Stars of the Screen.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12709, 2 August 1919, Page 3

Stars of the Screen.

b«licve, being his list production before going into camp. After spending three months in officers’ training camp in Plattsburg, he left for France on January 22, 1918, and returned just one year later, January 22, 1919. He was in the fighting at Eambucourt and Ohantigue, and was with the French army in the fighting north of Soissons. Major 'Warwick is the only ■ mile star on the screen who served his country in France. He gave up a most lucrative profession to do his duty. On returning to America he received offers to go on the stage, but these be refused, havftig determined to devote his time exclusively to the screen, and of the’offers made to appear before the camera he accepted that of Famous. Players-Lasky. “ Motion Picture" states that Major Warwick’s real name is Bien. and that he is maricd to Josephine Whittell. A letter ; addressed care Lasky Studio, Hollywood, California, should reach him. Dear Movie Man.—Your correspondent last week struck a happy note in his reference to abuses of the queue, and I trust that the managers have seen his complaint and will take immediate steps to protect the interests of those who play the game. I, too, have had irritating experiences, one of which ,f*ust stopped short of a physical disturbance between my companion in the line and an insolent bounder who shoved in out of his turn- I have seen tickets sold to persons who coolly ignored the queue and went straight to the ticket Box. This isn’t the fair thing, and one of these days, or rather evenings, if the managers don’t do their obvious duty there will be trouble and the managers themselves will be to blame for it. All that is required of them is to post an employee at the ticket box with instructions to prevent any person getting a ticket out of his proper turn. —I am, etc., S.B. One result of the coming Peace will be the return to the picture screens of those educational items of which we hare had far too few these last four or five years. The first of these will make its appearance at the Queen’s next week when there will bo shown a Pathe color entitled “ Nature’s Songsters.” Another instructive film, “ Preparing School-boy Athletes,” will be screened at the Strand. Wha.t do you remember best about the good motion pictures you have seen? Think them over and write to the movie man. Do you in particular remember a thrill, a dog, a carbaret or a love scene? What stands out in pictures like “ The Woman the Gods Forgot,” "The Honour of his House, “The Better ’Ole,” and many others? This is a question in which every one is interested and readers are invited to write and give their opinions. When you see something in a picture within the next few weeks that strikes you as being unusually interesting or appealing please let the movie; man know. : An Australian, Aurele Labat . de Lambert, known as Aurele Sydney, after his native city, who played on the stage with Bland Holt for a. number of years, is credited with holding one of the largest contracts in the movie line in England. At last (says the Sydney <! Bulletin ”) we will have a change from the Yankee twaddle-drama and slapstick films | which the four years of ■ war have brought us. Two hundred thousand Diggers have been in Francelong

he is responsible for remarkable impersonation, as an honourable gambler, in the days when that profession was recognised, with philanthropic tastes, and again as a had man without a single redeeming feature, his acting is a proof of wonderful ability. The plot is woven round the confusion of the two characters, the good man being blamed for the had man’s misdeeds. A thrilling climax is provided where the two come face to _ face and the bad man meets retribution at the hands of his counterpart. The last scene provides some remarkable double photography. The story is a strong one, hui~ typical of the times that are portrayed. There never was a good motion picture that did not con tin suspense. Yon can do without be: : by, you can get along without laughs. But you’ve got to have suspense or your picture flops. Theiro is one scene that is always gpod though it’s a situation older than the heroine is in danger—tied to a railway track in a serial; struggling with the villain in a feature picture—and word gets to the hero , of the heroine’s plight. It cornea in a note, perhaps, and you writhe as he opens it calmly, stops to light a cigarette before he reads it—innocent of the purport of the message. You exult as he rushes out and leaps into his automobile.. Every now and: then you are shown flashes of the heroine at the point of death or dishonour. The automobile breaks down —you writhe again . And at last through a process of delays, you relax, joyously as the hero finally arrives in time.' Suspense. You’ve got to have it. The heroine ”"ist always have the shadow of cas! ■ xrophe hanging over her, or the h' .o must continually be in trouble. Picture-goers who saw Rita Jolivet in “Lest We Forget” at the Grand will be interested to know that cable advices recount that a protest against certain scenes in an American-made moving picture, entitled “We Shall Never Forget,” lodged by the German Consul in Geneva, Switzerland, have been upheld. The moving picture export trade throughout the world is particularly interested in this information because, of its possible hearing upon moving picture conditions in general after the Peace Treaties have been signed and, nominally at least, all the countries which have been at war with Germany have become friendly ‘countries. The cable says that “We Shall Never Forget”—which is quite evidently the Rita Jolivet feature, “Lest W© Forget”—was being shown in a moving picture. theatre in Geneva, when certain scenes dealing with the sinking of the Lusitania, on which Miss Jolivet had been a passenger, attracted the attention of tjie German consular representatives as well as German residents in the big, Swiss city. A formal protest was lodged with the Geneva authorities, and as a result the manager of the moving .picture theatre in which the feature Was being shown cut out portions of the picture,-including the Lusitania incident. ■lf some “villain” in a movie will refrain from tapping-his cigarette on the box or the hack of his hand before lighting it his lack of, monkey like imitativpness will be keenly appreciated, remarks an American paper.