SCREEN AND STAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23081, 6 January 1937, Page 3

SCREEN AND STAGE

BY HARLEQUIN

FROM GREEN ROOM AND STUDIO

“Joan of Arc” I Plans are at present in hand by Warner Bros, for the filming of “ Joan of Arc,” in which Claudette Colbert will play the title role. Coincident with the arrival in New York recently of Anatole Litvak, famous RussianFrench director, who will direct what is expected to be one of the screen’s most dramatic productions, the announcement from the main offices of Warner Bros, in New York stated that ! the story of the Maid of Orleans would I be taken from an original script pre- i pared in France by M. Litvak. The noted director, who screened “ Joan of | Arc” for a French company only a | few months ago, reached America with a 800-page English translation of the treatise he prepared in Paris after several years of research into the life of the mystic peasant girl who drove i the English from Orleans and re- j kindled French patriotism in an appar- | ently lost cause. M. Litvak, one of ! whose most notable foreign produc- i tions was “Be Mine To-night,” was I signed to direct the story of the martyred Joan by Jack L. Warner, vice-president in charge of production at the Warner Studios, who has been in Europe for several months on busi- ; ness. M. Litvak first began directing 15 years ago with the Soviets, and three years later went to Central Europe. Subsequently he has worked for Gaumont-British in London and j Ufa in Berlin. He speaks seven languages. I

“Fatal Lady" “Fatal Lady,” a new mystery drama \ with an operatic background, will com- : mence a season at the Regent Theatre on Friday. It stars Mary Ellis _ and offers Walter Pidgeon, John Halliday, Ruth Donnelly, Alan Mowbray, Guy Bates Post, Norman Foster and a score of other equally famous stage and screen celebrities an unusual opportunity to display their talents in supporting roles. The story concerns a famous operatic star to whom it proves fatal to fall in love. Several men seek the: affections of the prima donna and are: mysteriously murdered. Innocent of any complicity in the crimes, the star, however, is forced to leave the countries in which they occur, and eventually accents work as a singer in an apache cafe in Paris. She is followed around the world by a wealthy young American who is desperately in love with her, but because of the danger in which her love would place him she evades him. In an attempt on his life, however, the real culprit is revealed. Romance and music prevail as the story unfolds. To Film’ in Samoa Richard Day, art director to Samuel Goldwyn, and Percy Ikerd, assistant director, left by the Monterey from Hollywood recently for Samoa, where they will join Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, authors of “Hurricane,” and confer on the filming of that book, screen rights to which Mr Goldwyn recently purchased. Nordhoff and Hall, who also wrote “ Mutiny on the Bounty,” will aid the motion picture executives in procuring native talent, and in the establishment of living quarters for the large technical crew which the Goldwyn studios are sending for the location sequences of “ Hurricane.” The location groups will sail for the South Seas in February on a specially chartered vessel. They will be outfitted with a projection machine, film printing and development equipment that will enable the company to see the daily rushes on location. Murder Mystery “The Case of the Velvet Claws,” First National’s latest murder mystery drama, has been booked by the Strand Theatre as the feature attraction starting on Friday, Warren William is starred as the brilliant amateur detective, Percy Mason. The plot of “ The Case of the Velvet Clhws” is baffling and the suspense is maintained up to the moment of the climax. There are two possible motives for the murder — to cover a love scandal—and to gain possession of the wealth. Perry Mason’s problem is to find which is the real cause of the crime. Eight persons are suspected, one of whom believes herself to be the killer. Circumstantial

evidence points to the probability that Perry Mason himself did the deed. The hero is injected into the case by the pistol method—just as he is starting on his honeymoon —by the wife of the man who is marked for slaughter, and who has laid herself open to suspicion through a secret love affair. Winifred Shaw plays the wife suspected of the murder, while Claire Dodd is th.p bride. The other film on the double-feature programme is “ Roaming Lady,” a thrilling adventure tale of the China Seas, in which Fay Wray and Ralph Bellamy are featured. Tito Schipa to Tour Messrs J. and N. Tait have engaged the Italian tenor, Tito Schipa, of the Metropolitan Opera House, Newj York, and the Chicago Opera, for 25 concerts in Australia and New Zealand, opening Melbourne or Sydney in June. Arrangements for the tour were completed by Mr Frank S. Tait, who recently went abroad to secure concert and theatrical attractions for next vear. He is at present in New York. Messrs J. and N. Tait have wanted to secure the services of Tito Schipa for a long time past, but the tenor’s engagements on the operatic stage and concert platform have prevented his coming to Australia until now. One of the best living Italian tenors for a number of years, Tito Schipa is very popular in America, besides the Continent of Europe, and in England. Born in Lecco in January, 1889, Tito Schipa

