The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18203, 2 March 1929, Page 15

The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Douglas Mac Lean has completed the silent version of “The Carnation Kid” for Paramount. He is also making a 100 per cent dialogue version of the picture. Frances Lee is the comedian’s leading lady, others in the cast being Larraine Eddy, Francis MacDonald and Charles Hill. “Black Eagles” is the title of a new George Bancroft picture, which is listed for early production at the Paramount studios in Hollywood. “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the star’s latest picture was only recently completed. The title of the next Emil Jannings’ production for Paramount is “A Tale of the Alps.” Gary Cooper, who is now completing work in “Wolf Song,” will have one of the leading roles, and the feminine lead will be played by Esther Ralston. “The Four Feathers,” Paramount’s' picturisation of the famous A. E. W. Mason novel, has been completed in its silent form at the Paramount studios in Hollywood. It will now be put into production as a 100 per cent, dialogue picture. The same artists will again appear, including Richard Arlen, Fay Wray, Noah Beery, Clive Brook, and William Powell. All of these players will be heard and seen in the synchronised version. Fay Wray, who has played the leading role in many Paramount productions lately, (notably “The Legion of the Condemned”), plays the part of the heroine in “The Wedding March.” Von Stroheim, the producer of the picture, himself portrays the character of the Austrian Prince, around whom the story centres.

Universal has just announced that “The Charlatan,” which as a Broadway play was produced by Adolph Klauber at the Times Square Theatre, will be made as a talking picture. The delicate and difficult work of cutting <T Show Boat” to release proportions iB progressing rapidly at Universal City. It is now down to fourteen reels and in that length it is regarded by all of the studio officials as the outstanding production of the year. Universal has purchased for the use of Reginald Denny a John Clymer original story under the title of “You’ve Got To Fight.” Will Chappel has been engaged tc write the adaptation and continuity of “The Great Microphone Murder,” one of Universal’s talking pictures for next season. Fox Films production “Red Wine” featuring June Collyer and Conrad Nagel is due for an early release in New Zealand. From the pen of Raymond Cannon, this production combines the ultimate of screen endeavour—simplicity and compelling interest. Conrad Nagel, as the husband who decides to relieve the montony oi domestic existence by slyly stepping out, and to his eventual sorrow, adds a delicious fnroial humour to the nted, but not offensive moral of the story. Janet Gaynor, whose rise to stardom has been acclaimed the most spectacular in the history of motion pictures, is a “quaker maid.” But, unlike quakers who are reputed to be staid and settled, Janet has roved the country over with her parents and has been schooled in every section of the United States. Her lastest production

is Fox Films “Street Angel,” a romance of sunny Italy which is to be screened at the Paramount Theatre shortly. Charles Farrell plays opposite Miss Gaynor. After a thorough preparation in Europe for an operatic career, Mary Duncan, who plays the siren in the Fox production “4 Devils” found that she could not get even minor roles in Vmerican opera but was offered many ipportunities to play on the stage, fired of breasting the current, she took a role in “The Shanghai Gesture” which led to a small part in the movies with Fox and stardom in less than a year.

“Ginsberg The Great” with George Jessel is a Warner Master Picture attraction. In the ca6t are Audrey Ferris, Gertrude Astor, Douglas Gerrard, Jack Santoro, Theodore Lerch, Jimmie Quinn and Stanley Sanford. “Ginsberg The Great,” details the astonishing adventures of a toilor’s apprentice who joins a carnival with the intention of winning fame and fortune. He is impressed as “Jo-Jo, the Dog-faced Boy,” “The Bearded Lady,” and sleight-of-hand trickster. He inadvertently witnesses a robbery, wins a reward, and in the end, the lady for whom his ambition flames. Alberta Vaughan, feminine lead in “The Romantic Age,” the Columbia drama in a jazz setting which is soon co be released in New Zealand wa* chosen for this role because of her suitability for the flapper interpretation. Miss Vaughan characterises modem youth, with its intriguing points emphasised, in this Columbia tale of a jazzy little maid who loves a man much Older than herself Eugene O’Brien plays the man.

In order to secure accuracy in the Foreign Legion sequences of “The Desert Bride,” Columbia Studios engaged Louis van den Ecker as technical adviser. Van den Ecker served with the French diplomatic service. When Marshal Foch toured th« United States a few years ago Van den Ecker was one of the Marshal’s aides. “The Desert Bride” presents a drama of adventure and intrigue in the city of Jebbel Abbas on the Arabian Desert. Neil Hamilton, the Paramount featured player, started life as a machine operator. He soon tired of that vocation, however, and became a clerk in a hardware store. From that position he migrated to pictures, and worked os an “extra” for Paramount in New York. After a short period, Hamilton found himself without employment, and he took a position as scene shifter in the stage production of “The Better ’Ole.” Later he was able to jbtain a small part as an actor with a travelling company, but even that did not last long, and he returned, disappointed, to commercial life. But the stage seemed to have an irresistible attraction for the actor, and when a leading role in a stock company was offered him, he jumped at the chance. Again, at the last moment, the role was taken from him. The turning point came when D. W. Griffith cast him as leading man in “The White Rose.” Since then Neil Hamilton has appeared in a long series of Paramount productions, notably, “The Street of Forgotten Men” and “Beau Geste.” His latest picture is “Three Week Ends” in which he plays the leading male role opposite CJlar^JJow.