The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19314, 15 October 1932, Page 12

The Moving Row of Magic Shadow Shapes

Constance Bennett will have Phillips Holmes as her leading man in “Rock-a-by.” Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery will be co-starred in “Tinfoil,” an original story for the screen. Francis X. Bushman, formerly a “silent” star in Hollwyood, is now in England. He played one of the leads in “Watch Beverley.” Antonio Moreno, film star of other days, has obtained a divorce from Dorothy Canfield Danziger, after a marriage lasting 12 years. The powers-that-be who are producing “Cynara,” in which Ronald Colman and the English girl Phyllis Barry are starring, have decided to change its name. It will be known as “I Have Been Faithful.” “Party,” a new' play by Ivor Novello. w'hich was produced in May at the Strand Theatre. London, and is one of the leading attractions of the British capital, has been acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for screen translation. Lewis Stone has signed a new longterm contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. according to an announcement from Hollyw'ood. Stone, one of the busiest actors in the motion picture field, has appeared recently in “Unashamed,” “New Morals for Old.” and “Grand Hotel.” He is now' working in “Father and Sons,” Jackie Cooper’s latest starring film. The adventures that befall an asinine young Englishman, Lloyd, who on his arrival in Chicago to take over the Universal Milk Co. Inc., falls into the none to gently hands of rival gangsters is humerously dealt with in the hilarious burlesque. “Innocents of Chicago.” The cast of this unique 8.1. P. offering also contains Bernard Nedell w'ho gives an intimate portrait of a real-life gangster. One business which is not a racket comes in for good financial remunerations from the underworld. It is the florist. When one gangster “bumps off” another, the accepted gesture is to send to the funeral of the deceased an unusually excellent floral offering. The florist inscriptions for such expensive pieces are “To My Pal or “To My Buddy.” This unusual feature of the underworld is depicted in“Ulegal.” Lewis Ayres heads the cast of “Illegal” in the role of a young but powerful gang leader. Adolphe Menjou, motion picture star, set at rest the impression that he is foreign-born. As a matter of fact, he was bom in Pittsburgh, Pa., and educated at the Cluver Military Academy in Indiana and at Cornell. At the university he studied mechanical engineering. Menjou’s latest picture is the Fox comedy, “Bachelor’s Affairs.” Minna Gombell appears in the principal feminine role and others in a cast of notables are Allan Dinehart, Joan Marsh, Herbert Mundin, Arthur Pierson, Irene Purcell and Don Alvarado. Steamer trunks and flying cameras, a liner at sea, noiseless electric fans—these are just a few of the problems that go into the making of a talking picture. All of them, and more too, complicated the making of “Letty Lynton,” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s sensational drama with Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery. In the steamer dock scene, several hundred trunks, handbags and other luggage were needed. The studio property department rented almost every piece of luggage in the Los Angeles stores. In one sequence, a great ocean liner was used. Cameras had to be swung alongside it by means of huge “booms” on which director and cameraman perched for many of the “shots.” There was a party aboard ship—and waiters carried letters of ice frozen around electric globes to spell “Merry Christmas.” Several hundred meals were cooked and served in this particular sequence. The biggest event of last month was the announcement of a compact which has tremendous possibilities for British pictures, between the British and Dominions Film Corporation and the United Artists’ Corporation of America. Under the aggreement, British and Dominions films will be distributed by United Artists throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, and India, and ultimately the organisation will be I extended to give the British company’s | productions practically a world-wide I market. The new market is worth £IOO,OOO and the total value of the projection concern, which will be called “United Artists of the World,” is about £5,000,000 The alliance also provides for the exchange of stars between Hollywood and London. There is a wonderful array of talent, including on the British side Jack Buchanan. Tom Walls, Ralph Lynn, Sidney Howard, ; Winifred Sliotter, and Anna Neagle. United Artists control the pictures of I Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Doug- ! las Fairbanks. Ronald Colman. Eddie Cantor, A 1 Johnson, and Gloria. Swanson. It is possible that one of the first to go to Hollywood will be Tom Walls, the owner of this year’s Derby winner. while Ronald Colman may come j to England to make films.

