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Otago Daily Times, Issue 22903, 10 June 1936, Page 4

Menace of Colour Films

Hollywood is trembling with dread. Established stars are terrified at the thought that colour motion pictures may abrupty end their careers just as the introduction of sound several years ago brought a revolution into the ranks of public favourites. Statements to this effect issued by motion picture executives are completely wrong, according to Henry Hathaway, who is responsible for the direction of “ The Trail of the Lonesome Pine,” Walter Wanger’s all-colour production for Paramount.

“ The present screen stars need have no fear of being unable to survive the influx of colour pictures,” the director declared. “The change is entirely different and it, is one that will overthrow not more than a very few players. This will be entirely due to the makeup necessary for technicolour.

“ The makeup should be very thin and light, virtually the same ns most women wear on the street. More than that presents a greasy impression in colour. The only players who will be unable to survive this great reduction in the amount of makeup will be those who have bad complexions and scars that cannot be covered. “ The cast of ‘ The Trail of the Lonesome Pine’ all will attain greater popularity in my opinion. The photography of Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray and Fred Stone is such ns to bring out all their good features, their eyes and hair and their healthy complexions. “Colour will bring a revolution only in costume designing, set building and other technical phases of production.” Cecil B, De Mille’s New Production Turning to the type of production on which he first built his name, Cecil B. De Mille has started preparations for the filming of “Buffalo Bill,” a saga of the Indian fighting frontier days. Courtney Riley Cooper, popular author and biographer of the glamorous buffalo hunter, has' been signed to work ou the script with Grover Jones. The date on which this picture will go into production is contingent on a race with another De Mille unit which is simultaneously preparing the Bible spectacle, “Samson and Delilah,” for which Harold Lamb, historian and author of “The Crusades,” is writing the script.

"Although I have been successful with earlier pictures of the West which 1 brought to the screen,” De Mille said, “none of them has opened up such colourful possibilities as the story of ‘ Buffalo Bill,’ in which appear such intriguing characters as Sitting Bull, General Sheridan. Yellow Hand, General Custer, Wild Bill Hiskock, Calamity Jane, and many ethers.”

“Anything Goes ” Friday next at the Regent Theatre will mark the New Zealand premiere of “Anything Goes,” the Paramount screen sentation of the musical comedy which was such a pronounced success on Broadway. It abounds in tuneful songs, comic scenes, and a set of parodies on the “ You’re the Top’ ” hit which are riotous y funny. Charlie Ruggles. in hi« inimitable fashion, provides an hilarious cross between a clergyman and a crook, while Bing Crosby heads a cast of favourites in a role which affords him an unrivalled opportunity to display his talents in song and comedy. Assisting in the general merriment is Ethel Merman, known everywhere as the Broadway rhythm girl, Ida Lupino, and Grace Bradley. The songs

of the original musical comedy are incorporated in the picture. “You’re the Top.” “Anything Goes,” and “ I Get a Kick Out of You ” are already well known to thousands of radio fans, but in addition to these successes the picture is graced with other songs and lyrics by Cole Porter and a number of other wellknown composers. The dance numbers in the production are by Leßoy Prinz, whose work for the screen has already won world-wide acclaim; they lend colour and spectacle to the fast-moving story. “Anything Goes ” can be best described as a musical comedy of errors. The story presents Bing Crosby aboard an oceangoing liner with the borrowed passport of a prominent criminal in his pocket. He must elude the ship’s officers, while searching for a beautiful stranger, whom he belives to be in distress. Charlie Ruggles assists him in his various disguises in order to keep out of the clutches of the law and within speaking distance of his charmer, played by Ida Lupino. The wrongful possession of the passport which he is carrying is responsible for many humorous interludes, and gives Crosby ample scope to display hio acting and comedy ability. Kissing Before the Camera

June Travis, Warner Bros, star, has been kissed only twice for the benefit of the cameras, and already she is prepared to delve analytically into the subject of osculation.

