“The Star’s Motion Picture Section

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16987, 10 March 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

“The Star’s Motion Picture Section

By “ The Movie Man * 9

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. I 1 Correspondents desirous of having cjues- I 5 tions answered in the current issue are ' requested to see that their communications j ( are delivered at this office not later than j Tuesday afternoon. Bill Hart Admirer.—The announcement | was that there was a possibility of W. ! S. Hart’s contract with Famous Players j not be renewed. Present files to hand state that Bill has been re-engaged, so your fear that your favourite was to disappear from the screen ia set at rest. Little Earaie,—The rumour is without foundation. Jackie Coogan is very much alive, and is in great demand. A few weeks ago he entered into a 500,000 dollars contract to make pictures for Metro. Aon Stroheim. Goldwyn Studio’s, Culver City, California,, other address not available. Thanks i'oi* expression of appreciation of the paper. The reference to the partner is appealing, but I am afraid, not praotioable. Buster.—Agnes Ayres and Rodolph Valentino, Lasky Studios, Hollywood, California, Charles Jones and John Gilbert. Fox

Studios, Hollywood, California, Lloyd Hughes, Pickford-Fairbank's Studios, Hollywood, California. Letters addressed respectively to manager Famous PlayersLasky Studios, Vine Street, Hollywood, and to Selznick Pictures Corporation. 279, i Seventh Avenue, New York City, may result in your getting the photographs referred to. William de Mille’s production of “Nice People,” is one of the coming attractions at Everybody’s Theatre. A powerful and timely story, it is adapted From one of the season’s most successful stage plays. It is played by an all , star cast headed by Wallace Reid. Rebe Dnniels. Conrad Nagel and Julia Faye. The simple tale of how one man’s faith cured another man’s crookedness is delightfully unfolded in Thomas Mcighan’s latest Paramount picture, “ If You Believe Tt, It’s So,” coming to Everybody’s Theatre next week. It is a noble theme, masterfully interpreted by a cast of players, among whom are Theodore Heberts, Pauline Starke and Charles Ogle. A feature to be presented at the Queen’s Theatre short!}- is “A irgin !

Paradise.” This picture which is in nine reels is claimed to be packed with thrills and thrilling situations. Most of the action takes place on a lonely island. Gratia Latham, the heroine, is Tarzan’s twin sister, and, like the skin clad youth of the Apes, is a fester relative of ail the beasts and birds that dwell on the same South Sea Island with her. The Queen’s Theatre will be screen--ing, commencing to-day, a splendid western drama “ The Bells of San Juan” which is from the novel by Jackson Gregory. Charles Jones is featured and gives a remarkable and pleasing performance. The second attraction is “ Extra, Extra ” a Fox production dealing with newspaper life, and the adventures of a young reporter. Johnny Walker has the leading part in this entertaining picture. “ Rich Men’s Wives,” the new “ Preferred ’’ picture, screening at the

Liberty Theatre to-day, is a study in marital contentment, in so for as the average wife is concerned. . To the -woman who married a man of wealth it i will prove to he a reflection of her own daily existence. To the theatregoers in general “ Rich Men’s Wives” will provide enjoyable entertainment that is out of the erdinarv run of things and will reveal some of the best acting the screen lias known, contributed bv such favourites as House Peters, Claire Windsor. Baby Richard Headrick, Gaston Glass and others, i Norma Talmadgo’s many friends who claim that she is equally attractive in calico or satins, will have a chance to prove their contention iri “ Love’s Redemption,” to be screened at the Liberty Theatre on March 24. Norma takes the role of a young girl whose unselfish interest and devotion brings with whom -she comes in contact than could be brought by intensive study. The fiery capricious character that the terest, love; pathos and quiet humour, ! and makes the portrayal one of the

most effective in Miss Talma dge’.s screen career. i ‘A Certain Rich Man,” founded on j "William Allen White’s famous novel is ! a Hodkinson Production and comes to Greater Crystal Palace next week. I The story is played in settings I familiar to every one. It begins and j ! ends in a small town, the name or j which is said to be Emporia, .Kansas, J which is the home of the author. The j first episode of the novel that appears j in the photoplay is in the ’eighties, \ another period is laid at the begin- j ning of the twentieth century, and the 1 last period is modern. Three sets or ( c-haraoters and plot elements, and three periods in the lives of the characters first introduced are shown. Suppose you valued your reputation more than anything in the world, but j in order to get a good job had to masj querade as a notorious cabaret dancer j who had been involved in a sensational I scandal in Paris. What would you do? | This was the situation Mary M’Guire ‘ found herself in and how she met the j situation is worked out in an excep--j tionally interesting manner in “ The ! Delicious Little Devil ” which will be played at Greater Crystal Palace Theatre all next week. Mae Murray plays the stellar role and does unusually fine work. She is supported by an excellent cast including the popular young actor Rodolph Valentino. “ Coreen ” writes complaining that quite recently he occupied,a stalls seat in one of the local theatres until the interval when, as is customary with some patrons, he left the auditorium while the screen advertisements were being run off. On bis return he found his seat occupied by a individual who •declined to vacate it when informed of

