The Moving Row Of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19302, 1 October 1932, Page 12

The Moving Row Of Magic Shadow Shapes

An independent Hollywood producer is to film the W. T. Stead novel, “If Christ Came to Chicago.”

The life story of Florenz Ziegfeld is to be put on the screen by Columbia in “The Great Glorifier.” Many of the beauties he “glorified” are to appear in the picture.

Dorothy Hale, a Pittsburg society girl who has been in turn chorus girl, art student, sculptress and manager of an art gallery, is to appear in “Cynara,” with Ronald Colman. She has been put on a long-term contract by Samuel Goldwyn.

Sylvia Sidney has ended her fortnight's vacation in New York and returned to Hollywood to begin preparations for her role of the love-torn Japanese girl in the film version of “Madame Butterfly,” soon to go into production at the Paramount studios under the direction of Marion Gering.

How Eve in the shapely form of Margot Grahame is responsible for the shooting-up of two rival gangs in the bootlegging underworud is hilariously told in “Innocents of Chicago.” Margot Grahame and Henry Kendall are supported by a strong cast including Bernard Nedell and Binnie Barnes.

Dorothy Jordan and Charlie Ruggles have been signed by Charles R. Rogers to play roles in “Seventy Thousand Witnesses.” the football mystery film drama in which Phillips Holmes will appear in the leading part. This film is the first of eight pictures which Rogers is producing for Paramount. Miss Jordan was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In “High Pressure,” William Powell plays a seriocomic stock promoter, revealing a fine comedy talent in sharp contrast to his suave villainy. Beauty and comedy brains surround Mr Powell, who has for his leading women Evelyn Brent and Evalyn Knapp, with lovely Ruth Hall, Polly Walters, Geraldine Barten and Shirley Chambers in minor roles. Such comedy experts as George Sidney, Bobby Watson. Guy Kibbeo, Luis Alberni, Charles Judels and Harry Beresford also are in the cast. Mervyn Le Roy directed.

A cosmopolitan cast appears with Greta Garbo in her latest starring vehicle, “As You Desire Me.” Miss Garbo, it hardly need be said, comes from Sweden. Erich Von Stroheim and Albert Conti hail from Austria. Owen Moore is an Irishman. Rafaela Ottiano and William Ricciardi are from Italy. Roland Varno was born in Holland. Warburton Gamble is from England and Melvyn Douglas and Hedda Hopper are Americans. Moreover, George Fitzmaurice, the director, was bom in Paris! “As You Desire Me” was adapted from the Luigi Pirandello stage success. Miss Garbo enacts the role of a Budapest cafe entertainer who masquerades as the wife an Italian nobleman.

“High Pressure,” William Powell’s second picture for Warner Bros., is hailed as a new departure for the popular star, an entirely different type of role which should win him many followers. For his last few appearances, Powell has played the part of a ladies’ man of giglo. Before that he specialized in playing Philo Vance, the famous detective, or other characters mixed up in under world doings. At all times he has been suave, debonair and polished. In “High Pressure,” however, he is reported to be a man of action, a fast talking, fast working super salesman, a sort of combination Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford and Raffles. He shifts from Wall Street, stock rooms to Park Avenue boudoirs without even changing his pace. Supporting Pow&l in this fast tempo drama are Evelyn Brent, who played opposite him in “Interference,” one of the first talkies; George Sidney, the popular comedian returning to the screen after a long absence; Guy Kibbee, Evalyn Knapp, Maurice Black, Bobby Watson, Frank McHugh, Polly Walters. Ben Alexander. John Wray and several others. Mervyn Leßoy, youthful director of “Little Caesar” and “Five Star Final." produced "High Pressure.” which augurs well for its entertainment value.

Ruth Chatterton’s first starring vehicle for First Rational Pictures is “The Rich Are Always W T ith Us.” Miss Chatterton is said to bring a new type of characterisation which differs from any previous role she has played on stage or screen. Her great knowledge of stage technique has been augmented by her screen experience to such a degree that “The Rich Are Always With Us” has been hailed as her greatest work to date. The story concerns one of the wealthiest women in the country, her marriege, subsequent loss of her husband to a debutante love pirate, and the ultimate happiness she finds with a handsome young author who had long been in love with her. The young author is portrayed by George Brent, a newcomer to the screen. The background of the story is one of the smartest and wealthiest against which the screen story has been set down. Gowns and settings are extremely elaborate and in the best of taste. The large cast also includes Bette Davis, who appears opposite George Arliss in “The Man who Played God,” Adrienne Dore, John Miljan, Mae Madison, John Wray, Robert Warwick. Virginia Hammond. WftlwCT Walker, and Murton Churchill.

