ABANDONED FILMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21473, 22 April 1933, Page 11 (Supplement)

ABANDONED FILMS

PRODUCERS CHANGE PLANS COLMAN'S SHELVED PICTURES •Every autumn, at the beginning of the film season, each big company advertises its schedule for the forthcoming year. How many of the projected pictures are made? Sometimes several,' but more often only a few. United Artists once planned to star Joan Bennett in a talking version of Norma/ Talmadge's (and now Norma Shearer's) success, " Smilin' Through." Lilian Gish announced that she would make " Othello " as a talkie, with herself as Desdemona and Paul Robeson es the Moor. Ann Harding was to be the star in an adaptation of " Jane Eyre." It was reported that Ernest Lubitsch .would film Shaw's play, " The Devil's Disciple." (Lubitsch and Shaw: what % combination!) Chevalier was rumoured 'to have been chosen for a talkie of " Seventh Heaven "•! Ronald Colman, too, has become familiar with this tendency of producers to change their minds. Both ' Ihe Brothers Karamazov," and " The Way of a Lancer," planned as vehicles tor him and Anna Sten, have been dropped. Some talkies have even been actually begun or completed before being Shelved indefinitely. Mary. Pickfords " Secrets " was postponed many times (before it was actually produced. -The famous " Queen Kelly," on which •Gloria Swanson spent and lost thousands of pounds, has never been publicly shown. Other films have been entirely remade. At a pre-view of Constance Bennett's latest, " Rockabve," the audience ilaughed in the wrong places, so it was decided to remake the picture. Ihe original director, George I? itzmaurice, •did not approve of the suggested alterartions and retired in favour of George Cukor. Very often changes are made in the cast of a picture planned or begun. Lew Ayres, who was chosei) for " Laughing jßov " was rejected because no amount bf "make-up could make him look like h Red Indian. Clark Gable was ffcively considered for the part of Tarzan, hvhic'h finally fell to Johnny WeissmulMer. Iran Petrovitch was actually taken oat of 44 The Devil to Pay " and Paul Cavanagh substituted because the tformer was too handsome for the part. &oel McCrea took the place of Phillips tHolmes in " Rockabve." When Fox decided to make the silent ■•Seventh Heaven " they offered Marian Nixon the part. They were {forced to alter their plans, and Janet iGaynor played in the film. Thus, while iMarian now inherits Janet Gaynor s (discarded parts, in the old days it was •Vianet who stepped into Marian Nixon s {place.