At the risk of putting herself on the spot with leading men she may some day work with, the young • First National actress this week listed the 10 stars she thinks would be the most desirable to kiss —before the cameras, of course. True to the first star who kissed her, June leads off with James Cagney. She was his girl friend.in “Ceiling Zero,” the big Cosmopolitan film with Pat O’Brien also in the cast. And, true to the second star who kissed her, June puts down Warren William. She’s his leading lady in “The Gentleman from Big Bend.” She says she thinks Jimmy is “nice” because he’s the type of man “ women love to be afraid of.” William appeals to her because of his suave, gentle manner. Number three is Dick Powell. June likes him because of his youthful, college-like spirit. “ He’s every

co-ed’s dream.” Others who would be nice to kiss, in June’s opinion, are George Br6nt, “ a he-man if there ever was one ”; Ronald Colman, who, like. Warren William, is “smooth”; Fredric March, ‘a man of royal bearing ”; Errol Flynn, the actor of “ Captain Blood,” “ a swashbuckling gentleman who looks as though he could kidnap a woman and make her love him”; Dick Foran, “a typical football star”; Lyle Talbot, “a careless, hail-fellow-well-met chap,” and Leslie Howard, “a polished gentleman.”

“ The Bride Comes Home “ One of the smartest comedy romances of the year comes to the St. James Theatre next Friday with the opening of Paramount’s “ The Bride Comes Home,” in which Claudette Colbert and Fred Mac Murray are starred. In a day when it is difficult to get away from the patterned story, this tale of a modern boy and girl who cannot spend five minutes together without fighting, yet who find they cannot stay away from each other, should provide a refreshing change. Miss Colbert is the daughter of a Chicago financier who has gone distressingly “ broke.” Though reared in great luxury, the girl nevertheless has plenty of pluck, and decides to go. to work. Robert Young, a childhood sweetheart, has just inherited three million dollars, but Claudette feels she would prefer getting a job to marrying him. She goes to work as assistant editor of the magazine Young publishes, where she is made assistant to the editor, Fred -MacMurray. Mac Murray is a hard-boiled, rough-spoken fellow who resents Miss Colbert’s presence. They fight from the moment: they meet. It is a thoroughly amusing story skilfully presented, and possesses a definite appeal for all married couples. The spectacle of a young woman and a young man who disagree on everything from spinach to toothbrushes, but manage in their impetuous way to work out their heavy problem, would be difficult to present without being entertaining. The denouement is said to furnish ‘one of the most hilarious episodes the films have offered for months.

Realism in British Films

There’s a quantity of loose gore slopping around the British studios these days, particularly on the outskirts, at such distant spots as and Sound City (says a writer in the Film Weekly). At the former, “ The Cardinal ” has been responsible for a great deal of rapier and dagger play, cut and thrust, parry and gurgle—only to be expected in a film whose story is laid in the turbulent setting of sixteenth century Italy. • One dainty little facet of this production was a close-up of 0. B. Clarence as an old man with his throat most thoroughly cut, and gruesome effects were secuied with sealing wax —so gruesome, in fact, that he was prevailed upon by the moie squeamish members_ of the cast not to join them af. lunch in the studio restaurant, but to eat in the privacy of his dressing room. In this production, by the way, you will see a piece of acting which was not acting at all, but grim reality, Matheson Lang, playing the leading role has been having a good deal of trouble with his eyes, which were affected by the studio lights—a painful malady known in the studios as “ Kleig eye.” This grew so bad that he sent for a specialist, who said: “No filming for you, for a few days, anyway.” But the production manager telephoned from the studios to explain desperately that there was only one more day’s shooting for Mr Lang, and his absence would cost approximately £IOOO a day in overheads; and Lang, like the good trouper

