The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19308, 8 October 1932, Page 16

The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Constance Bennett is planning a holiday in Europe on the completion of her current production, “Rockabye.”

Warner Baxter will have the principal role in “Six Hours to Live,” a Fox production adapted for the screen from the story “Auf Wiedersehen." John Boles has been selected for a feature role. Philip Holmes. Walter Huston. Anita Page, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt j head the impressive cast of “Night i Court,” a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pic- j ture. Huston plays the unscrupulous ] jurist who presents a respectable side | to the public, but shows quite another 1 j to his nefarious associates. Leslie Howard, well-known stage ( actor, who has come to Hollywood ti play one of the featured roles with Norma Shearer in “Smilin' Through,” is spending his first days at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio experimenting with make-ups. In the picture he will portray the various ages of a man from early youth to feeble old age. Dorothy Jordan, one of the screen’s most prominent ingenues, has been engaged by Columbia Pictures for the feminine lead opposite Richard Cromwell in "That’s My Boy.” The picture stresses the temptations and tribulations which befall a. national girdiron hero, as seen through the eyes of his mother apd childhood sweetheart. Mae Marsh plays the mother. I Hereafter Boris Karloff. Universal's distinctive character star, will be I known o:i the screen only as “Karloff.” j The man whose monstrous character in “Frankenstein” has won stardom after a long hard fight up the ladder of fame in Hollywood, will begin work on either “Cagliostro” cr “Robinson Crusoe” shortly after his latest picture. “The Old Dark House,” is realised. Helen Hayes will be starred in “The White Sister.” according to an announcement from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. This is the play and novel by F. Marion Crawford which was made as a silent film in 1923 under the direction of Henry King, with Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman I heading the cast. No supporting cast i or director have been assigned as yet I for the new film. Kay Francis's innumerable fans believe in her fervently not only as an actress, but even, it appears, as a politician. Miss Francis was born in Oklahoma. and not long ago a group of associated “Gay Francis Fan Clubs,” with headquarters in Oklahoma City, wrote to the star pledging themselves I to work for her nomination and eleci tion to Congress from her native State. A thrilling climax played in a whirling New England blizzard tops j the plot of ’’Rebecca Of Sunnybrook i Farm,” special version of the great | romance fresh from the Fox studio. ! Marian Nixon as the lovable Rebecca. | and Ralph Bellamy as romantic Dr. j Ladd, portray the leading roles in a j cast that also includes Mae Marsh, i Louise Hale and scores of others. Al- ! fred Santell directed. Some fascinating sets are being designed and built by Holmes Paul, art director, for the new Paramount British picture. “Insult.” These will include a Moorish street market with all its romance and colour, an exotic cafe set in the heart of Northern Africa, an old desert fortress, a governor's house and desert scenery. Real Africian carpets and furniture will be obtained for this picture and the plaster shop is busy working overtime reproducing the intricate mural patterns of the Moorish interiors. A powerful American drama of cir- i cumstances which turned the home of ' a happily married young couple into I a bedlam cf tragedy is told in “Night j Court,” a Metro Goldwyn Mayer picture. The dramatic material on which the plot is based leaves room for a wide j variety of powerful episodes, such as j the vivid sequence in which the “stool pigeon” forces his entry into the girl’s room in order to "frame” her; the gruelling persecution of the taxi driver when he attempts to interfere with court injustice, and the exciting inI cide.its which entail the crooked j judge’s ultimate downfall. | The adventures that befall an ! asinine young Englishman, Lloyd, who j on h's arrival in Chicago to take over ! the Universal Milk Co. Inc., falls into the none too gentle hands of rival gangsters is humorously dealt with in the hilarious burlesque, “Innocents of Chicago.” Oblivious to his danger he jellies the toughs who have been detailed to “take him for a ride.” and gently remonstrates with them when they are arguing as to who shall “bump him off.” The police arrive much to Lloyd's puzzlement, who hustles the gangsters back into their cars to attend his board meeting. Continued efforts to do away with Lloyd fa fi- Henry Kendall, the popular ‘perfect chump” and one of the Innocents of Chicago.” outwits the gangsters and gets away with ten thousand of the best—aided and abetted by a little newspaper reporter played by Betty Norton. The cast of this unique 8.1. P. offering also contains Bernard Nedell who gives an intimate portrait of a real-life gangster.

