SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

Evening Star, Issue 22252, 1 February 1936, Page 5

SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

Colin Tapley, the Dunedin actor, is featured in ‘ Peter Ibbetson,’ a Paramount film. « * ♦ * The title of Eddie’ Cantor’s latest film, previously known as ‘ Shoot the Chutes,’ has been altered to ‘ Strike Me Pink.’ « * * * Douglas Walton, the English actor, who appeared in ‘ The Dark Angel,' has'been placed under contract by Sam Goldwyn. * * * * Paramount has engaged Herbert Marshall for two pictures in 1936. The first will probably be ‘ Reunion,’ a war spy story. • * * * Loretta Young, who recently relinquished her role in ‘ Ramona ’ on account of bad health, may retire from the screen for a year. • • « • Zasu Pitts is making up a library of all the pictures she has appeared in since the beginning of h'er career, which ought to make quite a library. * * * * John Barrymore has been offered the title role in a picture based on the life of the famous John Brown; The picture will be made by an independent company. • » • • Metro-Goldwyn-Alayer have bought the film rights to Sinclair Lewis’s latest novel, ‘lt Couldn’t Happen Here,’ and will shortly make the picture. • * •» * Rudy Vallee will probably make his next picture in New York, in order to avoid legal proceedings which his exwife, Fay Webb, might institute in Hollywood. • * * * The new edition of the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica,’ now on the press, will contain a page with illustrations from the Warner Bros.’ production of Shakespeare’s ‘ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ « # • • Katharine ’ Hepburn seems to like James Barrie as an author. Having finished ‘ The Little Minister,’ she is soon to get going cjj ‘ Quality Street, also from his pen. • * * * Joan Blondell is returning to the screen again after her temporary retirement. The picture will be called ‘ Travelling Saleslady.’ William Gargan will be leading man. * . * -Claude Rains has been added to the cast of ‘ Anthony Adverse.’ He will appear as Don Luis, the second most important part in the film. Fredrio March has the lead. * •* * • Another story, ‘ Betsy Takes _ the Air,’ has been bought for Shirley Temple, this making the tally of stories waiting for_ her four. This -film will have a musical background. • • • • A contract to make three films for Paramount has been given to the famous comedian W. C. Fields, who is progressing favourably after his recent illness. The first film will be called ■* Poppy.’ * , « • • * Honolulu,’ an original story, is being prepared by M-G-M for Eleanor Powell, famous tap-dancer, who made her debut in ‘ Broadway Melody of 1936.’ Robert Taylor will again be cast with Miss Powell. • ♦ * » Pola Negri is reported to be sailing for Europe to make a picture under the direction of Willy Forst, who made ‘ The, Unfinished Symphony.’ She will play the part of a cabaret singer who goes wrong, but eventually reforms. • * ■» . * Sylvia Sidney has signed a four-year contract with producer Walter Wanger, who releases through Paramount, and to top it off she married Bennet Corf, a JJ'ew York publisher. * * * * Darryl F. Zanuck, production chief of Fox and Twentieth Century, has outbid a large field of screen producers for the rights to the Jack London novel ‘ White Fang,’ which is scheduled for early production.

Boasting one of the largest casts ever assembled for one picture, 1 Rose of the Rancho,’ Paramount’s outdoor musical, to be released in New Zealand shortly, will introduce Gladys Swarthout, the operatic star, to the screen.

Edmund Lowe’s greatest picture yet is his characterisation of Evorard Dorniney and Leopold Von Ragenstcin in the Universal film 1 The Groat Impersonation.’ Based upon the host-selling novel of E. Phillips Oppcnhcim, this is a thrilling spy drama.

For the first time since she has been working in pictures Marlene Dietrich has a coloured maid in constant, attendance on the set. She is now hard at work on her new picture, ‘ Desire,' with Gary Cogpor as her loading man. Frank Borzage is directing the new film.

Robert Young has an important role in the Universal film ‘ Remember Last Night?’ a mystery comedy picture of a high standard. He takes the part of Tony Milburn, a former racing driver, who is tho husband of Carlotta Milburn, played by Constance Cummings.