studied there, and in Milan, and made his debut in 1909 in Cremora', where his singing in Bizet’s “I Pescatori di Perle ” (“The Pearl Fishers”) and Leoncavallb’s “ Zaza,” attracted very favourable notice. After that he took part in an important tour through Italy, and sang at Rome, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, and Trieste, whence he went to Milan and sang in Puccini’s “ Tosca ” at the Teatro Dal Verme. His Milan engagement was the starting point of. his operatic reputation. He has sung, in leading opera houses in Europe and' America for a number of years, and is considered among the great operatic artists to-day. “ Rembrandt ” Alexander Korda’s new film, “Rembrandt,” starring Charles Laughton, has been enthusiastically reviewed by the New York motion picture critics. The following excerpt from the New York Times offers its own testimony: “Between the two of them, Laughton and Korda have produced a great and rich and glowing motion picture, a picture signed all over with distinction like one of the master’s own canvasses. ‘ Rembrandt ’ is as much Mr Korda[s greatest production to date as it is the noblest subject and the best likeness in Mr Laughton's inspired gallery of historical portraits.” Another Big Broadcast Frank Forest, a well-known tenor, who plays an important role in Paramount’s “The Big Broadcast of 1937,” was comparatively unknown in his native America a month or two ago. but enjoyed a wide reputation throughout Continental Europe for several years. Forest was born in St. Paul. U.S.A. He entered the business world in order to earn enough money for his musical education, and three years ago went to Europe to study. He entered the Government’s musical schools in Italy, and was later made a member of the world-famous La Scala Opera Company, He was billed in this company as Franco Foresta. He returned to America two years ago to visit his father, and was signed up by the Chicago Opera Company. His contract with Paramount followed. Forest is featured in “The Big Broadcast of 1937” with such • personalities as Jack Benny, George Burns, and Gracie Allen, Bob Burns. Martha Raye, Benny Goodman and his orchestra. Shirley Ross. Ray Milland. and Benny Fields. Specialties are provided by Leopold Stokowski and his symphony orchestra; Larrv Adler, a brilliant exponent of the mouth organ: Eleanore Whitney, lightning tap dancer and a charming young actress, and three of Paramount’s juvenile players, Virginia Weidler, David Holt, and Billy Lee.

R. L. Stevenson Story Based on the brilliant stories written about “ The Suicide Club ” by Robert Louis Stevenson, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s film version starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell is to commence a season at the Empire Theatre on Friday. The production is marked by excellent detail, for the story is laid in the 1880’s, and there is a light-hearted charm about it which comes only with fantastic tales about the princes and princesses of mythical kingdoms travelling incognito. For in this film Montgomery is a Crown Prince and Miss Russell, whose meteoric ascent to stardom has amazed the screen world, is a Princess. The picture is also outstanding because of a remarkably pleasing cast, headed by Frank Morgan, whose delicious comedy sparkles throughout the piece: Reginald Owen, in one of the wierdest maxe-ups ever r oen on the screen (Lon Chaney included), Louis Hayward m an intriguing role as “The Young Man With the Cream Tarts,” Robert Greig, E. E. Clive and others. The climax of this most pleasing entertainment is a fast and furious rapier duel between Montgomery and Owen, which is said to equal any such combat ever screened; and the mystery with which Miss Russell invests her part through the first half of the story is pricelessly amusing. Montgomery himself is very much up to standard and Rosalind Russell easily advances her popularity by her work in “The Suicide Club.”

Secret Service Film Mystery and thrills are excitingly combined in “Secret Agent,” which will commence a season at the State Theatre on Friday. The story concerns Edgar Brodie, a novelist, who for secret service purposes takes the name of Ashenden, and leaves on a mission to Switzerland in 1916. As an assistant he has a genial, murderous gunman, “the Hairless Mexican.” In Geneva Ashenden meets his “ wife,” Elsa, another agent, who is friendly