the position. “I consulted- an atten- : dant ” and was informed that under ; the rules of the theatre he was urj able to evict the seat jumper, adding ! that, when a person left, his seat during • the interval he took the risk of losing it. Could not the position be met bv ! the attendants usben-r; patrons (who I arrive after the interval to front, stabs j only?” j “The Mollycoddle,” adapted from j the novel by Harold M’Grach, is DougI la 3 Fairbanks’ latest screen offering, and it will be screened at the Liberty Theatre next Saturday. The star is seen as the descendant of a fighting ! line of ancestors but civilisation lias created him a fop. But a real girl ! enters the sphere of things and then 1 his ancestry takes hold. He forges to 1 the front and scouts as his ancestors : might have scouted ; stands up | under fire as his revolutionary i plainsman forefather has done ; rescues beauty in distress as his ‘ cavalier forefather surely did: and i fights as all his forefathers would have ! dene if rolled into one. In this picj ture Fairbanks does some of bis best . work, including a number of ingenious i stunts, and a trained cow perform*.* ! many amazing movements, j Lon Chancy, the athletic actor who, < strangely enough, specialises in the i roles of cripples and deformed pea- | .sons, is the hero of a oowerful First a i National drama to be screened at the Grand Theatre to-day. It dealt

with the plains for vengeance nursed by a man who had been wrongfully sent to gaol by a business colleague ; and who at last broke free, but reached his home only in time to see his wife’s funeral procession leav- ,• ing the house. Then, to achieve his purpose, he accepted the assistance of j a Chinese friend, who trained him to impersonate a .deformed fiddler, in ! order to elude the police. But he 1 could not resist visiting a slum misj sion. where his daughter was the j much-loved resident manageress, and j the unsuspecting girl was '-’ad of the friendship of th£ strange derelict who entertained her with melodies that reminded her of a happy past. There the fugitive became acquainted with the girl’s fiance—the son of the man who had destroyed his life’s happiness. The end came in a visit to the office of his old enemy, where he made a dramatic renunciation of vengeance for the sake of the ycung couple. Edith Roberts. .Tack Mulhall, Ralph Lewis, and Noah Beery present the roles of the daughter, the fiance, the guilty father, and the Chinese gentleman respectively. The following are some of the hig features which will be released by Picture Supplies during the year:—“Missing Husbands,” a French creation from the novel “1’ Atlantide ” ; “A Doll’s House,” starring Nazimova; “ Toss of the Storm Country,” with Mary Pickford (version) : “ Robin Hood.” with Douglas Fairbanks; “Dream Street,” another D. IV. Griffiths special, with Carol Dempster and an all-star cast. In the year 1919 about 700.000,000 dollars was taken in bv motion picture theatres in the United States and Canada.

The Capitol Theatre in New \ork is j the largest in' the world, with a seating capacity of 5200. Mary Miles Minter’s last picture j j under her Paramount contract will be j “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.” j Bill Hart has renewed his association J with Famous Players—Lasky, which j means that he will begin production at j an early date. American papers are circulating the j report that Harold Lloyd and Mildred j Davies, his leading woman for three ; years, are engaged to be married. j The D. W. Griffith production, j “Dream Street ” which is announced | :i»r Gina of Chinatown,” appearing in his book “ Lime- ; house Nights.” New York has the largest number f motion picture theatres of anv state in I the Crated States—namely : 1693. Pennsylvania comes next with 1683; Ohio third with 1095; and Illinois I fourth, with 1037. There is' a possibility that Joseph Sebenek will secure tho' services of Valentino Rumour hath it that outside influence is being sought to induce Famous Players-Lasky not to deal too harshly with their popular star. “ Manslaughter,which will be released shortly in New Zealand, is referred to by a Melbourne paper as “a ! magnificent picture. It abounds in- ; thrilling incidents, and is in every way

