The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18459, 28 December 1929, Page 13

The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

OMAR KHAYAM

t_ ~ra 39"‘s fourth all-talking Parameunt picture has been titleu “Station : 5.E.X.,” but it remains to be seen if the na:ne will stay. The production has been in preparations for several weeks, rnd Liming will start this month. Rowland V. Lee will have charge of direction. Laura La Plante has completed her role of “The Torch” in the super-pro-duction which Paul Fejos is making of “La Marseilles” with John Boles. Her next picture will be the Rita Weiman story, “The Poor Sport,” which will be released under the title, “The WeekEnd Girl.” Paramount’s “talkie” version of Peter B. Kyne's famous story, “Cappy Ricks,” will go into production next month at the Hollywood studios. Richard Arlen, who is at present working on “The Lost God,” his first starring picture, will play the star role. With the start of the winter theatrical season, many stage players are turning back to the footlights—not permanently in the majority of cases—taking advantage of a lull in studio production, announces a Hollywood dispatch. Pauline Frederick at the conclusion of her San Francisco engagement in “The Queen Was in the Parlour” will take the play to Chicago. “White Cargo,” made into on English talk film, has proved on the whole to be a creditable translation from stage to screen, writes an English critic. The film, in any case, has an especial and pathetic interest in that the principal role is played by the late Mr Leslie Faber, whose last work this was. Mr Maurice Evans is admirable as the confident boy out from home who is sure he can do what no other of his predecessors could in retaining his energy and self-respect in the stewing African plantation that has ruined so many. There are moments in the picture when dramatic excellence is achieved, and the grim, sordid story takes on meaning because of its versimilitude. At othe rtimes, chiefly from an occasional inability to apply the action to screen technique, “White Cargo” is less successful, while now and then some of the ever-excellent voices of the cast are not quite adequately recorded. Dorothy Burgess has gone through a deepening transformation of colour in her acting career. She started in Hollywood with a stage performance as the amber-hued gipsy in “The Squall”; grew darker as the Mexican charmer in the talking film “In Old Arizona,” and now has achieved the logical climax by playing, on leave of absence from Fox Films, the ebony siren in a Western production ’of “Lulu Bsele.” Miss Burgess will have to ease herself back to the paleface status by playing Indian or Chinese roles, or theatre-goers will not recognise her if she comes out suddenly as one pf the white race. According to a message from United Artists, Mr S&muel Goldwyn, the wellknown producer, will re-unite Ronald Colman and Miss Vilma Banky for a talking picture after Mr Colman completes “Condemned.” One of the recent masterpieces of the Irish theatre, "Juno and the Paycock,” has started as a “talkie” at Elstree. Miss Sarah Allgood and Edward Chapman, the latter a newcomer to films, have the leads, with Miss Maire O’Neill, Sydney Morgan, John Longden, and Donald Calthrop in prominent roles. Alfred Hitchcock recently visited Dublin with a view to obtaining local colour, and took his cameraman, Jack Cox, with him. Most appropriately, “All Quiet on the Western Front” commenced production at the Universal studios at eleven o'clock on Armistice Day. Carl Laemmle has so informed Erich Maria Remarque. The announcement of the cast so far does not indicate the presence of any woman or any love interest, although Maxwell Anderson's

work of adaption of the story has not been made public. The cast so far includes John Wray as Paul, William Bake well, who will play Muller. Ben Alexander, who has the role of Kemmerich, Walter Brown Roger*, who plays Behm, and Owen Davis, Jr., as Tjaden. "Blackmail,” the much-di;cussed British picture—a full talkie—has been passed by the New Zealand censor. A product of British Internationl Studios, Elstree, “Blackmail” is the first fulllength British talkie. Moreover, it is claimed to be one of th£ best yet made in any country. When it arrived in Australia it was banned by the Commonwealth censor because of the nature of a key scene, but the Board of Appeal removed the barrier. “Blackmail” includes in its cast Cyril Pochard, the Australian, Sara Allgood, the wellknown actress, John Longden, Anny Giidra, a Continental star who plays the principal part, and Donald Calthrop. Features of the petroleum refining industry are pictured in an educational four-reeler, “Refining the Crude,” recently .completed under the supervision of the United States Bureau of Mines. The scenes show general views of a big modern oil refinery which might almost be described as a city within itself. The intricate processes by which the crude oil is converted into the numerous products used ’by men are shown both by views of the actual refining processes and by use of animated drawings. Not the least of the changes in the present-day cinema is the better appearance of the screen villain No longer is he a tough-looking individual with wickedness stamped all over his rugged features. There is, for example, that young Mexican, Ernesto Gilliam, who was hailed as a second Valentino and rechristened Donald Reed. Reed was given two important roles, one opposite Colleen Moore, and other with Billie Dove. To-day he is building up a new reputation as a villain. He played in “Evangeline,” following it with “Little Johnny Jones” and “Show Girl” with Alice White. Other such cases can be cited in Edmund Lowe, Edmund Burns, Jason Robards, Raymond Hackett and Sidney Blackmer, all of whom were leading men, but figure at present as “menace” in some motion picture. "Madame X,” coming to Timaru shortly, is an all-talking filmisation of the famous stage play. The play has been translated to the screen in a manner that keeps intact every bit of its original dramatic power, and to this are added gorgeous scenes showing many parts of the world, and settings of course impossible on a stage. Ruth Chatterton, as the ill-fated heroine of the story, rises to superb dramatic heights, especially in the opening plea to the wronged husband to see her child, and in the great courtroom sequence that brings the * dramatic climax of the play. Lewis Stone, as the husband, plays the role of the austere lawyer with a fine restraint, and Raymond Hackett, who scored in “The Trial of Mary Dugan,” reaps another triumph as the son and defence attorney. Holmes Herbert as “Noel,” the friend, Mitchell Lewis as the villainous Canby, Carroll Nye as the young naval officer, and Ullric Haupt, Sidney Toler and Richard Carle, as the trio of blackmailers, are all adequately cast. Eugenie Besserer is delightful as the old nurse, ’’Rose.” She and Miss Chatterton both very adroitly perform a rather difficult trick—that of changing ages in several sequences by means of make-up and acting.