he is, decided to give the doctor the slip and go to work, which he did. The scene, by a great stroke of luck for the producers, was one in which he is supposed to go mad—and he had little difficulty in being convincing in this, being, as he said, “ half mad with pain.” However, with bloodshot eyes into which cocaine drops were applied at intervals, he finished the scene, and on schedule. Continental Romance Stars, romance, music, gaiety, laughter, and drama all mingle in a new and unique blend of screen entertainment in “ Escapade,” a new romance of Vienna that conics next Friday to the Emnire Theatre. It captures Continental flavour and music, and puts them on the screen in a stdfy with unusual dramatic twists that keep the audience in a constant state of surprises. Through the deft handling of the story every entertainment value from laughs to tears, from drama to music, is packed into a single evening’s divertissement. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture stars William Powell _ and introduces Luise Rainer, brilliant Vienna stage star, to screen audiences. Reginald Owen plays the absent-minded musician lover. Henry Travers is the comical gardener, and Laura Hope Crews, stage star of "The Silver Cord.” Mathilde Comont. Lorraine Bridges, new singing discovery, are others in the cast. The story deals with a debonair and lionised artist, played by Powell, who falls in love, through complications over a painting of another man's wife, with the demure companion of a countess. With a jealous doctor, a former sweetheart, and a flirtatious wife on hie hands, he tries to balance the whole structure while progressing on a rocky road of true love.

“ The Littlest Rebel ” As the tiny confederate who surrounds the Yanks with smiles, astounds them with sours, and defeats them with dances, Shirley Temple returns to the screen in " The Littlest Rebel,” which comes on Friday to the State Theatre. Ably supported by a cast which includes John B«des, Jack Holt, Karen Morley, and her

old tap-dancing friend, Bill Robinson, Shirley plays her first great dramatic role in this screen offering, produced under. Darryl F. Zanuck. The story of “The Littlest Rebel,” adapted from that everpopular play, deals with happenings in Virginia during the Civil War. After Shirley’s father, John Boles, is called to fight for the Stars and Bars, things go from bad to worse with his family. Loyal servants help to keep the family together,

but when their home comes into the line of fire, Shirley and her mother, Karen Mbrley, are forced to flee. The delicate Miss Morloy succumbs to the rigours ot war, and in a tender and affecting scene Shirley and her father are reunited. He faces trial and possible execution when he is captured by Jack Holt, a Northern officer. But Holt’s gallantry proves equal to that of the South, and he tries to help them escape. When thev are recaptured, both Boles and Holt must face the consequences of their act. The picture reaches its emotional climax when Shirley journeys to Washington with faithful old Bill Robinson to plead with the Great Emancipator for the lives of her father and. Jack Holt, who were guilty only of helping a little girl. Shirley’s songs in the picture include “ Polly W’olly Doodle,” by Sidney Clare and B. G. DeSylva, and “If AH Thy Endearing Young Charms.” Directed by David Butler and produced under the supervision of B. G. DeSylva, ‘‘The Littleet Rebel ” features Guinn Williams, Willie Best, and Frank M'Glynn, sen., in the supporting cast.

Freddie Bartholomew’s Treat Freddie Bartholomew, who is co-starred with Dolores Costello Barrymore in Selznick International’s “ Little Lord Fauntleroy,” was having tea at the Vendome on Sunset boulevard one recent Sunday with his aunt. Miss Myllicent Bartholomew. Charlie Chaplin and H. G. Wells were having tea with a large party of friends across the room. Freddie, who worships

Chaplin, but had never met him, was thrilled. But that was nothing compared to his excitement when Chaplin rose and came over to the Bartholomews’ table. “My name is Chaplin,” he said. “ I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time. Won’t you come over and join us and meet Mr Wells? ” Freddie was so excited he could hardly speak, but finally he managed to say that he would love to. He and hie aunt went over to the other table, where they met Wells, who said: ‘Hello, Freddie. We’re very proud of you. We think you’re one of the finest actors England has produced.” When Freddie recovered from that they eat down, and the three famous Englishmen had tea and a long talk together. “ Little Lord Fauntleroy ” will be released through United Artists.

Sean O’Casey Play With the picture rapidly being readied for early production, Barbara Stanwyck has been assigned to the leading feminine role in ” The Plough and the Stars,” screen version of Sean O’Casey’s striking play of Ireland during the troubles in 1916.

