Untitled

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19803, 19 May 1934, Page 11

“Servants’ Entrance” is to be Janet Gaynor’s next film. Janet will once more be a poor little girl, and this time it’s a Norwegian story.

Jack Buchanan, with the opening of “That’s a Good Girl,” at the Leicester Square Theatre, achieved the “hat trick.” He exhibited, directed, and starred in the picture.

“The Birth of a Nation” is the one big box office hit of all time. It has already brought in more than £2,000,000 and in some parts of the world is still going strong. “The Covered Wagon” and “The Big Parade” are both well over the £1,000,000 mark and still playing. More recently Mae West’s picture, “She Done Him Wrong,” her first starring picture has grossed more than £400,000.

Although they have been friends for twelve years on the stage in New York, Helen Hayes and Louise Closser Hale never appeared in the same cast until they came to Hollywood to play in in motion pictures. First, Miss Hale appeared as Miss Hayes’ personal maid in “The Son-Daughter.” She played a similar role in “The White Sister.” And now in “Another Language,” in which Miss Hayes is costarred with Robert Montgomery. Miss Hale is the mother-in-law who makes the bride rebellious against the whole family.

It is fitting that in the making of “Night Flight” there should have been associated plenty of expert fliers. The author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, was an actual pilot on the very air line he writes about. The director, Clarence Brown, is the most experienced flier in film ranks. He holds a transport pilot’s licence and has thousands of hours to his credit. Clark Gable, who plays the vivid role of Fabian, a pilot lost in a fog, learned to fly in Dallas, Texas. Robert Montgomery, a pilot on the difficult trans-mountain route, is also a pilot. John Barrymore, stern manager of the air line, has been flying as a passenger regularly since 1912. Two electricians of the company are pilots. The head cameraman, Oliver Marsh, was pilot-photo-grapher during the war. Charles Laughton will not play the title part in the talking picture of “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” writes the film correspondent of the “London Daily Mail.” Mr Alexander Korda has had a number of letters protesting against the easting of Mr Laughton for this part. The “Daily Mail” asked readers to suggest alternative names and Mr Korda would consider them. The resulting flood of letters has created a new embarrassment, more than twenty actors being suggested for the part. Mr Douglas Fairbanks, junr., and Mr Leslie Howard are about equal favourites, with Mr Ronald Coleman a very good third. Mr Korda has decided that one or other of these three actors will play the part. LOOKING AFTER KIPLING Mrs. Rudyard Kipling, the Americanborn wife of the man who is reputed to have refused an earldom, is small in stature, with a strong sense of humour. She has a special gift for looking after a husband whose genius is so great that it outpaces the frailty of his health. To hold this energy in check, Mrs. Kipling is called upon to exercise a care amounting to little less than a whole-hearted devotion dating back to somewhere about 1903, when Kiplings’ life was despaired of on account of a severe attack of pneumonia. Her greatest joy in life is—to prevent him from overworking! In spite of her American character, she is a perfect English country hostess. And when she does entertain—this is not any too often—her modern wit serves to balance excellently the more serious outlook of her worldfamous husband.

Clara Bow declares that she has never destroyed a single fan letter received by her during her career. They are all kept in a vault in her home. “Mutiny on the Bounty” and “Men Against the Sea,” both novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, have been acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Music by one of the best known musical comedy composers; an ideal cast and director; and a subject whose taste is very much to the public palate, a fact proved by its enormous success as a play throughout the length and breadth of the Englishspeaking world—here is a film that is delightfully different. “A Southern Maid,” by Dion Clayton Chalthrop and Harry Graham, is the ideal starring vehicle for Bebe Daniels, the lovely Hollywood star, who was specially chosen to fill the title role. Bebe plays two parts, that of the ravishing Juanita, a demure maiden of twenty years ago, who elopes with an Englishman, while subsequent scenes show her as the typically modem product of her own age, who succumbs to the charms of the Englishman’s son.

After twenty years of delays and postponements, George Arliss Jtfrs finally realised his long-standing ambition to play the part of “Voltaire” on the screen. This picture of the gay court of Louis XV, the noted star believes to be his greatest contribution to the screen. It was when Arliss first playing “Disraeli” to enthusiastic audiences in New York and Chicago, that he . considered the possibility of bringing the character of the great French author and wit to the stage. At that time he abandoned the idea because “Disraeli” proved to be such an outstanding success. Then because he wanted to vary his roles and the part of “Voltaire” was not enough removed from the time or type he had portrayed in “Disraeli,” Arliss passed up “Voltaire” for the time being. There was also the difficulty of getting an accurate and authentic story of Voltaire’s life, which was at the same time sufficiently dramatic for screen purposes. This was finally found in the novel by George Gibbs and E. Lawrence Dudley. | The Silly Symphony “The Big Bad | Wolf” is a sequel to “The Three Little Pigs, and tells the time-honoured story of Little Red Riding Hood with the usual Disney variations upon the original theme. Red Riding Hood is on her way to visit her sick grandmother when she comes upon “The Three Little Pigs.” The Practical Pig cautions her against taking the short-cut through, the woods where the Big Bad Wolf is lurking. The Foolish Pigs laugh at this sage advice and tell Red Riding Hood that the shoj't-cut is perfectly safe, and that they will accompany her. In the woods they meet the Wolf disguised as a Wood Fairy. The Wolf falls out of his disguise and the foolish pigs run away, leaving Red Riding Hood at the villain’s mercy. She escapes, however, and races to her grandma’s house, but the Wolf gets there first, chases grandma into a closet—disguises himself as the old girl—and is in grandma’s bed when Red Riding Hood arrives. Meanwhile the Foolish Pigs have told their practical brother of Red Riding Hood’s plight. He dashes to the rescue. He reaches the house just as the Wolf is tearing apart the closet in which both Grandma and Red Riding Hood are now hiding. The bold piglet sneaks in—puts a mixture of hot coals and up popped pop-corn in the Wolf’s pants,, and the picture ends with the Big Bad Wolf racing for far horizons with a battery of popping pop-corn attacking him from the rear. The winter sports bug has bitten the screen stars and celebrities of both sexes are looking forward to renewing their proficiency at the cold weather pastimes of their childhood, or to acquiring skill in new ones. Ice skating, ski-ing, tobogganing, and even racing with horse-drawn sleds are among the pastimes to which the screen luminaries are turning. An abundance of snow within a few hours’ reach by aeroplane and car is one of the factors for the new trend in diversion. Walter Huston, Reginald Denny and Director George Hill, who are neighbours in the Lake Arrowhead region, have improvised sled racing to horses. They hitch their sleds to the nags they use in clearing the paths to their respective homes. Norma Shearer can cut fancy figures on ice skates, having acquired the knack as a child in Canada. Occasionally she visits the ice rinks around Hollywood and regains some of her old form. Robert Montgomery, C. Henry Gordon and Franchot Tone are ice hockey enthusiasts. Clark Gable, whose natural habitat is the outdoors, uses skis on winter hunting trips. John Crawford, Helen Hayes and Jean Harlow have memories of thrilling toboggan rides, and are planning visits to Lake Arrowhead if the snow holds out. Otto Kruger, Broadway stage player, who has just signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has raced sail-boats across the ice, and was disappointed when he learned the Los Angeles River was too dry to freeze over. Karen Morley can manage a pair of snow shoes. And if the whole of Southern California freezes, over, Johnny Weissmuller will rut a hole through and piunge in—for summer or coldest winter Johnny must have his daily swim.