MOVIE STARS' VITALITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 11 (Supplement)

MOVIE STARS' VITALITY.

» KEEPING ALIVE IN "TALKIES."

pix months ago it was at its height. Stories carno filtering east of the laudoffice business being done by elocutionists in Hollywood as tho old guard of pictures struggled to retain their grasp ■on popularity. Tho "movie" star was •dead; long live the stage star. Dialogue .'had cut the throat of every name in pictures and all tho swimming pools in the vicinity of Los Angeles were to be drained in ,token of mourning. Every tasting office on Broadway was full of • chatter about sound tests and who had signed with whom.

Nowadays, one hears very little about 'jllie sad plight of tho picture star asked Jo speak for himself or herself. Tho rea- • ton seems to bo that a startling proportion of the silent idols have managed to adjust themselves pretty well to tho new •order of things. Tiiero aro still familiar ;names in tho now pictures in spite of the ijlago invasion. Even thA survivors of tho earliest •period in picture history aro not suffering as much as tho alarmists seemed to iliopo. News comes that Miss Dorothy '(iish has signed to act in " talkies" in a producing field in which she )has already done some of her best work. ••'Coquetto" took caro of anxieties about .CMiss Marv Pickford, and her husband, bolstered by years of experience as a nationally known stago juvenile, has en•tered serenely with her into a dialogue production "of " Tho Taming of the IShrew." Hero aro at least three of tho oldtimers apparently unflurried. As for tho younger and semi younger generation, they liavo also held their ijiosps a "d gono under to emergo littlo •worse in most cases. Tho ebullient Miss 'Clara Bow, with 110 moro stage training than a " movio" star needed three years mgo, flames as youthfully as ever, with iher voice as a considerable asset. Miss iCorinno Griffith, sang excellently in "The !Divine Lady" and turned her husky contralto to real advantage in " Saturday's •Children." Miss Betty Compson and Miss ."Norma Shearer liavo come reasonably well ■out. of more than one trial. Among men, .Adolpho Me.njou and George Bancroft ■proved to have voices which exactly isuited their personalities. Ronald Col:raan is more than comfortable with "Bull>dog Dvummond" at his back. Miss Janet 'Gaynor and Miss Lois Moran finally ven"tured into dialogue, not as triumphantly :as some, but. without disastor. And it •would bo unfair to diagnose Miss May IMcAvoy and Miss Dolores Costello, who ibroko so much ice early in the game, \when recording was not all it now is. t There have been casualities. It is lpossible that Emil Jannings went back ■.to Germany for other reasons, but his /departure did coincide with dialogue pictures. Lon Chancy eschews " talkies." ■Johii Gilbert and Richard Dix are scarcely heard of. Miss Dolores del Eio, Miss Gloria Swanson, tho Talmadges have yet. to try their wings; perhaps they will refrain. "it, is yet to bo seen how well their drawing power will stand up in indent pictures against dialoguo composition.

One interesting dodge employed by the producer with a foreign star on ths lot may ho only a temporary bridge shored :tip with frantic diction lessons on the quiet. Miss Greta Garbo, thev say, is being groomed for "Anna Christie,' in iwliich a Swedish accent will bo logical; iVilma Banky has appeared in a gentle romance displaying iier as a Hungarian immigrant in New \ork. Since such high specialisation in roles would un.doubtouly pall on the public, their ad:mircrs among the growing clan of diaJogue fans will have to nope that the ■elocutionists of Hollywood will succeed iu unaking the shift without breakage. It may bo that producers in general ;»ro using tho novelty oE hearing their silent stars' „ voices to attract the public while dialogue talent is be;ng developed, so that, in that day when dialogue 710 longer draws as a novelty, the emergency squad will bo ready to carry on •without a break. It seems likely now that, iu the cases of. such persons as tC'olman and Miss Clara Bow, they are likely to receive (ho pleasant surprise of finding that tho emergency squad is not needed.

And even if tho next five years find (Stage stars replacing the familiar names, ■dialogue i 3 not necessarily tho whole •cause. No dynasties sit as insecurely on ■.their thrones as " movie" dynasties. Every five years or so there is a sweeping turnover in talent in Hollywood, whether or not any such new technical requirements as those of the talking film havo eomo to stir up tho pond. It does seem certain, however, that the musical show branch of tho new era ■trill draw its talent almost exclusively from tho stago once tho experimental era in past. Several attempts have already demonstrated tho doleful results which can be expected from turning a cast of thirty picture stars loose before a camera ■with instructions to cut loose and whoop it# up, regardless of whether or not they ivonld have any business in tho cast of a atago revue. A 1 /lolson, tho Marx Brothers, Moran and Mack are trained specialists in their typo of entertainment and would bo expected to havo a decided edge. But tliero is no reason why picture producers should continuo to use Jtheir acting stars in a typo of show which calls for something else. The line •of demarcation between I.ho revuo artist and the dramatic artist is already definitely drawn on tho stage, and there is no reason for its not being quito as sharply drawn in Hollywood. After all.- tho most thing ;*bout the, whole situation is: What is 'Chaplin' going to do about it? Latest reports had it that there would bo dialogue in a forthcoming Chaplin picture, but, that Chaplin himself would remain silent. It is not that as Chaplin goes :*o goes Hollywood; if that were suddenly truo there would be a great improvement 5n tho quality of pictures; but if ChapOin were to take a flyer in dialogue and fare badly it would bo a major tragedy, itvhernas what happens to the ordinary #tar is no matter for prayer or vexation.