SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

Evening Star, Issue 21706, 28 April 1934, Page 6

SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

It is over a year.since Jack Hulbert appeared in Dunedin, so that his picture ‘ Falling for You ’ (now at the State Theatre} has been awaited with keen anticipation by local picturegoers. It is a comedy based on the best British traditions. Fast and furious fun is provided by Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge as two rival reporters in search of a scoop. Set against a background of Switzerland, with its winter sports, the fun is said to be fast and furious. • * • • * Say It With Flowers,’ an English production soon to be released, will bring to the screen a number of old vaudeville artists who were famous years ago. The atmosphere of the old London music hall will be present when Florrie Ford, Charles Coburn (now 82 years old), and Mary Clare sing the songs that made them famous. Paramount’s new film musical, ‘ Sitting Pretty,’ which arrived recently in New Zealand, contains several new song hits which have been very popular overseas. . The numbers include * Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?’ sung by Ginger Rogers in a spectacular fan dance number; ‘ You’re Such a Comfort to Me,’ ‘ Good Morning, Glory,’ and ‘I Wanna Meander With Miranda.’ * • * * Reports from America indicate that Will Rogers has hit the highlights of success ni the Fox comedy ‘David Harum.’. This film, which was adapted from Noyes Westcott’s famous book, has pfwdded a mirthquake for

picturogoers. It is said to be one long laugh from beginning to end. Supporting Will Rogers in ‘David Harum ’ are Louise Dresser, Noah Berry, and Ralph Morgan. The picture will be eeleased in New Zealand during the winter. * ♦ * * By order of the English censor the title of 1 Nana,’ Anna Sten’s first Hollywood picture, has been changed to ‘ Lady of the Boulevards.’ The Story is, of course, a version of Zola’s celebrated novel. * * * * Charles Boyer, the famous French movie and stage star, recently put under long-term contract to Fox Film, and Pat Patterson, English star, who had just completed her first American picture opposite Spencer Tracy in ‘ Bottoms Up,’ eloped to Yuma, Arizona, recently and were married. They met for the first time three weeks earlier, when Boyer arrived from Paris. It was a case of love at first sight, and the romance, which culminated in their elopement, developed with express train speed. The happy young couple took John M'Cormack’s palatial estate in Hollywood on Tease for their “ honeymoon cottage.” Boyer soon is to make his American debut in ‘ The Private Life of Casanova,’ a Jesse L'. LaskyFox Film production. * • • • When Charles Farrell first arrived in Hollywood he was so timid he was afraid to apply at casting offices for “ extra work.” “ I was unable to get up nerve to ask for a job by myself, so I teamed with another boy, and we both applied for work in Pola Negri’s ‘ The Cheat,’ ” explained Farrell between scenes of the Charles R. RogersParamount production ‘ Girl Without a Room.’ ‘‘l was turned down. That made me angry, so I applied at the desk eleven times that day and finally was given a job to get rid of me.” With Farrell in ‘ Girl Without a Room ’ are Charlie Ruggles, Marguerite Churchill, and Grace Bradley. The picture reveals Charles Farrell as an artist in Paris, and presents many comical situations. The film is accompanied by a musical background. • • • • So impressed are Warners by the recent work of Verree Teasdale, the financee of Adolphe Menjou, that they have given her a long-term contract with the intention of “ building ” her into a leading comedienne. The decision was made as a result of her performance as a duchess in ‘The Fashions of Miss Teasdale has been playing in pictures for five years. She made a great impression in ‘ Payment