with a young American. Marvin. Ashenden, following instructions, endeavours to intercept a German agent who is willing to “ talk ” to the Allies, but he is too late, as the man, a village organist, is discovered murdered. Ashenden and the Mexican become suspicious of an English mountaineer, Cayoor, whose movements tally with those of the murderer. The Mexican stages a mock quarrel with Caypor as to which is the better climber, and on a lofty mountain peak he hurtles him to a terrible death. That night they realise they have blundered. Ashenden and Elsa, horrified, decide to throw up everything and leave for England. But the Mexican has stumbled on a fresh clue. He has met a girl whose boy friend, Peter, works in a large chocolate factory. This factory is also a distributing centre for German spy information, and Ashenden and the Mexican gain entrance to the factory in order to bribe Peter for the name of the man they want. Elsa, however, is still nauseated by their work, and she begs Marvin, the American, to take her with hhn when he leaves by train for Greece. Enemy agents reveal Ashenden’s identity to the Swiss police while the British agents are making a pretence of inspecting the plant of the chocolate factory. By a clever ruse the two escape, with the information that Marvin is the spy they want. They follow the escaping American, thinking that Elsa is aware of his identity, and is “on the job.” At Nisch, in Bulgaria, they board the same train as the German agent, who threatens Elsa, until she pretends she is in love with him. She is desperately anxious that Marvin’s life should be spared, despite her love for Ashenden. From this point the film works up to a dramatic and unexpected climax. Madeleine Carroll. John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, and Robert Young have the leading roles.

“ Seven Sinners ” Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings have the leading roles in “ Seven Sinners,” a new version of a wellknown thriller which is coming to the Grand Theatre next week. The story deals with the efforts of a criminal investigator to discover the reason for a French train accident, in which he is involved. His clues carry him forward into an amazing series of adventures, and he finally rounds up a gang of gun-runners, almost at the loss of his own life. Edmund Lowe is an American detective employed to hunt down a gun-running organisation which also specialises in wrecking trains. He is joined in Europe by Constance Cummings, who is watching the interests of a London insurance company. The pair meet Thorny Bourdelle, who professes to be a Paris Prefecture chief, and they follow clues

across the Continent and England. Many adventures come their way as the net tightens on the mysterious criminals. , At a meeting of the “ Pil grims of Peace ” Edmund Lowe discovers that the “sign of the crossed palm branches ” is the mark of the gang. A fight ensues, and Lowe escapes with his life. He finds that the mission ship of the "Pilgrims” carries a cargo of arms. In a thrilling climax the express on which Edmund Lowe and his girl companion are travelling is wrecked, and the gang is successfully rounded up. They find Thorny Bourdelle enjoying a newsreel film of the smash he has created; he attempt o to escape, and is shot down by the waiting detectives. Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings have fought throughout the story, but when the end comes they find that romance was waiting after all.

Paramount’s Silver Jubilee Plans for the Paramount international silver jubilee celebration for Adolph Zukor in commemoration of the Paramount founder’s 25 years of service to the motion picture industry, will be ushered in at the company’s Hollywood Studio with a huge dinner sponsored by the Paramount Studio Club, according to plans just announced. This anniversary dinner will take place to-morrow, Mr Zukor’s birthday, at the studio’s largest available stage on the lot. Entertainment, featuring some of the foremost personalities of the screen and radio, has definitely promised to make the occasion an eventful one. Among the guests at the dinner commemorating Mr Zukor's 25 years of activity as a maker of screen entertainment will be executives and many others associated with Mr Zukor. during the last quarter of a century. Preceding the dinner will be a screening of “Queen Elizabeth,” starring Sarah Bernhardt, the first full-length picture shown in America, and with which Mr Zukor paved the way for development of

feature pictures as known to-day. In addition to “ Queen Elizabeth ” there will be a showing of Paramount’s road show “ Champagne Waltz,” which will be simultaneously screened in 300 theatres throughout the world, including 16 in Australia and four in New Zealand, on January 22, to celebrate the founding of Paramount by Adolph Zukor 25 years ago. Mayfair Attractions A haunted Scottish castle that is transported to America, complete with its ancestral ghost, provides the novel setting for “The Ghost Goes West,” Alexander Korda’s gay romantic comedy which brings Robert Donat to the Mayfair Theatre in a dual role to-day. Donat is seen as Donald Glourie, an impoverished young Scottish nobleman who is forced to sell his ancestral castle to an American millionaire, and also plays the handsome ghost who strolls the castle halls. Eugene Pallette plays the millionaire, and Jean Parker provides the love interest as his daughter Peggy. A series of hilarious situations develop when the ghost begins to walk the luxury liner which is transporting the dismantled castle to America. His marked resemblance to Donald causes considerable confusion among the passengers and discomfort to Donald, who discovers that there are pleasanter fates than being credited with the strange and unpredictable antics of a michievous and amorous “ spoqk. ’ A murder mystery. “Guard That Girl,” will be on the same programme. Commencing on Saturday the Mayfair Theatre will show another doublefeature programme, consisting of “Anything Goes.” a first-class musical comedy, with Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, and Charlie Ruggles, and “ Ceiling Zero.” in which James Cagney is featured.

