COLUMBIA FILMS FOR 1940

Southland Times, Issue 23953, 20 October 1939, Page 4

COLUMBIA FILMS FOR 1940

STUDIO ANNOUNCES NEW TITLES FAMOUS DIRECTORS AND STARS More than ever today directors are counting in film production. In the case of Columbia Pictures, the name of Capra and that of the studio have been linked for many years in successively bigger pictures. For Columbia s 193940 season, details of which are announced by Mr B. Vinsen, manager for Columbia Pictures Propnetary, Limited, of New Zealand, Capra has been joined by a group of leading Hollywood directors. They include Frank Lloyd, Howard Hawks, Wesley Ruggles, Rouben Mamoulian, and Alexander Hall. The name of Frank Lloyd will always be associated with such pictures as “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “If I were King,” “Wells Fargo” and “Cavalcade.” Howard Hawks also has a niche of his own. He is an admitted master of aviation dramas, although in the coming season he is directing a HechtMcArthur comedy. Wesley Ruggles, who is supervising two pictures for Columbia this season, will be remembered for his vigorous and exciting “Cimarron.” Rouben Mamoulian, whose “Golden Boy” will shortly be showing in New Zealand, directed Garbo’s K Queen Christina, “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” and the Nino Martini musical, “The Gay Desperado.” Alexander Hall was responsible for the many bright touches in Columbia comedies such as “There’s Always, a Woman” and “Good Girls Go to Pans.” He is now directing light comedy and straight drama. , CAPRA’S NEW FILM

Frank Capra, three times Academy Award winner, director of “You Can’t Take It. With You,” “Mr Deeds Goes to Town,” and “Lost Horizon,” is once again making Columbia’s most important picture. Like the story of Mr Deeds,” “Mr Smith .Goes to Washington” is a simple, amusingly told tale of a homespun lad who is catapulted into the turmoil of a big city. In this instance it is Washington, the capital of the United States, and Mr Smith gets involved in all the intricacies of congressional politics. Once again Jean Arthur is the star, and James Stewart, who has become a very important person in Hollywood during the past year, is Mr Smith. It is adapted from the novel by Clarence Budington Kelland, and stars Jean Arthur, who will be remembered for her outstanding characterization as Calamity Jane in “The Plainsman.” Warren William is also in the cast of this outstanding production. A second Wesley Ruggles production will be announced shortly. Frank Lloyd is directing two pictures’ for Columbia’s 1939-40 programme, the first entitled “The Tree of Liberty.” This is a chronicle of the beginnings of American liberty, and was adapted from Elizabeth Page’s bestselling novel, a recent United States Literary Guild choice. Lloyd’s second production has not yet been announced. A Howard Hawks picture which promises to be bright and amusing is “His Girl Friday,” which stars Cary Grant and Irene 'Dunne, both of whom will be remembered for their clowning in “The Awful Truth.” Ralph Bellamy is also in the cast, and the original stage play written by Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur. Another Howard Hawks production is also scheduled. Wesley Ruggles, brilliant newcomer to the Columbia fold, has already begun production on “Arizona," a big technicolour outdoor drama. “Arizona” is a red-blooded story of America’s west, during the civil war. Rouben Mamoulian who made such a fine job of translating Clifford Odet’s “Golden Boy” to the screen will also be in charge of one or more important films.

Alexander Hall, who made a name for himself directing both Shirley Temple and Mae West, is one of Hollywood’s most versatile directors. “Good Girls go to Paris,” a Joan Blondell and Melvyn Douglas picture now showing in New Zealand, demonstrates what he can do with comedy. “Super Clipper,” one of the coming season’s special films, shows that he is equally at home in aviation drama. “Super Clipper,” inspired by the Pan American Airways remarkable trans-Pacific surveys, includes some of the greatest flying thrills yet brought to the screen. Hailed as the best Alexander Hall comedy yet made is “The Doctor Takes a Wife,” which again stars Joan Blondell and Melvyn Douglas. These two are providing one of the most popular comedy teams yet brought together. A FAMILY SERIES Cycles of family pictures are here to stay. One of the homeliest and most likeable families are the Bumsteads.of the Blondie series. Several “Blondie” pictures including “Blondie Meets the Boss,” and “Blondie Takes a Vacation,” have already been seen in New Zealand, and already the Bumsteads—Blondie herself, Dagwood, Baby Dumpling and Daisy the dog have been accepted as some of the most lovable people from Hollywood. “Blondie” pictures for 1939-40 are “Blondie Brings Up Baby, ’ and two others.

Many other special productions are featured for Columbia’s 1939-40 programme. Two that will specially interest crime fans are “Lone Wolf” productions starring elegant Warren William. Millions who have read and enjoyed the Louis Joseph Vance novels will agree that Warren William fits the Lone Wolf character down to the last finger-print. Another interesting series features Edith Fellows, the brilliant child actress. This is known as the “Five Little Peppers” series, and the first is “Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.” They are all in the light vein suggested by the title. Still one of the most popular comedians on the screen is the wide-mouthed Joe E. Brown, who is making two comedies for Columbia this season. Other specials which Columbia have in hand are “Men In Sing-Sing,” a story of America’s grim prison fortress on the Hudson; “I Married Adventure,” another jungle story by Mrs Martin Johnson, widow of the famous explorer; “American at Scotland Yard,” an unusual story of a New York detective transplanted to London; “Scandal Sheet,” heralded as one of the biggest newspaper stories yet produced; and “Prison Surgeon,” starring Walter Connolly, who gave such a fine performance in “Good Girls Go To Paris.” FURTHER PRODUCTIONS Further big Columbia productions will probably be chosen from among the mass of story material in the studio files. “Literary Properties” on Columbia’s shelves include “The Life of Alfred Nobel” by Peter Freuchen; “Chopin” by Sidney Buchman; three Saturday Evening Post stories by Clarence Budington Kelland, who wrote, “Mr Deeds” and “Arizona,” “The Stars Shine Twice,” a quick-witted sophisticated story by Clare Boothe, author of “The Women,” and “Valley Forge,” famous Theatre Guild play by Maxwell Anderson.

One of the most virile and popular

western stars on the screen today is the rugged Jack Holt. Columbia will release four Jack Holt productions during the coming year. Two other western stars who will be popular with youngsters are Charles Starrett and Bill Elliott, both of whom are making several pictures. Columbia’s serials this coming year promise to be more interesting than ever. First comes the serialization of one of Edgar Wallace’s most exciting stories, “The Green Archer,” and then “The Shadow.” “Terry and the Pirates” and “Deadwood Dick” are other ; titles for new serials. I

Finally special mention should be made of Columbia’s arrangement with Denham Studios, England, whereby a limited number of pictures made in Denham by Columbia are released throughout New Zealand. The first of these, “Clouds Over Europe,” has just had its New Zealand premiere, and is already proving an outstanding success. If arrangements with Denham are not upset by the war, the coming season will see a further quota of British productions released here, including “The Spy In Black,” featuring Valerie Hobson and Conrad Veidt, and “Ten Days In Paris.” A remarkable French film which Colombia recently brought to New Zealand is Duviviet’s “Un Carnet de Bal” (retitled “Life Dances On”), and further outstanding Continental pictures will probably come here during the coming season.