Charles Ray, a favourite of “silent” days, is to return to the screen in “The Wayne Murder Case.” Neil Hamilton has been added to the cast of “Payment Deferred,” a picturisation of the Gilbert Miller stage success of the same name. John and Lionel Barrymore are to appear together in “Re-union in Vienna.” Diana Wynyard. an English actress, will have the leading feminine role. When Lily Damita (seen in Hamilton in “This Is the Night”) arrived in America she was unable to speak English, and had to study eight hours a day to perfect herself for the talkies. Virginia Bruce, who recently became Mrs. John Gilbert and who plays opposite John Gilbert in the latter’s new picture. “Downstairs.” has signed a new long term contract with MetroGold wyn -Mayer. Pearl White, the queen of the serials years ago, lets it be known from her villa in France that she wants to make a come-back. WoncfFr if she has preserved that blonde loveliness of 12 to 15 years ago? Corinne Griffith returns to the screen in Paramount’s British production, “Lily Christine,” in which she plays one of the most strenuous roles of her brilliant film career. There are only a few’ sequences of the picture which do not require the presence of Miss Griffith. The return of Marie Dressier to the local screen will be a popular event shortly. Many of us would rather see Marie, gifted alike in dramatic and comedy work, than a dozen of the much-boomed “cuties” of the screen. She is a supreme artist. “Emma” gives Miss Dressier full scope for her varied talents. In it she makes the audience laugh, and she makes them cry. Ruth Chatterton herself discovered the story of “The Rich Are Always With Us,” while she was snowbound for a w'eek at Arrowhead Lake, seventy miles east of Hollywood. The First National star had gone to the mountain resort for a week’s rest, taking w’ith her an armful of books

suggested by the studio for further consideration as starring vehicles. She had not read twenty pages of the novel before her interest w'as aroused. By the time she reached the final chapter, she knew she had found her first story. A long-distance telephone call to the First National studio next morning advised them of her decision. If Maude Adams didn’t pronounce the name “John” with such a thick Scotch accent that it sounded like “Joan,” Joan Bennett, screen star would have become famous under another name. Miss Bennett, who heads the all star cast of “Maybe It’s Love.” Warner Bros. Vitaphone collegiate comedy- drama was supposed to have been a boy. Her father, before she was born, was appearing in the Barrie play, “What Every Woman Knows” with Maude Adams. He and his wife decided to name their son John but when the son happened to be a girl they called hef by the name Maude Adams used in saying John. Horror in films !s slumping. Gangster stuff is “out” and after a burst of animal and jungle pictres, there is to be the wholesale return of a very old notion—drama and fun about the film studios themselves. We had plenty of these in the old, silent days: “8o This Is Hollywood,” “The Last Command,” “Shooting Stars,” were the best; and latterly “Show People” and “The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood.” In principle I think it a cardinal mistake to embark on a policy which must, by taking the public behind the camera, destroy much of that sense of illusion which is even more necessary to the cinema than it is to the theatre, says an English writer. I find my appreciation of an emotional scene actually reduced by the suspicion that the heroine’s tears may be glycerine. Perhaps it is an economy move to save the cost of “sets,” using the plain studios for scenery. In these days, too. w'hen the film business wants all the public support it can get, the time for giving away all its tricks and exposing its own weakness seems singularly inopportune. But that is the studios’ business, not mine. (Or isn’t it?) At the same time, many of these pictures have been very entertaining. and I look forward to some good laughs from the new ones, which include Constance Bennett in “What Price Hollywood?’’ Genevieve Tobin in “Hollywood Speaks,” Harold Lloyd in • Movie Craay,” and Jack Oakie in “Make Me a Btar.” Also, with a sublime recklessness, Hollywood is busy on the play. “Once In a Lifetime,” and the book, “Queer People.” Both these stories are much damning indictments of the prodigal ignorance, tlx* egregious vanity, and vicious corruption of film people as a whole that I cannot imagine how r any screen versions of them can fail to discredit the industry. It may b# that they are whitewashed out of recognition—in which case, w*hy waste thousands of pounds in buying them?