Cinema Section.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 June 1933, Page 3

Cinema Section.

“DOOMED BATTALION” IS UNIQUE WAR FILM. CONTAINS THE ONLY STORY OF THE TERRIFIC FIGHTING ON THE ITALIAN FRONT EVER TO COMB TO THE l SCREEN. The mountain girt harrier which defends northern .Italy has ever been a battle ground to thrill the imagina- ' tion. Across its snow-filled passes Hannibal and Hamilcar amazed the Italian world toy throwing their elephant equipped legions. More successfully the Visigoths fought their way through rock and storm and destroyed the declining Roman Empire. Napoleon’s army braved its terrors to triumph on the plains of Tuscany. But the most terrific conflict of all was reserved for the World War. The 'majestic snow-capped barrier was the No Man’s Land between the Austrian and Italian armies. No great epic story like “All Quiet” by Remarque has ever been written of this terrific conflict. No moving picture like Universal’s transcription of the Remarque story has brought its spectacular features to the screen. It remained for the producers of “All Quiet” to epitomize this embattled sector in a historic and dramatic document entitled “The Doomed Battalion,” which comes to . the Regent Theatre on Tuesday, This production, filmed in Hollywood and on Mt. Lagazoi, took over a year in preparation and shooting and has emerged from Hollywood with the reputation of even greater thrills and far more story than ‘ 1 All Quiet on the Western Front.’l Like “All Quiet” it was based on* actual experiences. In this instance, the experience of an Austrian officer, commissioned by the Austrian government to enlist a battalion of fighters unique in the history of warfare. This officer was Luis Trenker and the battalion he enlisted consisted of two hundred of the bestknown sportsmen, mountain climbers, guides and marksmen who had in peace time used this region as their playground, means of livelihood and tests of strength. Trenker himself wrote the story of “The Doomed Battalion” and has devised a situation which not only has the virtue of actuality but sums up the entire effort of both arm-, ies on this most unusual war front in the world. It has been photographed spectacularly both at Universal City and on Mt. Lagazoi. Nothing to compare with these night battle scenes on the mountain slopes has ever beep attempted in moving pictures. In portraying its tremendous drama, Carl Laemmle has assembled a cast which includes not only Luis Trenker, who after the war became one of Germany’s most popular motion picture stars, but Tala Birell, Victor Varconi, Henry Armetta, C. Henry Gordon, H. GibsonGowland, Albert Conti and Gustav von Seyffertitz. “The Doomed Battalion’! tells the story of an Austrian mountain soldier guarding a stronghold thousands of feet above his own home against the onslaughts of the Italian Army. The dramatic tension of war is heightened • by the fact that the commandant of the Italian forces is quartered in this mountain soldier’s home and that the mountain soldier, through hie telescope, can look down into this home. In. order to ■ save the position he has sacrificed so much to hold, it is necessary for him to go into his, own home as a spy. What takes place in that home furnishes drama which is intense, vital and startling.

THE LION STUNT. r • . . “The Half-Naked Truth” recalls Harry Reichenbach, greatest and most famous of Broadway’s publicity men, because it contains parallels of his efulgent stunts. For “Tarzan,” the silent picture, he registered one T. R. Zan at the old Hotel Belmont in New York, whose only piece of luggage was a huge packing ease which required a corps of porters to transport. One morning Zan ordered. fifty pounds of meat, and toast and coffee for breakfast. The hostelry was set agog, but nevertheless a bell-hop delivered the ofder. As he opened.the suite’s door, he was greeted by a docile lion whose surface ferocity caused him to flee while Mr Zan tranquilly remained in a club chair. After the newspapers frontpaged the incident, the similarity between “T. R. Zan” and “Tarzan,” the picture was discerned. The producers of “The Virgin of Stamboul” hired Reichenbach to promulgate its name by clever publicity. A mysterious, beautiful Turkish princess, accompanied by her suite, was registered at the Hotel Plaza, ' When interviewed, she 'declared she was known as the Virgin of Stamboul, and had escaped from a Turkish harem. Publicity was printed daily until a film entitled “The Virgin of Stamboul,” started a Broadway engagement. Approximately 150 persons } were given employment as “extra” players in “The Half-Naked Truth,’ 1 ’ RKO-Eadio picture coming to the Regent Theatre on Saturday. The players were, part of a cast which includes Lee Tracy, Lupe Velez, Eugene Fallette, Frank Morgan and Shirley Chambers.