The SCREEN and its STARS

Southland Times, Issue 21661, 24 March 1932, Page 12

The SCREEN and its STARS

By

“Columbine” )

THE MAJESTIC. . Now Showing: “The Cisco Kid” (Fox— Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe, Conchita Montenegro, Nora Lane). To-morrow evening: “Hungarian Rhapsody” (Ufa —Willy Fritsch, Dita Parlo, Lil Dagover). Saturday: “Bad Girl” (Fox —Sally Eilers James Dunn, Minna Gombell). Wednesday next: “The Lawyer’s Secret” (Paramount—Clive'Brook, Fay Wray, Charles Rogels, Jean Arthur, Richard Arlen), * * * * Memories of the first outdoor talkie are still vivid in the minds of enthusiastic filmgoers—that was “In Old Arizona.” Now' The Cisco Kid and Sergeant Mickey Dunn are on the screen again—heard at The Majestic in a new adventure written for them by Alfred A. Cohm round the popular 0. Henry character. In this Fox production Warner Baxter again has the title role, with Edmund Lowe again his natural enemy. Baxter continues to be one of the most romantic figures on the talking screen. /V Spanish girl, Conchita Montenegro, one of the Fox debutante stars of 1931, makes her debut in this film. Irving Cummings, who made “In Old Arizona,” directed. A very interesting announcement is made by the Majestic management' for to-mor-row. To be screened only on Good Friday night is a film of which one has read much, with little hope of seeing it in Invercargill—so few of the Continental films, about which so much is written, reach these shores. At all events, we are to sec “Hungarian Rhapsody” to-morrow —a Ufa film, distributed by Cinema Art Films, directed by Hans .Schwartz, and filmed on the plains of Mezohegycs, Hungary. Enthusiastic reviewers have hailed this as an extraordinary example of how sound may be used to advantage on the screen. Real Hungarian peasants singing their wild primitive folk songs at Harvest time, gipsy minstrels—the most romantic people in the world—playing fiery melodies on their weird native instruments are heard and miles of reapers singing in the fields as they swing their scythes in unison and the passionate lover and violinist playing entrancing serenades in beautiful moonlit lights. Such is the beauty of this Ufa synchronized operetta which has been adapted from Franz Liszt’s immortal masterpiece. The leading roles are played by Willie Fritsch, Dita Parlo and Lil Dagover. This should provide a musical and cinematic treat one would be grieved to miss. * * * * On Saturday “Bad Girl,” the Fox success based on Vina Delmar’s novel of the same name, comes to the Majestic with James Dunn and Sally Eilers in the chief roles. This was" directed by Frank Borzage (maker of “7th Heaven,” “Humoresque” and ’Song of My Heart”), and, as everyone knows, Sally Eilers and James Dunn made, such a personal succes in this film that they are now considered a formidable starring team as Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Minna Gombell plays the part of Edna, William Pawley is Jim, and Frank Darren is Lathroh. “Week-End Marriage,” the new novel by Faith Baldwin, has been purchased by Warner Brothers for screen production. The two leading roles will be assigned to Loretta Young and David Manners. Laurence Olivier has been selected to play opposite Ann Harding in “Westward Passage,” her new picture for RKO-Radio Pictures. Robert Milton will direct. It will be based on the Margaret Ayer Barnes novel of the same name. “Red Harvest” will be the title of Paramount’s film version of the European stage play “On the Black Sea,” written by Philip Ze.ska and Ernest Spitz.. George Bancroft will be starred and John Cromwell will direct from Oliver H. B. Garrett’s adaptation, “Michael and Mary,” the charming play by A. A. Milne, has been completed by i Gainsborough films under the direction of i Victor Savile, with Edna Best and her i husband Herbert Marshall, in their original ' roles. ; “The Mouthpiece,” the new Warner Brothers picture, based on the play by Frank J. Collins, has James Flood direct- < ing. The cast is headed by Warren Williams 1 and Sidney Fox, and among the other J players are Mae Madison, Aline MacMahon, t William Janney and John Wray. 1

Paramount British, which has just scored a great success with “Service for Ladies,” will shortly begin another ambitious film. This is to be a version of Mr Michael Arlen’s novel, “Lily Christine.” Miss Corinne Griffith, one of the most beautiful actresses on the screen, will play the title part; and it is hoped—though not yet settled—that Mr Colin Clive and Mr Herbert Marshall will also be in the cast. Mr Paul Stein (who was responsible for that excellent talkie “A Lady Surrenders”) is on his way from Hollywood to direct the picture. Robert Ames, stage and motion-picture star, was found dead on November 27 in the New York hotel at which he was staying while studying the script of a new play, “Interview,” he was to make for Paramount at their New York studios. He was to have been co-starred with Ina Claire, with whom his name had been romantically coupled for some months in Hollywood. Ames was forty-two years old, and had been married four times. His last picture, "Rich Man’s Folly,” was showing on Broadway at the time of his death, which, it was thought, had been caused, by an internal haemorrhage, apparently resulting from kidney disease. He made his screen debut opposite Gloria Swanson in “The Trespasser.” According to advice just received in Sydney from America, the Universal film company which made “East of Borneo,” is definitely coming to the Australian coast, probably to make a picture on the Great Barrier Reef. No details of the scenario are available yet, except that it was written by an Australian, Wilfred James, in collaboration with Dale Van Every, author of “East of Borneo.” The present plans are for the expedition to travel to Singapore by steamer, and there charter a yacht, and cruise to Torres Strait. The film company is expected then to proceed to locations on the Barrier Reef and Cape York Peninsula. Charles Bickford and Rose Hobart are said to be the stars selected for the picture. By next July they will be released from their Hollywood engagements, and the expedition should set out in August.

