News of the Movies

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16497, 6 August 1921, Page 16

News of the Movies

BY

□ The Movie Man o

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS, desirous of having questions answered in the current issue aie requested to see that their communication* are delivered at this oiiic© not later than T.iesday afternoon. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, episode Getter. —Regret that I have not had- time to hunt up questions submitted. Hope to he able to do something next week. Ibuooks. —Gloria. Swanson is Mrs 11. K. So inborn. Mary Hay, Griffiths Studios, Marnaroneck, Orienta Point, New York. The other a-ddresees you require are not on tho regatlai' list. That is to say, the persons named are free agents in the matter of engagements ; they are not tied to any <xne particular firm. Thus they have no fixed studio -address. They can be reached only through an Exchange. Try care Mabel Coaclon Exchange, Hollywood, California. Molly King is out ef pictures. 25u <L — Wilfred and Bert Lyfccll are brothers. Roseoe Arbucklo and Monte Blue, Lapky Studios, Hollywood, California; Buck Jone 3, Fox Studios, Eos Angeles, California; Eugene O’Brien, Selzinck Pictures Corporation, 729, Seventh Avenue, New York City; Mahlon Hamilton, rare Mabel Condon Exchange, Hollywood, California. Eric von Stroheim, according to adviico received by the last mail, had loft or was about to leave for Germany. "Wanta. Know. — Coats os follows:—"False Faces": —The Lono Wolf- Henry \V&I- - Cecelia Brooks, Mary Anderson; 'Eckatrom (Karl), Eon Chaney; Ralph Crane. Milton Ross: Lieutenant Thackeray, Thornton Edwards: Submarine Captain, Wm. Bowman; Submarine Lieutenant, Garry M*Garry ; Blenaop, Ernest Paaquo. ‘The Passing of Third Floor Back”: The Stranger, Sir J. Fcrbes Robertson; Mrs Sharpe, Auguste Hariland; Stasia, Molly Pearson ; Stasia’s Father. Alfred Hickman; Stasia's Mother, Germaine .Bourville; Major Tompkins. 13en Graham; Mrs Tompkins. Grace Stephens . Vivian Kettey Gal van ta; Joe Wright. Robert Fisher; Christopher Penny, George Lo Guere ; Jopo Samuels, Sydney Goldin; Harry Larkcom, Thornton Bation. ■‘Checkers"* —CheckoTH, Thomas J. Carri yan; Pert Barlow, .lean Acker; Alva Ftomaine, Ellen Cassity; Arthur Kendall, Robert Elliot : Push Miller. Tammy Young: Judge Barlow, Bertram Marburgh ; Pete, E. Sedgwick; Sadie Martin, Peggy Worth ; Colonel Warren. Frank Beamish: *am Wan, Freeman Barnes; Chinese Girl, Gene Bucus: Girl of the Slums. Juliet Crane. “'The Face at Your Window ’’ :—- Ruth (Kravo. Kina Kelly; Frank Maxwell, Earl Metcalfe ; The Stranger, Edward Roforasn, Ivan., Boris Rosenthal: Hiram Maxwell, Walter M’Evren; “Dot" Maxwell, Diana Allen ; Ethel Harding, Alico

Reeves; Nicholas Harding, Frazer Coulter; Steve Drake, William Corbett; Kravo, Robert Cummings; Danglo, Henry Armettaj District Attorney, Frank Farrington. Rosemary Theby, care Mabel Condon Exchange, California. * Dixie ” iwrites .:—lf you can find »>hat any of the “ dope ” hereunder is suited to your needs, .you mav have it, end be welcome*. Movie fans, when comfortably ensconced in their luxurious “tip-up” seats rarely, if ever, A give a thought to the risks that mus** have been taken, the money that lias been lavished, the time, patience and persistent effort that must have been expanded, to secure the results that flit so swiftly across the silver sheet before them. Jk number of striking instances of the truth of the foregoing assertions were contained in a letter received recently bv me from an American friend who has unique opportunities for observing the moving picture business at close range. During the production of Erich von Stronlieim’s great photo-play, “ Foolish Wives,” my friend was present practical!v the whole of the time, and some of the incidents which follow are vouched for by her. A “stunt” artist who was engaged to double for the leading lady in a jump from u, .burning building was, through a slight miscalculation, delayed, and the flames caught him. Instantly the feminine apparel he was wearing was ablaze, and he was forced ■to jump. He was injured and badly burnt, as was another actor who went to his aid. They were both sent to a hospital, and not until large quantities of skin had been donated by sympathisers did the doctors hold out any hope of their recovery. Again, when Von Stronheim was struggling with •one of the ladies in the cast, he accidentaliv threw her against a dresser, with the result that she lost almost all •of her front teeth. Trouble resulted when, through the death of a player, a substitute bad t 0 be procured. After a wild search in Los Angeles had been fruitless. Robert Edesori fan old movie favourite in the “ Lubin ” days) was brought from New York at a huge salarv to compensate the breaking of a Broadwav contract. The night fire scenes were made on four successive nights and early mornings, t} ie company working from 8.30 p.m. till 5 a.m. This proves that one must be a Trojan to “ stick it ” in the modes, as all will agree. The next change at the Queen’s will be headed by “Tho Best of Luck,” a six-reel production, released bv Metre Screen Classics. It is a picturisation of the well-known Drury Lane melodrama by Cecil Raleigh and Arthur Collins. Kathryn Adams and Jack Holt head a capable cast. Mr C. D’Arcey Allen, managing director of British and Continental Films, Ltd., who was in town for a few days during the week, expressed himself as ?>eing confident of the future of British films in this country. His company have just completed successful negotiations with the Film Company, of* Ijondon, whereby the B. and C. will control the Australian rights for all the Stoll product. The first of the new ■series to be shown hero will be “ God’s Good Man” (Marie Corelli), “The Elusive Pimpernel ** (Baroness Orczy). “ The Amateur Gentleman ” (effery Famel) and “The Hundredth Chance ” <Ethel M. Dell). William Fox has leased a studio in Rome, and has a staff there making pictures. Clara Kimball Young 1 1 besides once