Dr Lewis tested thousands of New Zealanders at about 100 theatres throughout the Dominion before ho selected his cast of 45 for ‘ Phar Lap’s Son.’ Several racehorses were employed in various sognonces of this picture, and it was difficult to restrain their exuberant spirits. • * * * There is a younger generation of actors springing up in Hollywood and actually receiving engagements to appear in films. Among these are the son of Jean Hersholt, and Edward Arnold, jun. Eight sons of screen stars appear in a soricl by Universal called ‘ The Adventures of Frank Merriwell.’ • * * * Katherine Hepburn has two of the screen’s favourite loading men, Brian Aherne and Cary Grant, appearing with her in her new RKO Radio picture, ‘ Sylvia Scarlett.’ Both, incidentally, are English. London and rural England are the principal action backgrounds. • * • • Claudette Colbert, Paramount star, who won the last academy award for her performance in ‘ It Happened One Night,’ has received another onstanding honour, this time from the x\ssociatcd Society of British Cinematograph Patrons, who have presented her with their scroll of honour.

Frank Capra has begun production of ‘ Opera Hat,’ the Columbia picture which will star Gary Cooper. Columbia is planning to make this production the greatest to date. Work has already begun on extensive sots, many of which will be erected as permanent locations on the company’s 40-acre ranch at Burbank, California.

The first of the A.T.P. Clive Brook pi eductions, which was to be ‘ A London Symphony,’ has boon altered to an original story by Neville Shiite, entitled ‘ The Lonely Road.’ Victoria Hopper, remembered for her work in ‘ The Constant Nymph,’ will play opposite Brook. A prominent American director, with whom negotiations are practically completed, will direct the picture, for which early production estimates are quoted at £133,000.

A telephone for a language teacher! Such was the unique device by which Lni.se Rainer, Viennese stage star, perfected her English. Miss Rainer, who is introduced to the American screen ns William Powell’s leading lady in ‘ Escapade,’ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s lilting Viennese romance coming shortly to Dunedin, had to learn English to make a bid for Hollywood fame. After intensive lessons she practised by calling friends on the telephone. “ That way,” she said, “ I had no gestures or expressions to guide me—l had to know the words. It’s like learning to swim by jumping off the pier.” She plays Powell’s sweetheart in a whimsical blend of comedy-drama and romance in the new picture, which Robert Z. Leonard directed.

Herbert Mundin once more returns to Fox when Darryl F. Zanuck announced him for a featured comedy role in ‘A Message to Garcia,’ a 20th Century production for release by Fox and under the direction of George Marshall. Tho dramatisation of this famous incident in tho Spanish-American War will contain an all-star cast headed by Wallace Beery, Barbara Stanwyck, and John Boles. * * * » Fans of Greta Garbo (emphasises a Hollywood critic) will be glad to hear she is making a decided comeback in 1 Anna Karenina,’ and never has she looked more beautiful. Indeed, it is safe to say she has never done a more inspirational piece of work than in this study of tho tragic Russian woman who sacrificed her husband, her son, her home, her position in society, and finally her life for love. * * » * May Beatty, who has been signed by Davit! O. Selznick to play the part of Mrs Mellon, the housekeeper in ‘ Little Lord Fanntlcroy,’ was born in Christchurch, and first appeared on the stage in her father’s _ theatre there. She toured Australia in Gilbert and Sullivan roles, and in other musical comedies and plays, in 1906 she made her London debut. Later she returned to Australia playing loading roles in a number of George M. Cohan plays. She, went to Hollywood a few years ago, and her first part was in ‘ The Benson Murder Case.’ Her role in ‘ Fnuntleroy ’ is a fairly important one. Lovers of the book will remember that it is '“Airs Aiello n ” who first greets “ Fanntlcroy ” on his arrival at his grandfather’s castle and who looks after him during his first weeks there.

On the third anniversary of her arrival in Hollywood, Mae West started ‘ Klondike Lou,’ her fifth starring picture. It is throe years since Mae West slipped unobtrusively into town to accept a small role in 1 Night After Night.’ She almost left again without doing the part, but was persuaded to stay. An instant hit, she chose her own play, ‘ Diamond Lil,’ as her vehicle, changing the title to She Done Him Wrong.’ Then came 1m No Angel,’ ‘ Belle of the Nineties, and ‘ Now I’m a Lady.’

‘ Crime and Punishment,’ Columbia Pictures’ adaptation of Dostoievsky s novel, opened a world’s premiere engagement at Radio City Music Hall, New York, recently. This drama is listed as one of the outstanding features of Columbia’s 1935-36 programme. Edwarct Arnold and Peter Lorre play the leads, and the cast includes Marian Marsh, Tala Birell, and Mrs Patrick Campbell.