New Technique for Films Six films, now being produced by Gaumont-British Instructional, represent a first attempt by the British film industry to produce history films for school use. Unlike certain entertainment films which are alleged to be historical, these six short history films deal strictly with facts. They are mainly diagramatic, and in fact are produced on very much the same principles as a Walt Disney cartoon. One deals with the origin of the British railway system, another with the rise of the German Empire. They are mainly concerned with the economics of history, although one is an outline of the great battles of the Napoleonic era. When completed, they will be shown in schools in every part of the country. Yorkshire people will be particularly interested to learn that one deals with the woollen industry and is being produced in collaboration with the authorities at Leeds University, under the direction of Mary Field.

The Russian Ballet Colonel W. de Basil’s Monte Carlo Russian Ballet completed a record season of seven weeks and a-half at His Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, on Tuesday, December 22, and opened the Sydney season at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, on Boxing Day. The visit of this famous organisation has exceeded the most sanguine anticipations of the directors of J. C. Williamson, Ltd. The demand for seats has been maintained at a high level, and the houses for the last performances were booked out days in advance. One of the surprises of the ballets produced by the company was “ Port Said.” Its creator is Leon Woizikowsky, the company’s leading male dancer, whose efforts to enliven the drab side of life in a Mediterranean seaport suggests that the modern ballet offers unlimited scope for the caricaturist. “ Port Said ” is rather a shock after the classic and Oriental ballets presented by the company, and it is startling when the scene goes up on a lurid waterfront gin shop with a scrubby crew of sailors and ladies of all nations who have drifted to this seaport. Helene Kirsova, whose work as the French dancer is as showy and finished as anything she has done during the season, created quite a furore. This character is a richly-mixed compound of humour and gaiety, coquetry and conquest. Leon Woizikowsky, in the role originated by him in London, sets the mood of the piece with curious marionette-like postures and a Chaplinesque walk that might have been derived from the music hall. Nina Raievska in a frpnzied Dervish dance and Irene Bondlreva and Elizabeth Souvorova dance with their customary grace. “ Pori Said ” should be one of the most popular of the many ballets presented by the company.

Zane Grey Starred Zane Grey, the famous author, chose the Australian film “ White Death,” in which to play his first starring role. The fact is even more significant when it is remembered that more than 30 Zane Grey films have been made in America during the past 15 years. Mr Grey, who put the final touches on his Australian romantic comedy-drama before he sailed for America, is firmly convinced that Australia has a remarkable future in film production. He

said: “For the past six weeks I have been on the Great Barrier Reef playing my first leading role in a talking picture. I have visited many countries outside the U.S.A. gathering material for stories, seeking picturesque settings and sport. These things I found in Australia in large quantities. As a background for motion pictures, Australia is outstanding. ‘ White Death ’ has been made where the caressing winds of the north shape the coral into

blue lagoons . . . where Nature is both beautiful and cruel . . . where the same winds which shape blue lagoons become forces of terror and create havoc which it takes Nature centuries to repair.” Playing the leading role opposite Zane Grey is Alfred Frith, the Australian stage comedian. Others in the cast include Nola Warren, a charming example of Australian girlhood. John Weston, and Harald Colonna. "White Death” is the feature film commencing at the St. James Theatre on Friday.

Clark Gable Pays Up Clark Gable has recently liquidated an ancient five-dollar debt. Several years ago, when he was an extra in motion pictures, earning five dollars a day or less when he worked, which wasn’t any too ofen, Gable’s rickety automobile needed repairs. He took it to a garage, and the bill, when he called for it, was 15 dollars. Gable, however, had only 10 to spare, so he gave the garage man that and promised to pay the balance as soon as possible. By the time he managed to eke out the five, however, he discovered the garage had closed, and nobody knew where the owner had gone. He remembered then that he had neglected to give the garage man his full name, the fellow, from whom he always purchased gasoline and other supplies, having known him simply as Clark. Gable tried several times to locate the garage man, but failed.

