News of the Cinema

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21423, 15 March 1935, Page 5

News of the Cinema

NEW PROGRAMMES Splendid Entertainment at City Theatres Many splendid films form the programmes which will be shown at the city theatres during the coming week. Few pictures have achieved so fine a reputation as has "One Night of Love," in which Grace Moore, seen all too rarely on the screen, again demonstrates that in addition to a wonderful voice she has very considerable powers as an actress. "Mr Cinders," which will come lo the Plaza Theatre is one of the better English comedies, in which Clifford Mollison, who often has an unduly large burden to carry in nis fi,ms - is assisted by an outstanding cast. Pleasant music and the excellent singing of Derek Oldham mark "The Broken Rosary," for the compilation of which the author found inspiration in Gounod's "Ave Maria." Another of the popular Charlie Chan series, with Warner Oland playing the main part, will be screened at the Majestic Theatre. An Australian comedy, by the heroes of "On Our Selection," will be shown at the Crystal Talace and at the Theatre Royal, while Cecil B. de Mille's lavish melodrama, "Cleopatra," will be screened for a second week at the Tivoli Theatre. The cast of "Chained," a particularly strong one, is headed by Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. It is to be noted that many of the theatres are changing their programmes this week on Friday night. Outstanding players who will be seen include Mona Barrie, Zelma O'Neal. Bert Bailey, Claudette Colbert, Lee Tracy, Clive Brook, and Gracie Fields. MAYFAIR—"One Night of Love," starring Grace Moore, Tullio Carminati, Lyle Talbot, and Mona Barrie. Musical romance, very well reviewed. Columbia. To-day. UEGENT—"Chained," starring Clark Gable. Joan Crawford. Otto Krugcr, and Una O'Connor. Drama. M-G-M. To-day. PLAZA—"Mr Cinders." starring Clifford Mollison, Zelma O'Neal, Rence Houston, and the Western Brothers. Musical comedy. Parody of the Cinderella story. 8.1.P. Tomorrow. CIVIC—"The Broken Rosary," starring Derek Oldham. Jean Adriennc. Ronald Ward, and Vesta Victoria. Musical romance, inspired by Gounod's "Ave Maria." Butcher's Film Service. To-morrow. BIAJESTIC—"CharIie Chan in London." starring Warner Oland, Drue Layton, and Mona Barrie. Mystery drama. Fox I Films. To-day. CRYSTAL PALACE AND THEATRE ROYAL—"Grandad Rudd," starring Bert Bailey. Australian comedy, by the players in "On Our Selection." To-morrow. TlVOLl—"Cleopatra," starring Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, and C. Aubrey Smith. Drama and lavish spectacle, based on the story of Antony and Cleopatra. Produced by Cecil B. de Mille. Paramount. Transferred from Regent. To-day. LIBERTY—"The Lemon Drop Kid," starring Lee Tracy, Helen Mack, and Baby le Roy. Drama. Paramount. "Sherlock , Holmes," starring Clive Brook, Miriam Jordan, and Ernest Torrencc. Based on the writings of Conan Doyle. Fox. To-day. GRAND—"This Week of Grace," starring Gracie Fields, Henry Kendall, and John Stuart. RKO-Radio. First episode of "The Perils of Pauline." To-day.

FILM MAKERS' ARGOT COLOURFUL PHRASES AND WORDS PHENOMENON EXPLAINED The talk that goes on between takes of talking pictures has, like the lingo of lawyers, a language all its own. Few dialogue writers for pictures could deliberately achieve the word-coinage developed by electricians, property men, camera men, and other non-literary workers in motion picture studios. Their "goofy" phrases seem to have been generated by spontaneous combustion during those interminable waits between actual camera grindings. Few people unacquainted with studio practice realise that four minutes on the screen in the finished picture represents a big day's work of from eight to 12 hours. During those long hours to achieve short minutes of acting, everybody, from actors and directors to unskilled labourers, has plenty of time to think up new designations for old routines. A camera man who had worked for years in silent pictures told me, says a writer in the "New York Times," that he came to work on his first sound picture after a three-year absence from film studios. During the first week he could not understand half of what the crew was talking about. A whole new language had been introduced since the arrival of sound. A casual visitor to a set populated I by the 30 or so craftsmen who make | pictures may well be bewildered, but i need not feel inferior about his lack • of linguistic accomplishment. Most of the film folk do not understand it either. "Part of Hocus-Pocus" Of course, they do not have to talk this gibberish; it is all part of the hocus-pocus that makes these crafts self-conscious and complicated to outsiders. Movie makers at least have the redeeming virtue of going about their business with a tongue-in-thc-cheek attitude. For this lack of pompousness I suppose they arc to be commended. I got into this "Noah "VVebstering" in self-defence. I wanted to know what the electricians and sound men were talking about during the week we spent travelling from Chicago to Boulder Dam on the world's fastest streamline train. It, was the camera men who were slow —not the' Zephyr —or we would have arrived in two days instead of two weeks. The further I probed, the more technical the definitions became. When I got up to above 400 peculiar phrases I found that even the technicians who used them in their daily work with studio gadgets could not give definitions that a layman understands. As my education progressed I sensed the futility of ever catching up with