The supporting cast will be recruited largely from the ranks of former members of the noted Abbey Players of Dublin, who first produced the play in New York. Among them w(JJ be Maureen Delaney, J. M. Kerrigan, and Una O’Connor; the latter two players will be remembered for their fine performances in “ The Informer,” with Victor M'Laglen. John Ford will direct, with the new picture scheduled for production immediatey after he completes direction of "Mary of Scotland.” co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Fredric March. Jan Kiepura Return#

“ You, Me, and Love," one of the songs sung by Jan Kiepura in “My Heart Is Calling,” which opens at the Mayfair Theatre to-day, has an apt application todav. He sings the song in the hall of mirrors, where Marta Eggerth dances so

and is now employing a large crew of men in his factory. At present he is experimenting with an actual real-eize plane of a new type, which he hopes to develop soon on a commercial basis. Dorothy Wilson has a chicken ranch on which profits have not been forthcoming because of the large variety of diseases developed by the feathered boarders. But things are now improving, and Miss Wilson is looking to the future for dividends from her flock.

Jan Kiepura owns and operates a resort hotel in Poland.

Mary Pickford, called “ the smartest business woman in Hollywood,” owns extensive real estate holdings. Norman Foster has exposed a hidden streak of highbrowism by investing his savings in the “ Secret Book Shop.” A 1 Jolson and Ruby Keefer have a large place in Encino, and are fully enrolled members of both the California Orange Growers’ Association and the California Walnut Growers’ Group. Other ‘•gentlemen ranchers ” or “ farmers ” include Hugh Herbert. Barton Machine. Edward Everett Horton, W. C. Fields, Ann Dvorak and her husband, Leslie Fenton, William Warren, Douglas Fairbanks, sen., and Gary Cooper. Rotund Guy Kibbee, who recently purchased a turkey ranch, has more than 100

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gobblers, while Claude Rains owns a 100acre farm near Philadelphia and plans to alternate between there and hie Warner Brothers film work in Hollywood.

Criticism of the Theatre

Mr Sydney W. Carroll, writing in the Daily Telegraph, takes up the subject ot the theatre concerning which Sir Cedric Hardwicke recently made some criticism. “ With some of Sir Cedric’s criticism even actors will agree," he says. “ There is, all too often, a disregard in the modern theatre of the power, charm, and uses of the human voice. Enunciation and pronunciation are too often thitigs of small account. It must be very difficult for an artist fresh from the privately disciplined underplaying necessary in a film studio to exhibit on the stage and before an audience those loosenings of mood, temper, and expression so vital to the dramatic art in public performance. Constant association with all the mechanics and technique of the kinematographic sphere cannot fail to have some disturbing effect on the style and breadth of the stage player. The danger, however, is not so serious as might at first appear. For is not the mere effort to control and subdue expression itself an excellent exercise ?

“After all, the public, rightly or wrongly, are the arbiters in all such matters as Sir Cedric complains of. If they do not like plays or actors they quickly and effectually give their verdicts. Acting is as much a matter ot fashion as any other calling dependent on public favour. The quiet drawing room, cigarette-smoking actor may have had his day, but a glance round our London theatres to-day would rather prove otherwise. This type of gentleman is only acting in that way because the theatregoing public wants him to. . “ If the playgoer wants colourful, vivid, passionate acting there are plenty of samples for him to fret his nerves with.

Shakespeare has still many fine exponents, and the English language can still be heard perfectly and beautifully spoken in many theatres. Sir Cedric, it must be remembered, is one of our finest comedians, and comedians are noted for a habit of joking. Any gentleman tvho is paid at the rate of untold gold a week can afford his little bit of fun.”

Miss Marie Tempest consider the theatre to-day is in a very healthy condition.

“But Sir Cedric, up to a point,” she says, “is right in one thing. That is when he talks about actors 1 voices. I do not think that crooning is the right word, but I have been to theatres and have not been able to hear one word of the ends of sentences in certain actors’ and actresses’ speeches. It really is a crime, and what beats me is that producers and the management should allow it.”