It is quite likely that Roscoe Arbuckle, of Keystone comedy days, will return to the screen shortly.

Hollywood has only twenty-eight full-length films In production, half the number being made at this time last year. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have completed negotiations with Somerset Maughan for the screen rights of “The Painted Veil,” which will star Joan Crawford. The three leading roles in the next Ernst Lubitsch production, “Thieves and Lovers.” will be played by Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall. It has been announced by Paramount, following completion of negotiations by the company to borrow Miss Francis from Warner Brothers. Joan Crawford will next start work upon “Lost,” an original story by Edmund Gouling, which will be her next starring picture for Met ro- Goldwyn - j Mayer. Jackie Cooper, juvenile star, will have a part, and the picture will ! be directed by Clarence Brown. Jackie I Cooper is at present working in "Father j and Son.” I Revolving around the frantic strugj gle of two human souls to free themselves from the clutches of an inhuman j genius, “Almost Married” is reported i to be a spine-tingler from beginning to I end. It introduces Miss Violet Heming, star of the Broadway stage, in the I leading feminine role, with Ralph Bellamy and Alexander Kirkland sharing male honours. It was directed by William Cameron Menzies from Wallace Smith’s adaptation of Andrew Soutar's novel, “The Devil’s Triangle.” Victor McLaglen, star of ‘’While Paris Sleeps,” has what he calls a “Garden of Friendship” on his estate at Flintridge. Each of his friends contributes a plant, a bush or a tree to represent his or her friendship for the popular actor. The one most recently received by McLaglen is a raspberry bush. Although it was sent anonymously, McLaglen has replanted it. He

shows it to each of his guests, and scrutinizes each face carefully to see which one of them will reveal a flicker of recognition.. Fredric March. Gary Cooper, and Richard Arlen ill play the leading roles in Paramount's “Lives of a Bengal Lancer,” screen version of the best-selling novel by Francis YeatsBrown. The assignment of these three stars to roles in one picture is in pursurance of the recently-announced policy of forming casts of outstanding stellar talent for all of its feature films. With March, Cooper, and Arlen appearing together In a picture for the first time, “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” is elevated to the rank of first importance among Hollywood’s current production actvities.

Intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpses of New York and Paris society at play are given in “Lady With a Past,” the new Constance Bennett starring picture. The star plays a member of New York’s fashionable younger set in this R.KO. Pathe production and the action pictured includes exclusive affairs in the homes of blue-blooded millionaires, gay gatherings in the famous cafes of' Paris and a brilliant party in a nobleman's chateau on the Riviera. Intrigues and artifices which spice the ceaseless struggles for popularity and precedence in social circles are also exposed. David Manners and Ben Lyon play the masculine leads opposite Miss Bennett. His amazing facility for dual characterisations which made the talking version of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" one of the most thrilling of recent screen releases, stands Fredric March in good stead for his latest Paramount appearance, “Strangers in Love.” March, as himself and a twin brother, in a double personality part, is more genteel than in the spine-chiller, and has a great deal more business of pleasing romantic type. The story, adapted from the novel, “The Shorn Lamb,” relates in fast-moving and sharp-witted manner, of the regenera- | tlon of a “black sheep,” who gives up j t ramping over the world to come home j and claim his rightful inheritance and ja no mean share of romance. Kay 1 Francis, George Barbier, Juliette | Compton, Lucien Littlefield, and Stuart Erwin in another of his enjoyable comedy portrayals, round out the featured cast. Based on the play, “The Truth Game,” by Ivor Novello, Robert Montgomery’s new starring vehicle for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is “ —But the Flesh is Weak.” In this new production, Montgomery is said to combine all the laughs of “Private Lives,” the tender romance of “Lovers Courageous” and the humanness of “The Man in Possession,” and making it his very best effort for the talking screen. The cast is an exceptional one. Nora Gregor and Heather Thatcher, two newcomers to the talking screen, share the feminine leads, whilst C. Aubrey Smith, Nils Asther, Edward Eve ret , Horton and Frederick Kerr all have important roles. The story has an unusual twist with Montgomery and Smith, playing son and father, seeking rich ladies to marry. But in spite of their intentions, Montgomery falls in love with a poor girl, and decides to go to work. Further complications set in. however, which add considerably to the snlendid entertainment