Maurice Chevalier’s latest picture, j The Love Parade,” was privately prej viewed recently in New York. Intro- | duced to American audiences in “Inno--1 cents of Paris,” Chevalier is destined to score again in “The Love Parade” according to predictions. Supporting Chevalier are Jeanette MacDonald, stage prima donna; Jupino Lane, acrobatic comedian, and Lillian Roth, late featured singer and dancer of Earl Carroll’s “Vanities.” “She Goes the Limit,” previously known as “She Goes to War,” a sound synchronised United Artists picture, reveals for the first time the most authentic picture of woman’s side of the war. Heretofore pictures have shown only man's side of the great conflict. but this dramatic romance reveals the workings of the power that upheld man’s courage, shouldered guns with him and inspired him when he was wounded *and weary. Woman comes into her own in a magnificent portrayal of feminine heroism. Cast solely because of their fitness for the different roles, the players in this epic film give performances that will ever be remembered. Eleanor Boardman, John Holland, A 1 St. John and Edmund Burns head the talented company. Erich von Stroheim has left directing behind him for a time and is acting in “The Great Gabbo,” directed by James Cruze. This unique personality. Von Stroheim, has been one of the high lights in picture for a decade, and all that time directing and acting in the pictures he directed, beginning with “Blind Husbands,” which was a fine picture for its time. Sidney Franklin, who directed tht screen version of “The Last of Mrs. Cheyney,” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s starring vehicle for Miss Norma Shearer, selected a wholly British cast, headed by Miss Norma Shearer. Basil Rathbone, George Barraud and Herbert Eunston. Miss Shearer was born on August 10. 1904, in Montreal. Canada. Basil Rathbone, who plays the romantic male lead opposite Miss Shearer, was born in' Johannesburg, South Africa. George Barraud, who has also one of the important roles, claims London as his birthplace. George K. Arthur, Moon Carrol, Herbert Bunston. Cyril Chadwick, and Miss Maude Turner were also born in England. According to the London ‘Daily Telegraph,” the problem of “Where do old French films go?” has been settled with the discovery in Paris of a second-hand film market. It is a place where it is possible to buy old films at 10 francs the meter. They are bought by travelling showmen, and the managers of cinemas in out-of-the-way places. A complete picture play, a short one, it is true, can be had for about six francs, while more ambitious pieces, such as “L’Homme a la Rolls-Royce,” which has a roll of film entending to 1.200 metres, can be bought for about 12 francs. The speeches of players in talking pictures are far more polished than those of stage actors. Florence Eldridge, an actress with 10 years’ stage experience, pays this tribute to sound motion pictures:—“lt is a matter of concentration,” Miss Eldridge says. “The film story is photographed and recorded a scene at a time. Each scene is rehearsed many times before the final recording is made. It is obvious that in this method of procedure the player can give more attention to each individual speech than can the stage player, who must remember the lines of an entire play. The microphone, which seems to exaggerate faults in speech, acts as a spur to the screen player to perfect his lines.” Florence Eldridge has left the stage for the talking screen. Her latest role is in “The Green Murder case,” in which she plays the part of Silbella Green, one of the members of the ill-fated Green household. William Powell again plays the part of Philo Vance, the sauve detective, the character which he created in “The Canary Murder Case.” Jean Arthur, Eurgene Palette and E. H. Calvert all of whom appeared in the previous Van Dine story, “The Canary Murder Case,” and a cost of 14 experienced actors, have important roles.