“ 1 agree practically 100 per cent, with Sir Cedric Hardwicke,” says Mr Godfrey Tearle, “ but I do not despair of the theatre —far from it. I think the thing is already sorting. itself out. The stage is, in a way, taking the place of the painter, and the kinema that of the photographer. I do not mean that literally, but stage and screen are finding their proper spheres. We must have romance and colour in the theatre.”

Love-Scene

The more intimate a love, scene appears on the screen the less intimate it actually was during the making. The big Warner Bros, musical comedy, “ Colleen,” includes a greatly magnified close-up of Dick Rowell and Ruby Keeler, their lips close together, their eyes devouring each other, their faces completely filling.the screen. The audience will get the teeling, no doubt, that they are the only couple in the whole world—a feeling, although the theatre may be jammed, ot absolute intimacy. But let us drop out on stage four at Warner studios while that very scene is being made and observe for ourselves just how intimate such touching passages of a screen story really are in the making. The setting is that of a luxurious office in the modiste shop Colleen Reilly (Miss Keeler) operates for the estates inherited by Donald Amos (Dick Powell). As we approach the set, Powell, while he strolls about, is rehearsing one of the songs he will sing in the picture. Miss Keeler sits in front of a dressing table, a cosmetician repairing her make-up. “All right,” Director Alfred Green remarks at this moment “Are we ready to go? ” The cameraman, Byron Haskins, nods. “ 0. K.,” Green continues. “ Now, Dick,’’ turning to the singing star, “you enter the office, walk up to the desk where Miss Keeler is seated, and, sort of lean against it. Start the dialogue right away. We’ll cut as we reach the point where Miss Keeler goes to the window.” The scene is taken. Green is satisfied. “ Now we’ll dolly you over to the window,” he says. . Cameraman and electricians go into action. They mount the camera on a dolly—a. fourwheeled cart. At length everything is ready again. Powell and Miss Keeler return to the set. The scene is “ picked up ” from the point where the last one ended. Miss Keeler rises from her desk, strolls towdar the window, looks down into the brilliantly-lighted street. Powell

follows her, and the camera trails him on its rubber-tyred cart at a reasonable distance, for the scene has not yet reached its most intimate moments. Dick and Ruby stand at the window. “So many stars,” the actress remarks, and the camera roils closer. The scene is becoming more intimate. " I envy them, Powell replies, then, suddenly, “ I love you, Colleen.” “Cut!” the interrupts. “ That was perfect. Now, Byron,” turning to the cameraman. ‘ I want a big close-up of the kiss. Once more the camera and electrical crews go into action. They literally surround the spot where Powell and Miss Keeler will stand. Lights are jammed so close that any movement by the players beyond a nod of the head would result in a bump. Powell and Miss Keeler take their places. The passage they used to get through the ring of lights is closed by the camera, which shoves its mysterious lens to within a couple of feet of their faces. The three members of the camera crew push close behind their apparatus, one of them peering through the finder at the couple which is the object of all this preparation. Director Green has to climb a four-foot step-ladder in order properly to observe the scene over the tops of the lights that surround the players. Behind virtually every one ,of the lights Stands an electrician, there to control the switches and make any last-minute adjustments that might be required by the cameraman. Property men press ‘forward behind them. The microphone boom man swings his sound apparatus over the players’ heads. Wardrobe men and women, carpenters, assistant directors, crowd him. From the catwalks above the set half a dozen more electricians peer downward, their faces not more than six feet from Powell and Miss Keeler. “ Pick up the scene from your last line, Dick,” Green directs. The camera revolves soundlessly. “ I envy them,” Powell repeats; then, suddenly as before, “ I love you, Colleen! ” Tenderly he kisses Miss Keeler. “ Cut! ” Green exclaims, happily. Intimacy? Only about 50 people watched that kiss, and all of them within a radius of 15 or 20 feet of the players. John Gielgud’s Brilliant Career