THE REGENT. Now Showing: “Lasca of the Rio Grande” (Universal —Leo Carillo, Johnnie Mack . Brown, Dorothy Burgess, Slim Summerville). Saturday: “Waiting for the Bride” (R.K.O. —Mary Brian, Geoffrey Kerr, Joseph Cawthorn, Marie ■ Prevost, Johnny Hines). Coming Attractions: “Personal Maid” (Nancy Carroll, Pat O'Brien, Gene Raymond) ; “Thirty Fathoms Deep” (Jack Holt, Ralph Graves) ; “Daughter of the Dragon” (Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong); “Gold Dust Gertie” (Winnie Lightner, Olsen and Johnson); “Monkey Business” (The Four Marx Brothers) ; “Alexander Hamilton” (George Arliss). » * ♦ * The current programme at The Regent is headed by the Universal production of Frank Desprez’s poem, “Lasca,” called on the screen, "Lasca of the Rio Grande.” The title role is played by Dorothy Burgess, the young actress who made a very favourable screen debut in “In Old Arizona,” and has since boon heard of with much less frequency than one should have expected—except that she returned to the stage to play in "The Bird of Fame.” She is a very fine dancer, and also sings with a brain as well as a rich contralto voice. John Mack Brown is the hero; and the chief character role is played by Leo Carrillo, the Spanish-American actor who delighted New Zealand audiences during his visit two years ago in “Ixtmbardi Ltd.” Slim Summerville and Frank Campeau are also in the cast. Edward Laemmle directed. « « • » An interesting all-technicolour film comes to The Regent on Saturday in R.K.O.’s gay comedy, “Waiting for the Bride,” which is hailed as ‘The Golddiggers’ of 1932.” R.K.O. can always be counted on to produce a finely finished talking film, and the colour is supposed to be particularly effective. In this film, too, Geoffrey Kerr makes his screen debut. Kerr is of an old English acting family. He left the London stage, where he was starred, to join the English army as a commissioned ' officer. After his sensational fall and recuperation, he again took to the theatre and eventually arrived in America where for five years he has been a leading actor on the Broadway stage. Mary Brian, Marie Prevost, Joseph Cawthorn and Johnny Hines complete the cast. A wedding at high noon in one of Fifth Avenue’s most fashionable churches provides the climax of this comedy-drama. lam told, by the way, that under this new technicolour process it is possible to detect Mary Brian blushing!

A message from America states that Miss Heather Thatcher, who went to Hollywood some months ago, will shortly play a leading part in Mr Ivor Novello’s play, “The Truth Game,” possibly with Robert Montgomery, the most popular young leading man of the day, playing opposite her. “The Spirit of Notre Dame” will be produced as a full length feature picture, by Universal, and will be dedicated to the late Knute Rockne. Lew Ayres will be starred and E. Richard Schayer, story editor for Universal, will write the piece in collaboration with Dale Van Every, who is on route to South Bend to get local colour for the film. Norma Shearer’s next film for M.G.M. may be “Smilin’ Through,” the period play in which Gertrude Elliott played here some years ago. She has completed “Private Lives,” the phenomenally successful Noel Coward play, with Robert Montgomery, Reginald Denny and Una Merkel in the cast. ' i 8.1. P. has completed an original screen play, directed by Milton Rosmer, with Betty Amann (that interesting English girl who appeared in the German film “The White Devil” as Saira, the dancer), Athine Seyler (one of England’s foremost comediennes, who makes her film debut), and Moira Lynd in the chief roles. “Beauty Secrets from Hollywood” is a series of short subjects produced in Technicolour by Robert E. Welsh, and to be distributed by Paramount. The series will show the methods employed by famous stars to embellish their natural charms, it is stated. Natalie Kalmus, colour director of the Technicolour Corporation, assisted in making the series. Those people who saw the British film, “City of Song,” recognize in Betty Stockfield the most distinguished actress the Brit, ish screen has given us. She has beauty, with a touch of the manner described as “county,” but it explains her distinction. She has a sense of poise, and the graces that go with it, that is rare on the talking screen. Her latest film has a Rivieran setting, “Captivation,” with Conway Tearle as the hero. Victor Saville, the English director, has made an enviable reputation over “Sunshine Susie,” the musical film made at the Gainsborough studios. The chief woman’s part is played by Fraulein Renate Muller, whose Continental reputation was practically unknown in England, and she is now “the talk of the town.” Jack Hulbert, Owen Nares and Morris Harvey are also in the cast. Arthur IVontner, the distinguished British actor who gave a memorable portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in “The Sleeping Cardinal,” is the principal player in the Gaumont British Productions’ film, “A Gentleman of Paris”—in the role of a judge who in his spare time is a woeful philanderer, and who, in this course of his magisterial duties has to try for murder a woman whom he had led on the downward path. Phyllis Konstam (who gave a good account of herself in “The Skin Game”), Sybil Thorndike and Wanda Greville are also in the .cast. Sinclair Hill is the director.