BRITISH FILMS ON TOP.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 255, 27 September 1932, Page 10

BRITISH FILMS ON TOP.

DECLINE A']' HOLLYWOOD. One of the sensations of the moment is the prosperity of the British film industry—prosperity that is all the more amazing because Hollywood is in the throes of a serious decline (wrote the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald on August 11). It is a comedy-drama of real life, in which the characters are famous people of the American film city, and the setting is mainly the film studios of Britain. So completely has the table been turned that England is now the mecca of “stardom,” almost every boat from “the States” bringing its quota of leading players and technical experts, all anxious to help in the production of British pictures! The exodus from California has been stimulated by unemployment, salary reductions, and revolt against “impossible conditions.” Everyone seems to have the same grievance: discontent and complete lack of faith in the future of Hollywood. “The American film industry has gone mad, and is destroying itself,” explained one well-known actor the other day. “England’s chance is glittering. It would now be easy for her to get her pictures' into all the American theatres.” And, let it be said, the British film industry is not blind to its wonderful opportunity. There are a dozen or more film companies in and around London working at full pressure, and to them are coming, almost daily, many of the most famous artists of Hollywood, glad to experiment in a new and promising field. The majority of these actors are of English nationality, although the number includes a fair sprinkling of Americans. Ann Dvorak, who recently flouted the potentates of Hollywood, and fled indignantly across the Atlantic, is working with the Gaumont British Company, in one of their Anglo-Ger-man productions, and will act with her husband, Leslie Fen Don, in another film, “In the Flesh,” sponsored by Cecil Landeau. Harry Green, the Hebrew comedian, has just finished an Islington picture, “Marry Me,” and Gloria Swanson is producing “Perfect Understanding” at Ealing, other wellknown people in this fi]yi being Genevieve Tobin, Lawrence Olivier, and John Halliday. Another to come back to London is "Fred Kerr, who will star with Jessie Matthews in “The Man from Toronto,” whilst at Shepherd’s Bush, Esther Ralston and Basil Rathbone are preparing “After the Ball.” George Barraud (familiar to Sydney theatre-goers), Camilla Horn, and Claud Allister are making “The Return of Raffles” at Walton-on-Thames,, and Anthony Bushell is acting in “Sally Bishop” at Beaconsfield. Others of Hollvrood fame who are now busy in England are George K. Arthur, Robert Milton, Alexander Korda, Roland Young, and Rowland V. Lee. All of which goes to show that British films are no longer a standing joke in America, and that their prospect of gaining further prestige under a canopy of “stars” is very bright indeed.