Where do the great stars come from? When did the famous names that to-day glitter in 1 electric lights first begin to take on any significance? To-day we are rather apt to forget that the glamorous personalities of stage and screen have endured all the struggles they wanted before reaching fame and the recognition of the public. Take brilliant young John Gielgud, now playing a w'ar-time spy in the new Gaurnont-British thriller “ Secret Agent.” He, if anybody, has known what it is to fight for recognition, and has endured to the fullest extent the ups and downs of the merciless theatrical world. When Gielgud was a boy his parents decided that he should become an architect, but he wanted to go on the stage. Moved by his willingness to give up an Oxford career for the profession, his parents gave him a certain time to make good at the stage, failing which he was to return and become an architect. Gielgud’s first step was to join the dramatic school of Lady Benson. Later, still a ■raw student, he served an apprenticeship at the famous Old Vic. Theatre, his first stage appearance in 1921 gaining him one line in “Henry the Fifth” ! Following the Old Vic., he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and gained a scholarship. His second cousin, Phyllis Neilson-Terry, who was taking some plays on tour, then offered him the job of assistant stage manager combined with a two-line part and general odd jobs, including the understudying of lon Swinley the leading man. Nervous and inexperienced, Gielgud remembers how kind they were to him in his first engagement, and recalls how Phyllis Terry took the trouble to come to a reherasal to show him how to hold her in a love scene. When he returned to London he had no prospects, and he took anything that came his way. Always a quick study and indefatigable for work, he undertook odd matinees and Sunday night shows until he began to attract notice. His luck turned, and many interesting engagements in good plays followed. Among his plays in the early 1920’s were; “The Cherry Orchard,” “ The Three Sisters,” “ Romeo ” in Barry Jackson’s “ Romeo and Juliet” of 1924, “The Constant Nymph,” and “The Lady With the Lamp.” His luck, however, did not hold. Although his salary was good, his parts in various productions became unfortunate in their choice, and several failures followed. Finally, he was approached by Liliara Baylis, of the Old Vic., to come and play at the famous theatre as leading man.

Eagerly the young actor agreed, and thus to the same theatre where 10 years before he had been a student, he_ returned to the highest position, and since that step in 1929 the history of the brilliant 31-ycar-old genius is world-famous. Under the Old Vic. banner Gielgud went from strength to strength. He played innumerable Shakespearian roles with a fire that had hitherto been unknown. He became a phenomenal success, and formed a gigantic following among the public. He made the great characters of the famous playwright come flaming into life before the eyes of those people who had hitherto regarded Shakespeare as rather a bore. Completing his sojourn at the Old Vic. with one of the finest portrayals of “ King Lear ” ever known, Gielgud came back to the West End to appear in three playa, each of which had a year’s run. They were; “The Good Companions,” “Musical Chairs,” and “The Maitlands.” Then he decided to make costume plays a paying proposition. He yearned for colour, action, vigour, and beauty of speech on the stage. It came with a vepgeance in one of the finest plays ever staged in London, Gielgud’s “ Richard of Bordeaux.” His “ Hamlet ” which came after -was another sensational and profitable venture, and this year London has proclaimed bis production and himself in “ Romeo and Juliet.”

Gielgud the actor is a completely different character from Gielgud the man. On the costume stage he is a figure tall, striking, swift of movement, magnificent of speech and gesture. In private life one finds a quiet, shy. reticent and completely unassuming young man who dreads the limelight of fame and whose natural shyness might even give the false impression that he was aloof.

Film Topics Hugh Walpole has started work on the scenario of “ Kim,” Metrq-Goldwyn-Mayer’s version of the Kipling novel. Freddie Bartholomew plays the title part. Arthur Teacher, well known for his butler roles, has been chosen to play the part of Jeeves in a series of comedies built on P. G. Wodehouse’s famous character, which will be made by Fox. Merle Oberon’s next picture will not be a life of Florence Nightingale, as previously rumoured. She win star in “ Dark Victory,” based on a play in which Tallulah Bankhead scored a Broadway success last year. Steffi Duna has been given the lead in a full-length colour film, “ Dancing Pirate.” which Jock Whitney is producing. Robert Benchley is writing the dialogue. Miss Duna played in the successful colour short “La Cucaracba.”