‘ Escape Me Never,’ British Dominion Films’ successful adaptation of Margaret Kennedy’s stage success, starring Elisabeth Bergner, was recently awarded the prize for the best all-round film at the Brussels Exhibition. The film has been playing to capacity houses in all parts of that country, while throughout the world its presentation has met with marked success. 1 Escape Me Never ’ has just completed a three months’ run at the Liberty Theatre, Sydney. •

Perhaps the strangest clause that a screen star ever had inserted in her contract has been added to Anne Shirley’s contract with BKO Radio—and at her own request. The clause provided that the 17-year-old star shall neither have a romance nor marry during the life of her contract, which has five years to run. And now that all parties have put their signatures to the paper, Anne must fight against love and reject matrimony until she is 22.

* The Littlesfc Rebel ’ will be the first of four pictures to be made by Shirley Temple during 1936. Incidentally, Shirley celebrates her second year of stardom with the most versatile #vork of her baby career ill the title role of this film. Produced by Darryl I’’. Zanuck under the direction of David Butler, ‘ The Littlest Rebel ’ presents the inimitable child in a tender romance of the American Civil War, which she dominates with infinite charm. John Boles supports little Shirley in the picture.

The making of the night baseball scenes in the Warner Bros.’ picture, ‘ Alibi Ike.’ which comes to New Zealand shortly, was particularly hazardous to Joe E. Brow r n. With the standard lighting equipment for night baseball, line drivers are dangerous for the pitcher. Joe’s life on the mound during these scenes was not a particularly enviable one. He also had to take a turn at bat in the night game, and with the bank of lights trained on his face Joe narrowly escaped being hit with “ a fast one ” several times.

Stanley M'Kay’s “Gaieties” Revue and Vaudeville Company is back again in New Zealand, and is just completing a successful season in Christchurch. The general opinion of Press and public is that the present show is the best of it* kind seen -in Christchurch for many years. The company will play Ashburton, Timaru, and Oamaru en route to Dunedin, and open here on Saturday, February 8, at His Majesty’s.

A burst of production activity marked the end of last year and the beginning of this at tie 20th Century Fox studios, when 11 pictures were commenced in five weeks. Daryl Zannck is personally producing three of these pictures, ‘ The Country Doctor,’ ‘ Under Two Flags,’ in which Simone Simon will get her first American role with Ronald Column, and the Jack London story ‘ White Fang.’ Irvin S. Cobh is working on ‘ Everybody’s Old Man ’; Shirley Temple has started on ‘ Poor Little Rich Girl’; Lewis Seiler is directing 1 The Black Gang ’; Warner Oland is engaged on another of his perennial characterisations in ‘ Charlie Chan in the Circus ’; and Jane Withers is appearing in ‘Public Nuisance No. I.’ Other films that have been commenced are ‘ Every Saturday Night,’ ‘ The Country Beyond,’ and ‘ Lightning Strikes Twice.’ * * » » Realising the potential wealth in reputations of silent screen classics, the large motion picture producing corporations have revised tHeir feature schedules to provide for the production this year of &4 pictures which were outstanding successes in the silent days, says an Australian writer. Metro-Goklwyn-Mayer promises 14 remakes. These include* Rose Marie,’which Joan Crawford made as a silent in 1928, * Silas Marmr,’ ‘ Three Godfathers,’ ‘ Student Prince,’ and ‘ Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.’ ‘Robin Hood,’ which originally starred Douglas Fairbanks in 1922, was announced for remake with Warner Baxter in the lead, but it;is now planned ns an operetta for Nelson Eddy as Robin Hood and Jeanette MacDonald as Maid Marion. ‘ Miytime ’ is listed as the most important remake. It is said that Grace Moore, Nelson Eddy, and Clifton Webb will hare the leading roles. ‘ Cossacks ’ will be remade as a musical. In the original picture of 1925, John Gilbert, whose'death was reported from Hollywood recently, scored an outstanding success.

