IN FILMLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19275, 13 March 1926, Page 8 (Supplement)

IN FILMLAND.

Organisation at Hollywood. Ono substantial reason for the dominance of American films was expounded , recently by a London paper. It says tlie film producer goes to Hollywood because , there ho finds furniture of every period, , | pictures and objects of art, costumes in j countless number, including everything I known or imagined to have been worn by j man or woman. Should he purpose putting an army on the screen tho uniforms of all the military world are there in thousands, stored away in vast- warehouses awaiting his selection. Nor is it a matter of lifeless "properties" alone. Children and babies may be had in any number desired, of any age or colour, from tho proper agencies. There are animals, trained or untrained, of every species in which tho cinema public may bo supposed to take an interest to bo hired from the film provider's private zoo. Yet these huge magazines of living and inanimate picture material have not sprung up from the soil of California, nor have I they been created in a night. They are tho accumulation of years of ambitious picture making, and the fact should be remembered when the question of the supremacy of Hollywood in the film market arises. The only marvel about it is a marvel of business organisation. Notes and Comments. Buck Jones, aco of western stars, is back at work at the Fox West Coast studios, following a slight operation on his throat. He will be seen very shortly in his latest picture, " Tho Desert's Price." Charles Ray, one of the best-loved motion picture actors, has signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn. Ho will bo co-featured with Pauline Starke in " A Little Bit of Broadway," under the direction of Robert Z. Leonard, and will bo seen in the type of role that made him famous. " Not So Long Ago," the newest Paramount picture, by Sydney Olcott, director of the ' Humming Bird," will bo released shortly. Betty Bronson and Ricardo Cortex are featured. The story, adapted for the screen from the Broadway stage hit of the same name, by Arthur Richman, is a cheerful romantic comedy ot New York in 1850. The largest cast over assembled appears in Buster Keaton's Latest Metro-G.ldwyn comedy, " The Navigator." Thev all went on board tho Buford, 450 ft. liner, which was chartered for the purpose. In addition to the crew of 110 men, the Buford carried 500 actors and artisans in the first-class section of ihe ,ship, 300 in tho second-class, and 150 in the steerage, and in the hold a two-ton octopus, and three swordfish. House Peters, who plays the giant role of John Strong in the Universal Jewel production, " The Storm Breaker," has had a _ most interesting life. When a boy, his father was in the British Consular service, and Peters was taken into many foreign countries. He has been an explorer, traveller, and mining engineer. It was after he obtained his discharge from the British Army after the Boer War, that he began his stag© career. Buster Keaton is enlisting the aid of tho public in cutting " Go West," his new presentation for Metro-Goldwyn, which he himself directed. Although several thousand feet had alreadv been slashed from the film, Keaton decided to let the laughs of a preview audience determine the deletions still found necessary in order to bring the feature down to exhibition length. Tho film accordingly was shown without warning at a suburban theatre in Los Angeles. Keaton and his aids sat in the last row of the theatre and made notes on the audience's reactions to tho different scenes. " The Beggar on Horseback," described as a' delightfully fantastic treatment of modern affairs, is James Craze's latest Paramount production to bo shown here at an early date. With Edward Horton and Esther Ralston heading the cast, Cruze has carried out the astonishing situations that made the original stage play one of the most seasonal sensations of New York. The story deals with a young musical genius wno is pursued by two girls, one rich and the other poor, and with a dream he has in which the happenings of everyday life are magnified to unbelievable proportions. One of the first acts that falls to the lot of Tom Mix's property man, when the groat western actor goes on location to film outdoor sequences for his pictures, is to rig up a temporary gymnasium. Mix, who makes it a point to bo in perfect physical condition at all times, carries his athletic equipment in specially-constructed boxes. Equipment includes Indian clubs, boxing gloves, ropes for ring-skipping, handball paraphernalia, and other incidentals common to the athlete. Mix spent an hour-and-a-half in the wilderness gym every afternoon while tho " Yankee Senor," his latest Fox western, was being filmed. Paramount's third " Greater Movie Season " is being celebrated this month. All the leading theatres will be participat ing. A novel feature of the season is the essay contest on the subject " What tfie motion picturo meanr. to our community." The contest is to be open to patrons of theatres participating in the season, and also to readers of the newspapers in the various towns that have been selected to conduct the essay contest. The essay will require to bo of not more than 250 words. Ideas and information are wanted, so that a pithy paragraph of 50 words may win the contest. The prize will be a tour of Australia or New Zealand for the winner, whether he or she lives in either country. Intending competitors may obtain amplication forms at the Herald Office, where entries close next Saturday.