Deferred,’ and has lately completed * Roman Scandals,’ with Eddie Cantor, and ‘ Modern Hero,’ with Richard Barthelmess. * * *' * Nigel Bruce, who is making his first real start on the American screen in ‘ Murder in Trinidad,’ thoroughly enjoys his role of detective in the production. He achieved some of his most popular successes in London in portraying hero parts in Edgar Wallace detective story thrillers, notably ‘ The Ringer ’ and ‘ The Calendar.’ Katherine Hepburn, dynamic R.K.O. Radio star, has been assigned the leading role in R.K.O. Radio’s adaptation of Lulu Vollmer’s play ‘Trigger.’ Miss Hepburn will be seen as Trigger, a headstrong mountain girl. The part is said to provide this amazing young actress with a wealth of material suitable to her unmistakable genius. Prominent ui a strong supporting cast are Robert Young, Ralph Bellamy, Louis Mason, and Sara Haden. * * * » The first picture to be made by Gloria Swanson under her new contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will be a new version of Elinor Glyn’s celebrated novel, ‘ Three Weeks.’ A silent version was produced in 1924. * >Y * •’ * Sir Philip Gibbs, famous British war con-espondent and probably the most brilliant of all the newspaper representatives ■ who followed the titanic struggle during the four years of its continuance, was one of the few writers to memorialise, with his pen, the prisoners of war. His novel, ‘ Fellow Prisoners,’ is almost unique in its vivid delineation of the trials and sufferings endured by the inmates of prison

camps, and it is the Gibbs story that' has been dramatised with all the resources of a modern motion picture studio, in ‘ Captured,’ which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, jun., and Paul Lukas share the leading honours in the story, the first two as two British army officers who have not seen each other since the ways of their university 'friendship, until they meet, as prisoners of war, in the bleak German prison camp behind the Hindenburg line. The love of these two men, comrades in both war and peace, for the same English girl, who is the wife of one though she is in love with the other, precipitates a crisis in the lives and fortunes of the hundreds of prisoners herded into the camp. This love triangle results in the most amazing, yet thoroughly credible series of events ever shown on the screen. It makes powerful drama, which, while laid in the main in a German prison camp, is not a war story, but a tale of heroic sacrifice for the sake of love. An exceptional cast is assembled around Leslie Howard, young Fairbanks, and Paul Lukas for the interpretation of ‘ Captured.’ Margaret Lindsay, as the girl Monica, Frank Reicher, as the lerman adjutant, and Arthur Hold, Philip Faversham, Robert Barrett, William Le Mai re, and J. Carroll Naish in equally important parts, lend brilliant support to the principals. * * * * Alexander Korda assembled for ‘ Catherine The Great ’ one of the most distinguished casts ever seen in a British picture. Elizabeth Bergner, famous European actress, and Douglas Fairbanks Jnr., have the leading roles, and Sir Gerald du Maurier heads the supporting cast, which includes Flora Robson and Irene and Violet Vanbrugh. ‘ Catherine The Great ’ will be released by United Artists. •Lee Tracy, the film actor who was discharged oy the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company last November after an escapade in Mexico, is returning to the films. He has signed a contract with a rival concern, the Universal Film Corporation, and is to start work soon. Mr Tracy has been idle since the incident in Mexico City when, dressed only in a blanket, ho appeared on an hotel balcony. The Mexican Government took offence at this act and arrested him. * * * * Madeleine Carroll’s leading man in her first American film, ‘ The World Moves On,’ is to be Fraucliot Tone, who has been borrowed by Fox from Motro-Gokhvyn-Mayer to support the English star. Another important part in the

film will be played by Siegfried Ruman, a new German actor from the New York stage. John Ford, who made ‘ Arrowsmith ’ and ‘ Flesh,’ will direct the picture. * * * ,* Victor M‘Laglen has been signed for his third consecutive leading role at the Paramount Hollywood Studios. Now heading the cast of ‘ Wharf Angel,’ M‘Laglen has been awarded the leading role in Paramount’s ‘ Murder in the Vanities,’ which will commence production immediately after completion of the former picture. His most recent appearance was in Paramount’s ‘ No More Women,’ in which he was teamed with Edmund Lowe. • • • * Katharine Hepburn had several new experiences during the filming of ‘ Morning Glory,’ the current RKORadio Picture in which she is co-starred with Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr. She performed with a vaudeville juggling act, and danced at a “stag” show. In many respects, however, the heartbreaking struggle of _ the girl in ‘ Morning Glory ’ is said to resemble Miss Hepburn’s own experience in fighting her way to stage fame. # ♦ * • Diana Wynjwrd and Clive Brook will be seen in ‘ The Dover Road,’ the now Radio Picture adapation from A. A. Milne’s famous play. This will be their first appearance together since ‘ Cavalcade.’ In the supporting cast are Billie Bnrke. Alan Mowbray, and Reginald Sheffield. The director will be J. Walter Ruben. In ‘ Gallant Lady,’ her first picture for Twentieth Century Pictures, Ann Harding outdoes all her past performances. An exceptionally fine cast has been chosen by Joseph M. Schenok and Darryl F. Zanuch, producers of ‘ Gallant Lady,’ to support Miss Harding, and includes such names as Clive Brook, Otto Kruger, Tullio Carminati, and little Dickie Moore.

