The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18518, 15 March 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Ramon Novarro, whose first dialogue picture “Devil May Care,” is due for early release, and who has just completed his second talking picture, “The House of Troy,” will begin talking and singing at once in “The Singer of Seville,” under the direction of Charles Brabin, for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Reginald Denny has been signed for the chief male role in Cecil B. de Mille’s new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, “Madame Satan.” Roland Young is the only other player so far chosen to appear in the new production, which is announced as a novel type of comedy story with a musical setting.

Mitchell Lewis has been engaged by Radio Pictures to play a deaf and dumb character in Rod La Rocque’s

Lewis will be the first actor since the “movies” went “talkie” who has not had to worry about memorising dialogue lines. His portrayal will be confined to the pantomime of the silent

Miss Winnie Lightner, Miss Sally O'Neil. Miss Marion Byron, and Miss Dorothy Revier will play the principal feminine roles in Warner Bros.’ screen version of the musical comedy hit, “Hold Everything.” The film will be made entirely in colour.

Berthhold Viertel, noted European director who scored in his first American directorial effort, “The One Woman Idea,” and again in the all-talking Fox Movietone production, “Seven Faces,” starring Paul Muni, has received another important assignment. Viertel will direct “A Very Practical Joke,” a dramatic story from the pen of Ben Ames Williams.

The British International picture, “Atlantic,” of which much has been heard, will be released shortly. The featured roles are played by John Stuart, Miss Madeline Carroll, Monty Banks, Ffanklyn Dyall, Miss Ellaline Terris, and John Longden.

Since he scored his initial screen success in “Behind That Curtain,” Gilbert Emery, whose next appearance will be in “The Sky Hawk,” has been given credit for being an English actor. As a matter of fact, Emery was born in Naples, New York, and is an Ammherst graduate, but has lived abroad for many years, acquiring a “perfect” English accent.

Hoot Gibson portrays a college youth and tenderfoot with a wild west show in “Courtin’ Wildcats,” highspeed Universal talking picture. Hoot, who has had considerable experience driving in auto races, performs some hair-raising stunts at the wheel of a racing roadster, Eugenia Gilbert has the role of the leading lady, and the notable cast includes Harry Todd, Joseph Girard, Monty Montague, John Oscar, Jim Corey, James Farley, Pete Morrison, and Joe Bonomo.

Miss Greta Garbo, who has just finished her first talking picture, “Anna Christie,” will begin work soon on her second all-dialogue feature “Romance,” under Clarence Brown’s direction. Brown also directed Miss Garbo in “Anna Christie,” and many of her silent starring vehicles. “Romance” is the well-known stage play by Edward Sheldon and was recently purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Production has started on “The Benson Murder Case,” Paramount’s screen version of the last of Van Done’s mysteries, starring William Powell. John Cromwell is directing. Miss Fay Wray plays the feminine lead and Clive Brook is prominently cast. The principal supporting roles are played by Eugene Pallette, E. H. Calvert, Neil Hamilton, and Louis John Bartels.

Miss Jean Arthur, popular screen leading lady, has been assigned to the feminine lead in “The Benson Murder Case,” William Powell’s next starring picture for Paramount. Miss Arthur replaces Miss Fay Wray, who was assigned to another production. Others

in the cast are Clive Brook, Eugene Pallette, E. H. Clavert and Neil Hamilton. Louis 'Gaznier is directing.

Lew Collins, who directed "Under the Southern Cross,” unique story of Maori life, for Universal, has been chosen to direct Miss Mary Nolan in “Carnival.” “Carnival,” which was produced at the Forrest Theatre, New York, in 1929, will be screened as a spectacular dialogue production by Universal. The story concerns the romance of a carnival dancer.

Paramount's new all-talking romance, “The River Inn,” which was adapted from an original Ben Hecht story, has been retitled, “Roadhouse Nights.” Miss Helen Morgan and Charles Ruggles are featured in the production. “Roadhouse Nights” was completed recently under the direction of Hobart Henley. The story deals with the activities of newspaper reporters on the trail of a rum-running organisation.

Paramount has completed production on “Sarah and Son.” Miss Ruth Chatterton’s latest starring film. The picture was adapted from the famous mo-ther-love story by Timothy Shea. Due to the unusually strong feminine appeal of the story, it was produced entirely under the supervision of women. Miss Dokothy Arzner, Paramount’s only woman director, wielded the megaphone, Miss Zoe Akins wrote the screen story, and Miss Verna Willis cut and edited file finished picture.

Numerous thrills are promised In “The Sky Hawk,” a Fox Movietone film of wartime aviation. Spectacular scenes of London during the Zeppelin raids, a British training aerodrome in full blast, and a breath taking climax in which a Zeppelin is shot down in flames are interwoven. John Garrick, known better here as Reginald Dandy, Miss Helen Chandler and Gilbert Emery head the cast and the film was directed by John G. Blystone.

Miss Catherine Dale Owen, a prominent Broadway stage actress, who played the feminine lead in “His Glorious Night” and “The Rogue's Song” at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, has now been cast for the principal feminine role in the forthcoming talking picture adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s “The Circle.” Other players so far selected for this film, which David Burton will direct, include Lewis Stone, Alison Skipworth, Ernest Torrence, Tyril Davis, and Miss Mary Forbes.

The interesting evolution of women’s fashions is presented in “Sarah and Son,” Paramount's talking picture version of Timothy Shea’s novel, starring Miss Ruth Chatterton. The first sequence of the picture is laid in 1914, and the final action takes place in 1929. Fredric March plays opposite the star and others in the cast are Fuller Melish, jnr., Miss Doris Lloyd and William Stack. Miss Dorothy Arzner directed the picture.

