's success. But new finds in the field of masculine actors are scarce. Producers scour the country for a male bet. The colleges are fine-combed for aces that may have possibilities; no corner too remote to search for a boy who may fill the bill. When Fox Film Corporation signed Jimmie Dunn they may or may not have known just what excellent material they had captured. This lad, with experience on the New York stage, is good looking in that understandable way which registers heavily with the majority of women. Jimmie Dunn has none of the inscrutability of a Ronald dolman'—whose reserve limits his popularity somewhat. He is brimful of zest, friendly and thoroughly en rapport with the heights and depths of real feeling. This trick of projecting emotion through the casual is his greatest asset. His scene in the doctor's office in "Bad Girl" has put him in the front rank of male players. It has caused one of those Hollywood furores which, followed by a nominal amount of good luck, means a big future for any player. Because of his instantaneous hit, Jimmie Dunn goes into the next Janet Gaynor picture as her leading man.

Ann Harding has dispossessed the former queens of cinema and reigns supreme these days. All Hollywood turns out for an Ann Harding opening— in its best ermine bib and cloth of gold tucker. As for sidewalk enthusiasts — they mounted into the thousands when "devotion" had its world premiere. "Devotion" is an excellent example of what perfect casting and beautiful art can do for a hackneyed and quite unbelievable tale. Love scenes may ue

considered failures so far as most talking pictures go, but in this picture the love scene is carried off witli as superb sentiment and restrained passion as any stage play ever gave. Ann Harding's beauty never was seen to better advantage.

No forthcoming picture is being mora carefully watched by professionals than the Ernst Lubitsch production of "The Man I Killed," now in the casting It is the first departure music's masterdirector has made since "The Patriot." During this interval Ernest Lubitsch lias accomplished the seemingly impossible; he has made successful singing pictures during an era of unsuccessful ones and he has made box-office history with musicals during a period when scarcely a producer in the colony Avould invest, a penny in what was termed "dead entertainment." Hollywood is music mad once again. Every studio has plans for one or more of the pictures which were banned a year ago; it is quite consistent with the Lubitsch nature that he should choose this time to make a post-war picture—something far removed from the worldly, light, gay and technically brilliant things with which we have indentified him during the past three years.

"I like musical .pictures so much— now with everyone getting back to them, I hope they don't spoil their chances by overplaying the medium," was his opening comment when we discussed "The Man I Killed." "I am going back to sheer drama because I have never allowed myself to do one thing to the exclusion of all others —I think that is artistic suicide. I want to see if I still have my hand in at drama . . .

I am giving the world the story of a boy after the war. During the war ho lias killed another boy—a lad somewhere about his own age—in close-in fighting—a bayonet encounter which makes of death in war .a much more personal thing than when the enemy is dispatched by a hand-grenade or at rifledistance." Ernst Lubitscli has chosen Phillip Holmes for the boy. Tom Douglas has been chosen for the lad who is killed. A veteran stage actress and playwright, Louise Carter, has been given one of the outstanding parts, and another important role will be in the

capable hands of Lionel Barrymore. Testing for a leading lady has been more difficult. Nancy Carroll, iir«t considered, grew temperamental at the idea of being co-starred and was dropped from the list. Others have not come up to Director Lubitsch's ideal of the girl. It is a very important part in the story, it seems. Madge Evans was borrowed for a test recently, but 110 decision has been arrived at as yet.

Ernest Lubitsch, whose directness of attack and precision in directing is the euvy of his contemporaries, is the most firm believer in the close-up of any of the local authors in film production. "The greatest aid to the development 01 emotionalism and the surest guide 10 the core of the dramatic action lies in the close-up," said Lubitsch, in discussing* his theory of picture-making. "Not only does the close-up give the brain process, but it may (to the exclusion of the face entirely perhaps) centre on some one thing which is of paramount importance in the dramatic action and to which we could not direct attention without this means in any feasible way. The chief drawback to close-ups is their incorrect use. They should never he used merely as a means of revealing the beauty of some lovely actress. A close-up is only justifiable when direct dramatic action may be expressed through the features—or some mental sublety may be indicated by the muscles of the eyes, cheeks or mouth."

"I am not a believer in subtitles in a modern talkie," he said in answer to a question. "When the story moves correctly, you infer locale, time and various other necessary things from the dialogue. The subtitle is a survival of the silent picture and while we still use many of the things we learned from silent picture days, the medium is entirely new." Lubitsch, who was an actor before coming into the motion picture business, has had no impulse to return to this first-chosen career. But nine out of ten Hollywood actors, when questioned, admit they would like to be directors.

Marlene Dietrich keeps on denying that her husband's return to Germany was other than originally planned. Josef Von Sternberg has his doubts about Zola's "Nana" —it seems the restrictions for making it may destroy the scope of the etory and its quality. That Pola Negri tale is another of these Balkan kingdoms with a lover named Alix and a king named Alexander (king the husband) and the lady very much perplexed by the whole situation. - Helen Hayes is seen frequently at the smart luncheon places now that she has come to Beverly Hills to live and is working at United Artist's Studio in the Ronald Colman picture. Before this she and husband Charles Macarthur lived at the Youngworth ranch—a vast estate in the hills above Culver City.

The wonders of cinema become daily more amazing. The latest miracle of the sound track will be heard when ( Lawrence Tibbett's, most recent picture, "The Cuban," is released. The famous metropolitan baritone sings a duet oy himself—a trick possible only ,in talking pictures. Tibbett sang the number first in baritone range, then in tenor range. The voices were dubbed, as the process of blending tones is called in talking picture making, and the result is a duet—by Tibbett.

So amazing is this artist's range that it would be possible to make a trio with Tibbett singing bass also.