“ Penrod and Sam ”

One day on the set of the new Warner Bros.’ Cosmopolitan musical comedy picture, “ Cain and Mabel,” in which he is co-starred with Marion Davies, Gable was informed that studio casting executives had found a fighter to oppose him in the 10-round bout that forms one of the highlights of the picture. “ Fine,” said Gable. “I’d like to meet him before the fight. Bring him on the set will you? ” ~ . Harvey Perry, who trained Gable for the bout, brought the actor’s opponent-to-be around. “ Clark,” he said, “ meet Allen Pomeroy, former intercollegiate heavyweight champion when he attended Columbia University, and the man who’s going to fight you.”

“ Oh, hello,” said Gable, a puzzled note in his voice. “ Haven’t I met you before?”

“ Yes,” Pomeroy chuckled. “ I think we met several years ago. I ran a garage, and I think I repaired your car.”

“ Right,” Gable replied digging into his pocket. “And maybe I’d better pay you that five dollars I owe you before we get into the ring.” Pomeroy, it developed, had moved on short notice to Glendale, California, where he opened a new garage. He said he had often thought he recognised in Gable, the star, the movie extra whose car he had repaired, but that he wasn’t sure enough to ask him tor five dollars.

Film Topics Four popular type songs and a complete new operatic score are introduced in “Give Us This Night,” Paramount’s Jan Kiepura-Gladys Swarthout musical romance. The songs are “Music in the Night,” “I Mean to Say I Love You,” “My Love and I,” and “ Sweet Melody of Night.” They were written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein 11. Korngold also wrote the onera, an original score designed for screen presentation. The story of “Give Us This Night” deals with a young Italian fisherman who is possessed of a remarkable singing voice. Kiepura is the fisherman, and Miss Swarthout the star who helps him to achieve success.

Barbara Stanwyck will forsake the modish apparel of the present day for the shawl and simple costume of an Irish colleen in RKO Radio’s “ The Plough and the Stars.” Switching from the light comedy of her more recent films, Miss Stanwyck returns to a strong emotional role of the type which won her a high place on the screen and kept her there for years. It is a wonderful characterisation of a girl whose love makes her a coward and robs her even of patriotism when her man’s life is endangered during the Irish uprising of Easter Week. 1916.

The dynamiting of the giant logs and their thundering journey down the river are two of the thrills in “ Come and Get It,” Samuel Goldwyn’s production of Edna Berber's colourful

novel of life in the great lumber camps of the north woods, with Edward Arnold as Barney Glasgow, the chore boy who became a lumber baron. The free-for-all battle between Barney and the lumberjacks, the fight between Barney and his son for the love of the beautiful Lotta, and one of the most spectacular cafe battles ever screened are other highlights of this film. Joel M'Crea, Frances Farmer, Mady Christians, and Walter Brennan are also eminently featured in the cast of “ Come and' Get it.”

Max Reinhardt’s next picture for Warner Brothers has now been decided. It will be “Danton,” a biography of the French revolutionary leader, William Dieterle will codirect.

Freddie Bartholomew, the British boy star, remains the centre of a legal battle. His mother has lost the first round of her fight for. the. custody of her son, who is at present under the guardianship of his aunt. Mrs Bartholomew’s counsel has announced, however, that he will file a new action in the Los Angeles courts.

“The Vagabond King” Negotiations are under way between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount for the purchase of “The Vagabond King,” which Metro wants as a co-starring vehicle , for Jeanette MacDonaald and Nelson Eddy. Paramount made the picture in 1930 with Miss MacDonald and Dennis King in the leads. The studio has been considering a retake, but considers it has not the proper duo available for the leading roles.

Acclaimed by critics who have already seen him as the boy Anthony in “ Anthony Adverse,” Billy Mauch now comes into his own as the star of the famous story of childhood and children, “Penrod and Sam,” now

being made by Warner Bros. The story is, of course, one of Booth Tarkington’s greatest. This sprightly tale of the doings of a bunch of youngsters is fraught with the simplicity and human interest that warms every heart. Sympathetically delving into the foibles of little boys, it unfolds the sort of story that makes grown-ups direct their thoughts back through the years and allows them to thrill once more to the joys of Penrod and his gang. William M'Gann will direct the übiquitous crew that finds so many things to do to upset its elders. A cast composed of the pick of child talent will depict the various types of kids that gambol through the script prepared by Lillie Hayward and Hugh Cummings.