having been a musician, has composed several musical works. Germany has its own Charlie Chaplin in ivaijehen. and its Douglas Fairbanks in Harry Piel. "Will Rogers has finished his contract with Goldwyn, and proposes to form his own producing company. Anna Bos, who hails from Amsterdam, where she lias achieved screen fame in Vampire roles, has gone to America under engagement to appear in pictures. “ Ten Nights in a Bar Room,” that classic with which the stage did so much to help the cause of prohibition, in its early days, has just been finished for the screen. The Famous Plavers-Lasky Corporation, which opened a studio in India with the idea of turning out pictures with natives in the casts, has closed up. it is reported, owing to tho difficulty of getting native talent. Alar.shall Neilan (writes a reviewer in an American magazine) deserves three rousing cheers for filming “ Bob Hampton of Placer,” a Western story by Randall Parrisb. One of the big scenes is Custer’s “ last stand.” Miss Pola Ne^ri. premiere danseuse, riohnist and Continental star of the screen, has been described as French, but as a matter of fact she is Polish, having been born, reared and educated in Poland. She achieved success particularly in Russia, where she was a favourite ballet dancer. She appeared on the concert stage as a violinist, and played successful lv in Greece and Sonin. For n while it appeared that she was to win fame with the violin, but then came the lure of the silver sheet, and. laving aside her bow. she ventured forth on her screen iourney, and has "one so far as to develon into the leading film star of the Continent. According to the “ Lichtbild Buhne.” the official organ of the U.F. A., the German picture trust, it was Von Ludendorff who was responsible for the idea of flooding the world with German propaganda films. The paper says: “The company was founded on the initiative of Von Ludendorff. It was Ludendorff’s original idea to have the State alone found a powerful film propaganda company. It was the thought

of Hoit Bratz to found instead of a national propaganda company a powerful privately owned company, in which the Government, for the protection of national interests, took a controlling interest.” Marshall Neilan’s “ The Lotus Later, ’ in which John Barrymore and Anna Q. Nilsson, appear in tho leading parts, occupied four months in production and involved 8,000 miles of travel for the producer and his company. The picture was started m Los Angeles and staged in New \ ork and Florida. What is probably the first instance on record of a libel action based on a kinema play was heard in tho King’s Bench division, London before the Lord Chief Justice and a special jury, when Air Bertram Montague, theatrical and variety agent, sued Hepworth Picture Plays (Ltd), for damages for alleged libel. His contention was that lie was libelled in a film production by the del fendant, called “ The Strange and Amazing Quests of Mr Bills,” and shown in picture theatres all over Britain. The plaintiff, who in prvato life, is known as Marks, is a prosperous theatrical agent. In the film one of the characters 13 described as a theatrical agent and is named Montague. He is the villain. In the witness-box, Mr Montague complained of the fact that tho character of “ Montague ” in the film was so similar to him in description and appearance that many of his iriends 111 the street and the Vaudeville Club spoke to him about it. Without leaving the box, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants, and judgment was entered accordingly. “Outlook,” an American publication, pays the following tribute to the Ger-man-made turns which have been recently produced in America, and incidentally makes a comparison between German and American directors, which certainly is not in favour of tho latter: Some leaders in the movie world are alarmed because of two threats to their industry—we refrain advisedly from using the word art. One is a threat of feirng competition, and the other a threat of domestic conOne is a threat of foreign competition, lias arisen from the recent importation of several films which have the right to use that once potent slogan “ Made in Germany.” These films have been so successful that there is talk of a tariff measure to protect American producers, lo anyone who has seen such German films as “Passion,” “Deception,” or • The Cabinet of Dr Caligari,” the explanation of the perturbation of our producers is obvious. The German film companies, despite some obvious shortcomings, seem to be guilty of employing directors who have ideas in their heads, and these directors have mastered the art of telling their stories logically, directly and forcibly. Their actors somehow seem able to depend on acting to convey the ideas which tho director wishes to convey. The films, compared with most American productions, are virtually captionlesa. In ■none of the three films mentioned was there a single close up of a tear stained heroine or of the villain’s twitching fingers, nor was there a single example of that murderous assault upon the im*. agination entitled “the flashback.” In “ Deception,” in particular, there were half a dozen occasions which an American director would have seized upon with avidity as excuses for “ flashbacks ” to make the obvious more obvious. We sighed with relief each time one of these danger points was safely passed. Photographically, tiv German camera work is not the equal of the American standard, but in the presentation of their themes the German directors are very much the superiors of our own.