"CAFE METROPOLE"

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 11 September 1937, Page 14

"CAFE METROPOLE"

A VAST SET CONSTRUCTED FOR FILM

In the motion-picture world, the milestones upon the road of production progress are often marked by outstanding sets. The most triumphal of these, the largest set ever built for any motion picture, is that of "Cafe Metrojpole,” Twentieth Century-Fox romance I with Loretta Young, Tyrone Power and -Adolphe Menjou in the starring roles. ; The vastness of the “Cafe Metro- | pole" set recalls other monumental jscenic achievements, such as the .huge plaster-cast elephants which, with upraised trunks, guarded the gates of Babylon in D. W. Griffith’s “Intolerance.” These huge beasts still maintain their silent vigil on the ground where the feet of the screen immortals trod. Except for the elephants, that set has long ago crumbled into dust, but the tradition will remain in cinema archives, and in the memories of all who witnessed the drama. There was “Ben Hur,” with the impressive Coliseum set where chariots raced and gladiators duelled and died; the Cathedral set in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” the vast Paradise Night Club in “Broadway,” and the allembracing “Grand Hotel,” all of which are recognised as definite milestones in

I the picture parade. j The “Cafe Metropole” set occupies the entire Will - Rogers Memorial Stage, and is the equivalent in size of a j whole city block. Roughly circular in I shape, it is ringed about by twenty huge columns, with a maple-laid dance ’floor in the centre big enough for a (skating rink. A cocktail lounge, foyer, ’offices and apartments are included. A crew of 250 men, working in three |shifts on a 24-hour-a-day schedule, built the enormous set, and on the flyj walks above it is massed a battery of J2OO giant “spots,” which consume 'enough current to supply a moderateisized city. | Darryl F. Zanuck, vice-president in charge of production at Twentieth Century-Fox, planned “Cafe Metropole” as one of the costliest and most I elaborate films of the year, with Lorjetta Young and Tyrone Power carrying ■ the romantic young-love story of an (American heiress and an American boy (“broke” in Paris. Adolphe Menjou [suavely guides the course f events at his Cafe Metropole, and Gregory Ratoff ‘(who also wrote the original story), j Charles Winninger and Helen West[ley are featured in the cast.