In “Honey,” Paramount's new musical romance, Miss Nancy Carroll will speak, for the first time, in the broad Irish brogue of her County Claire ancestors. “Honey” was adapted from the stage comedy success, “Come Out of the Kitchen,” and set to music for production as a musical comedy. Stanley Smith, Miss Lillian Roth, Skeets Gallagher and Harry Green are included in the supporting cast. Frank Tuttle is in charge of the direction.

The making of pictures in technicolour, which requires three times the lighting facilities needed for black and white pictures, has presented a new problem to studio engineers in Hollywood. Techrilcolour has increased the number of lights on each set, and the problem of ventilating is one that has kept the studio experts figuring for many weeks. Studios where pictures are being produced in technicolour are almost like furnaces, and the lot of pictures stars under these conditions is not enviable. Franz Lehar, who wrote "The Merry Widow,” and is one of Europe's most distinguished composers, has contracted to compose the score of Miss Gloria Swanson's next talking and singing film, an all-colour operetta entitled “Queen Kelly.” The composer had refused all previous offers from Ameri-

I can companies. Lehar is already at ! work on the musical score in Berlin and will not go to Hollywood. When j Miss Swanson’s voice was broadcast from London last year, she was heard by Franz Lehar in Berlin. His oper- | etta will be composed with that voice j chiefly in mind.

John Murray Anderson announces from Universal City that John Boles will contribute two big number to Paul Whiteman’c production of “The King of Jazz,” which is now in the midst of production.

Reginald Denny has been signed for the chief male role in Cecil B. De Mille’s new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, “Madame Satan.” Roland Young is the only other player so far chosen to appear in the new production, which is announced as a novel type of comedy story with a musical setting.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has signed Martin Fravin to prepare screen adaptations and treatments, as well as write dialogue for new photoplays. Flavin Is the author of the current Broadway successes, “The Criminal Code” and “Broken Dishes.” His other plays Include “Crossroads,” “Lady of the Rose,” and “Service for Two.”

“The Big House” a story of prison life will be a Metro-Goldwn-Mayer featured production to go into pro- | duction to go into production shortly. Wallace Beery will have the leading role in the new film, and George Hill, who has been prominent for his work on adventurous and melodramatic stories, will handle the direction. “The Big House” is an original story by Frances Marion. May Boley, famous vaudeville and musical comedy star has been chosen j by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to play the role of Fannie Kaye, the jazz queen in “The Song Writer,” epic of Tin Pan Alley, which Marshall Neilan will direct with Lawrence Gray and Merna Kennedy in the principal roles. Mise Boley will play the chief eccentric comedy character in the new picture, a vivid tale of a song composer and a millionaire’s daughter, with song hits, song writing and spectacular revue details as a background for the dramatic action. George Grossmith, noted English actor and writer, the fourth of his family to gain fame on the London theatre, has been engaged by Fox Films to work on the screen adaptation and dialogue of “The Dollar Princess,” the drama of melody which Alexander Korda will direct. Melville Baker, who wrote the screen version of “The Swan,” is also working on the story. J. Harold Murray, who has played the leads in “Married in Hollywood" and "Cameo Kirby,” and who before then starred on Broadway in “Rio Rita,” will have the principal role in Leo Fall’s famous song play. Miss Marjorie White and El Brendel are the only other players who have been given places in the cast to date. Children in the neighbourhood of Universal City had the time of their lives during the filming of Hoot Gibson’s thrilling talking picture, “Courtin’ Wildcats.” A circus set was erected on the studio grounds, and visiting children enjoyed free lemonade and lollypops. Charming Eugenia Gilbert plays opposite Gibson in the picture, which was directed by Jerome Storm. The film is based on a Saturday Evening Post story by William Dudley Pelley.

A special perambulator sound-proof camera booth operating on inclined tracks was built for unusual angle panoramic shots in the filming of “One Hysterical Night,” Universal’s all talking picture starring Reginald Denny. The device was perfected by Director William James Craft and constructed at a cost of 5000 dollars. The booth is run on the inclined tracks and can be turned in all directions. It is operated by a crew of helpers, two of whom stop, start and steer it by mechanism. The idea of the perambulator booth was first put into operation by Craft during the filming of “Embarrassing Moments,” in which Denny was starred, and was fully developed for “One Hysterical Night.”

Miss Joan March, blonde, blue-eyed, and 15 years of age, whose features are said to be a composite of those of three of the most beautiful screen stars, has

been signed to a Universal contract by Carl Laemmle, Jr., general manager, following a test made by Tom Reed. Miss Marsh, the daughter of Mrs. Lolita Rosher, of Hollywood, was in pictures from the tender age of 9 months until she was eight, when she was taken out of the work for her education. She appeared in “Daddy Long Legs” and “Pollyanna” with Mary Pickford. “The Young Mrs. Winthrope,” with Ethel Clayton, and other pictures with Charles Chaplin, Zasu Pitts, Wesley Barry and Lila Lee. Now, at 15, she is back again with stardom as her goal.

Members of the cast of “The Last Performance," Universal’s dramatic talking photoplay, gained several days of stage experience while working on the picture. Much of the action takes place on the stage of a crowded vaudeville theatre and for nearly a week the players had to perform behind the

footlights with an audience of extras looking on. Dr. Paul Fejos, the director, was formerly a director on the European stage and he put the players through regular stage procedure in these scenes. The unusual photoplay is based on the mysterious murder of a magician’s assistant during the performance of a sword trick. Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin are co-starred with Leslie Fenton, Fred McKay e, Gustav Partos, William H. Turner, Anders Randolf. San De Grasse and George Irving in the supporting cast. Carl Laemmle, Jr., supervised the production. which is from an original screen story by James Ashmore Creel-