Tractors nose-diving into snow-filled crevasses of unknown depth, the collapse of Mountain House, where Admiral Richard Byrd lived during his seven-month isolation, and an aeroplane ascent to 16,000 ft —the record for Antarctic flying—are among the thrilling high spots in Paramount’s historical record of the second Byrd trek, ‘ At the Bottom of the World,’ which is shortly to bo released in the main centres of the Dominion. “ The tractor shots are as exciting ns the flight across the South Pole in the first Byrd Antarctic film,” said Carl Petersen, one of the news cameramen who accompanied the expedition and filmed many of the picture's scenes. “It is the first time tractors were ever used in the Polar regions. We covered 20,000 miles with them, plus 6,000 miles by dump team.” Petersen and John Herrmann, fellow cameraman also on the trip, supervised the development and editing of ‘ At the Bottom of the World,’ which totalled 100,000 ft in length, and at which they ground away for 18 months in unbearable cold, so intense at times that the film turned brittle and broke in the cameras.

Charlotte Bronte’s famous novel ‘ Jane Eyre,’ has gripped the hearts of readers for more than three-quarters of a century. It was acclaimed as the work of a genius when published in October, 1847, and at once achieved a decided success. An innate modesty and sensitiveness prompted Charlotte Bronte to assume the pen name of Curre r Bell, and to keep her own identity secret, even from the publishers. However, it is recorded that a shrewd Yorkshireman who knew Haworth (where the Brontes lived), divined the secret of the unassuming authoress and published his discovery. The tender romance, the heartbreak, the poignant drama of ‘ Jane Eyre,’ tbe lonely girl, who was starved for human love, and finally found happiness after a _ series of tragic events, are as absorbing to readers to-day as of that early Victorian period when such literary giants as Dickens and Thackeray were at the height of their fame. Jane Eyre is portrayed by Virginia Bruce, who has always had a real interest in the Bronte sisters—Charlotte, Anne, and Emily—and has read all of their works and everything biographical about them. Jane Eyre was her favourite character. Colin Clive, the English actor of ‘ Journey’s End ’ fame, plays the role of Mr, Rochester. Others in the cast are Beryl Mercer, David Torrence, Lionel Belmore, and Joan Standing. * * * *

Although the bulk of the second picture to be produced by South Seas Films Ltd., of Dunedin, which has been making ‘ Pliar Lap’s Son,’ will be made m New Zealand, it is expected that parts of it will bo filmed m the islands, and it is possible that a small sequence will be shot in Australia. It is planned to have the comedy open on American soil, continue in Fiji, and proceed to New Zealand and Australia. Dr Lewis plans shortly to begin a quick ,tour of the Dominion, during which he will interview aspirants for the next picture’s cast.

Hollywood studios paid over £400,000 in wages to extras during the first nine months of last year. This is an increase of more than £IOO,OOO on the figures for the previous year. * * * * Helen Twelvetrees, who Js now in Australia making a film, is featured in ‘She Gets Her Man,’ now at the Strand Theatre. She is regarded as one of Hollywood’s most attractive blondes. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Christmas Day, and completed her education at Brooklyn Heights Seminary. After a course at the American Academy Dramatic Arts she joined the Stuart Walker Players in New York, playing leading roles in such plays as 1 An American Tragedy,’ ‘ Roulette,’ and 1 Broadway.’ Miss Twelvetrees entered motion pictures in 1929, and among her recent pictures are ‘ Times Square Lady.’ ‘ One Hour Late,’ ‘Now I’H Tell,’ and ‘ All Men Are Enemies.’ This slender young actress has turquoise blue eyes and a wealth of golden hair. • « « • James Dunn and Sally Ellers are to he teamed again after h long interval. The picture is called ‘ To-morrow is the Better Day,’ and will go into production at the Universal studios shortly. It was in their first co-starring picture, 1 Bad Girl,’ that Dunn made his film debut and his name. Miss Filers, who had been playing smallish parts in films before, gained equal applause. Althey played together later in ‘ Dance Team,’ neither has since quite achieved the triumph of that first effort. The new picture will give them an opportunity to do so. * * * » George Bancroft, distinguished stage and cinema actor, and for many years one of Paramount's most prominent stars, was recently engaged by Columbia for the stellar role in the Harold Shumate story, ‘ Hell Ship Morgan,’ wdiich the company will shortly place in production. Mr Bancroft started his theatrical career on Broadway. His first pronounced success was in ‘ The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.’ Then followed leading roles in ' Paid in Full,’ ‘ Old Bill, M.P.,’ ‘ Cinders,’ and many other plays. He made his screen debut in ‘ Driven,’ which resulted in his receiving a long-term contract witli Paramount, where ho quickly rose to stardom. Some of his many starring vehicles include 1 The World and the Flesh,’ ' Blood Money,’ ‘ Paramount on Parade,’ and ‘ Rich Man's Folly.’