The popularity of Vienna as the scene of musical talking pictures has become almost traditional and when the Sterling Film Company set out to make a series of British comedies in the various capital cities of Europe, it was only natural that they would choose the best known and most popuular for their initial effort, Going Gay.’ The real atmosphere of Vienna has been captured and is maintained throughout the unfolding of this merry comedy which blends Grand Opera with enchanting modem melody. Magda Schneider who had the feminine lead opposite Jan Kiepura in ‘ Tell Me To-night ’ makes her reappearance and proves herself the possessor of a very charming singing voice which is heard to advantage in an excerpt from Donizetti’s ‘ Daughter of the Regiment ’ and' ‘La Belle Helene. ’ Two British comedians, Arthur Riscoe and Naunton Wayne, present refreshing performances of comedy. ' The story concerns the amusing adventures of these irresponsible young men who decide to spend a while in Vienna during an European tour. ‘ Going Gay ’ will be released by British Dominions Films at the St. James Theatre next Friday. * * * * Elizabeth Bergner is going to Hollywood. She has been signed by Twentieth Century to appear in a screen version of ‘ Escape Me Never,’ in which she is at present playing on the London stage, as soon as the run of the play terminates. * * * * His inability to play the pipe organ once caused Charles Laughton, eminent English character actor, his most embarrassing moment. This lie revealed recently at the Paramount studios in Hollywood while he was filming ‘ White Woman,’ which is now ready for New Zealand release. “ I was playing with a company years ago in Manchester,” Laughton related, “ and in one dramatic scene I was supposed to walk over to a large organ and play it for a few moments. One evening, as 1 moved towards the organ, imagine' my embarrassment when it began to play automatically before the cue. You see, I couldn’t actually play the instrument, and it was wired electrically. I was supposed to fake the playing, but something had gone wrong with the cue upon which it should have started.” _ In ‘ White Woman ’ Laughton is featured with Carole Lombard, Charles Bickford, and Kent Taylor. The picture, which was directed by Stuart Walker, is a story of a strange romance in a “ hell-hole ” settlement in the Malay jungle. A beautiful woman, chained to a brutal, coarse river trader, played by Laughton, is thrown into this community, but through a strange love she is redeemed, at the price of Laughton’s life. • « • « Norma Shearer’s next picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is to be ‘ The Barretts of Wimpole Street ’ (based on the play which ran so long in London), in place of ‘ Marie Antionotte,’ which has been postponed. Miss Shearer is now completing ‘ Lady Mary’s Lover.’ * * * * No announcement for months has given fihugoers so much pleasure as the news that Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell are to be reunited. The screen, for millions, has not been the same since these two parted. Janet, shy, bashful, and fragile as a Dresden doll, has long been regarded as the most timid of all Hollywood’s feminine stars. And Charles Farrell, rugged, tall, find the ideal mate for so sweet an actress, could not be bettered. So that in spite of the fact that the Fox Company tried to team Janet with Lew Ayres and Henry Garat, the “ fans ” would not get excited. They liked both of • her partners, but neither was as good as Farrell. The only one who came within the hounds of possibility vas Warner Baxter.