“His Royal Highness,” the Efftee musical comedy, starring the favourite Australian comedian George Wallace, and shortly to be released by Universal Pictures in New Zealand, was shown at the Prince Edward Theatre. Sydney, recently, and proved to be an immediate success. George Wallace is the life and soul of the entertainment. Always on the best of terms with his audience he sings and dances, and I generally carries the film to success. I He is (as we know from his revue work I in New Zealand) a natural comedian, j and the laughter cf the huge audience ! at the premiere at the Prince Edward j was so incessant that much of the dia- | logue could not be heard, a sure indlj cation that the picture is a success. | That the n'ght of a thousand eyes, i also has as many voices, is clearly revealed in “While Paris Sleeps,” Fox | drama of the Parisian underworld featuring Victor McLaglen. To catch ' the “night sounds" of Paris, which in- \ eludes the musical language of its natives and the fascinating rhythms of the dance halls in Montmartre, sound trucks and technicians accompanied the Fox cameramen who visited the gay capital to film many of the scenes shown in the picture. Helen Mack, young Fox debutante star, and William Bakewell. young screen juvenile, portray the romantic leads in the tender love story that motivates this stirring drama of a devoted father's sacrifice. 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. Eric Von Stroheim and Albert Conti hail frem 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 born 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 of an Italian ncbleman. Herbert Mundin, of London, one of the most popular comedians on the screen has been in Hollywood for six months and has made as many pictures. He was the taxicab driver in “The Silent Witness” and the butler in “The Trial of Vivienne Ware.” He played eight command performances I for King George and Queen Mary, which is something of a record. The Prince of Wales has applauded his performances dozens of times. Mundin is now appearing as AdMphe Menjou's ! butler in Alfred Werker's picture for j Fcx Films. “Bachelor's Affairs.” He | is said to more than hold his place in j the face of steep competition for act- | ing honours furnished by Menjou, Minna Gombell, Joan Marsh and Allan j Dinehart. i Halliwell Hobbes, born in Stratford- ] on-Avon, did the only logical thing—* jhe became an actor. He commenced j his stage career in Glasgow 34 years ago. and except for five years in the British army during the war, continued his thespian progress abroad until 1923, when he came to New York and repeated his success there. Three years ago he hearkened to the call of the films, and made his first screen appearance with the late Jeanne Eagles in "Jealousy." Since then he has scored in many pictures with his clever portrayals, the latest being that of Joan Bennett’s ex-butler. ! guide, counsellor, friend and employer | in her new Fox Films vehicle, “Week | Ends Only.” Ben Lyon has the male j lead in this comedy-romance. The supporting cast includes John Hallidav • John Arledge and Berton Churchill j and the production is said to be one of j the most entertaining pictures of the season. Alan Crosland directed | "Week Ends Only” from the novel by Warner Fabian. "Beauty and the Boss." * a radiant | romance, spicy and snappy, with pretty girls and gay comedy, with a cast headed by charming Marian Marsh, debonair Warren William and laughprovoking Charles Butterworth. It is said the story could not be better suited to Miss Marsh's winsome manner and captivating personality. Her role is that of a little secretarial | drudge who forgets her note-pads for j night clubs and, in short, gets her j man—who is none other than a baron, and her boss as well. Gay scenes of Paris night life add to the zest of the picture. Peeps into mi-lady’s boudoir add to the general sauciness, while the scenes are handled with a masterly finesse. The story, beautifully environed. is set in Paris and Vienna. The theme is a modern version of i the Cinderella romance, the story of a > poverty-stricken girl, outwardly of the bashful type, who wins her way to a I job as the baron’s secretary, and who, finally, with the aid of nice clothes, transforms herself to such an extent that she steals the baron from his other loves. An exceptionally fine cast gives a grand and amusing interpretation of the story and its people. In addition to the featured principals already mentioned, fine performances are turned in by David Manners. Charles Butterworth. Frederick Kerr. 1 Mary Doran. Lillian Bond. Yola ( D’Avril., Robert Greig and Barbara Leonard.