Romance is not usually emphasised strongly in the ordinary murder mystery drama, but it plays a vital patt in a forthcoming Strand attraction, ‘ From Headquarters.’ which features George Brent and Margaret Lindssy in the leading roles. While the secret love affairs of a millionaire Broadwg? “ playboy ” are the causes of his being murdered, romance comes in througn the love of a police lieutenant for i beautiful and popular show girl whose name has been linked with that ol the dead man. George Brent, as thd young and intelligent police officer, has been the sweetheart of the show girl, played by Miss Lindsay, until sbe suddenly seems to grow cold to him and is seen in public places with the niani afterwards murdered. The murder'

places the lieutenant in a strained position, for the woman lie loves had heon in the dead man’s apartment the night of the crime, and is one of the suspects. Despite that fact the officer follows his line of duty and investigates every phase of the case relentlessly, and the love of the young couple

is rekindled into a beautiful romance. How this dream of love returns is unfolded in the unravelling of the mystery which surrounds not only the “ playboy,” but of an innocent person at police headquarters. Others in the east in addition to the two loads include Eugene Pallette, Hugh Herbert, Dorothy Rurgess, Theodore Newton, Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Barrat, and Henr.v O’Neill, * * * * Many novels, from the classics to present day books, have been made into films by Hollywood, but no picture ever followed the original as closely as will ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ which Paramount has filmed. Combining the bestknown and best-liked scenes from ‘ Wonderland ’ and ‘ Through the Looking Glass,’ Director Norman M'Leod has followed exactly, every incident,: every bit of dialogue and every character without deviation. The characters themselves are made up, and look exactly like the drawings by Sir John Ten'niel in the original editions of ‘Alice.’ The costume department copied the same drawings down to the smallest decoration and stitch. Ham Dreier, art director on the picture, built Ins sets exactly as the pictures in the book, and M'Leod and Williaiß Cameron Menzies designed every property used in the picture to fit in with the settings. Menzies and Joseph Mankiewicz. who adapted the two books for tne screen, lifted Lewis Catroll’s original dialogue bodily. Only when some small scene was needed to bridge a gap did they introduce any new speeches, and these few lines are written in typical Carroll style. Pif-

lures of Charlotte Henry, which have been printed all over the world, have brought a tremendous flood of congratulations to the studio, terming the girl who was selected fr0m.7,000 applicants as the “ ideal typo ” for ' Alice. ‘ Alice in Wonderland ’ is due for early release in New Zealand.

Nominations for the final vote in the 1933 award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are as follow:—Best performance, actress: Katharine Hepburn in ‘ Morning Glory, May Robson in ‘ Lady for a Day,’ and Diana Wynyard in ‘ Cavalcade.’ Best performance, actor: Leslie Howard in ‘ Berkeley Square,’ Charles Laughton in ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII, Paul Muni in ‘ I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.’ Of the directors it will be either Frank Capra for his work m ‘ Lady for a Day,’ George Cukor for ‘Little Women,’ or Frank Lloyd for ‘ Cavalcade.’ The following pictures will be contenders: —‘ A Farewell to Arms,’ ‘ Cavalcade,’ ‘ Forty-Second Street,’ ‘I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang,’ ‘ Lady for a Hay,: Little Women,’ ‘ She Done Him \Vrong, ‘ Smilin’ Thru , ‘ State Fair,’ and Hie Private Life of Henry VIH.’ The contest includes, as usual, an award tor cinematography, for motion picture adaptations, for original stories, tor ai t direction, and for sound reproduction. *,* ♦ * Lionel Barrymore is celebrating his twenty-fifth year on the screen, it was in 1909 that he first appeared in a film at the old Biograph studios, today, in 1934, he reigns as one of tUe major box-office attractions ot the screen, and star of many notable film?, [n that twenty-five years much of his screen work was alternated with apnearances on the stage; for the past eight years he has been on the screen exclusively. And from that quarter of a" century Barrymore has chosen what he considers his ten most interesting roles. Some were stage roles. Others he has played cm both stage and screen. Barrymore’s selections indicate the wide variety of roles in his remarkable career. His selections are:—Colonel in • Peter Ibbctson ” ; Neri, in ‘ The Jest ’; Milt Shanks, in ‘ The. Copperhead ’; Mouzon, in Brieux’s ‘ The Red Robe ’ Ryder, in ‘ The Lion and the Mouse ’; Stephen _ Ashe, in ‘ A Free Soul ’ (this won him the award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences); Jeff Keane, in ‘ The Washington Masquerade’; Rasputin, in ‘ Rasputin and the Empress ’; Kvingclein, in 1 Grand Hotel ’; and Uncle Bob, in ‘ Carolina.’