a picture that everybody should enjoy*” Baby Peggy, aged four years, recently finished her thirty-seventh picture- Peggy, who is getting a treiflendous amount of publicity in American magazines and papers, fell a victim to pneumonia, and was a very sick child. At latest advices she was well on the road to recovery. Antonio Moreno, on January 25, was quietly married to Mrs Daisy Canfield Danziger, who was divorced a little over a year ago from J. M. Danziger, a millionaire sportsman. Mrs Moreno will share in her late father’s estate, it is said, to the extent of 2,000,000 dollars. Colour photography will be employed in Douglas Fairbanks’s forthcoming pirate photoplay. '‘ My reason for deciding to use colour photography is simplicity itself,” said Fairbanks. “ All the pirate pictures I ever have seen were disappointing because they were in black and ‘white, while colour is the very theme and flavour of piracy.” A Richard Barthelmess picture entitled “ Fury,” appears to have caught the public fancy in America. The story is set in the J imehouse district of London, made familiar and famous by Thomas Burke, and on the sea. It j tells of a heritage of hate left to a vruth by his eying father, who forced from him a promise to avenge the great wrong done to his mother by another Margaret Leahy, the English beauty contest winner whom Norma Talmadgo raved about so vehemently, has been released from the cast of “ Within the Law,” and will be employed henceforth in Buster Keaton’s company (says tho “New York Herald”). The reason for

• this shift, according to the First Na- ' lioual press department, is that Miss ; Leahy possesses a “special aptitude for ! comedy.*' ! suburb Fand‘' nf the- ' „tiv Vs-minted Theatres, Ltd., with V h art- allied J. C. W.!lv,in—n Films ~,d i ;ih Tin .ii re* Ltd., made this : ni, interment iwentlv. A fine site bus .... ■■ -u: oil lot- :■ new theatre in ik.rrk ■ Street \ theatre to sent 3(3:0 ! in George Street, Sydney, will be | ready at Easter, 1924.' ; “ \Ve wish that the movie magnates ; would give more attention to the sears in the theatres. One of the chief drawbacks to the kinema to-day is that it is i such an uncomfortable place to fall ’- asleep in-” On reading the foregoing | iu an American magazine, I remember- [ ed the seats that I have on various occasions occupied in one of the local iucture theatres, There was no hope of falling asleep in them—the projecting springs were too pronounced for that. According to a Paris cable message m the San Francisco *< Chronicle,’ Hodolphe Valentino and his wife, expected to make a short visit to Pamtbw njadc' 1 'i r Pa'A' ifv Mrs Hudnut, and while there would be re-married. “Mv daughter and Valentino,” -Mrs Hudnut is reported as. saving. 11 are both . in New York, but naturally axe not living together. M3' sister chaperones

them whenever they meet, and they do not even live in the same house.” The first thing that impressed the American film producers, when they saw Pola Negri in the flesh (says ■->n American magazine), was her marvellous beauty, the like of which never had been seen in an American studio before. They saw at once that she had never been properly photographed. Wherefore all the artistic brains of Hollywood were concentrated on the problem- When the public see her ir. “ Bella Donna,” they are due for a gasp. It will be a Pola Negri they never have seen before. “Missing Husband,” which is to be produced in New Zealand this year, caused a sensation in Europe, and- is proclaimed to be one of the big attractions for the coming year. The story is adapted from the French novel, “ L’Atlantide,” which was crowned by the French Academy. The cast is made up

of French actors and actresses, and the scenes were taken in France. The §torv deals with a mysterious kingdom in Central Africa, which is ruled over j by Queen Antinea. This woman, of ex- ! ceeding great beauty, is a modern | Circe, and lures many men to her palace, and treats them with as scant respect as the Circe of ancient mytholofv. j The Associated First National Motion Pictures, Inc., took issue with ! Frederick L. Hoffman, consulting sta- j tistician of the Prudential Life Insur j a nee Company, who blamed the mo- j tion pictures for adding to the erimin- i al population. As the result, a na- | tion-wide survey among wardens of i penitentiaries conclusively demonstrated that motion pictures helped to curb crime, to improve tho moral and spirit of convicted men and to create a desire to do better things in life. Convicts are prone to hiss the villain and applaud the righteous hero,” the report stated “ Most of the convictr*. dislike right triumph over wrong.”

1 Sydney is showing enthusiastic approval of ‘‘The Gloiious Adventure,” i the first Prisma-coloured drama ever r produced- This is an English produci tion, and the famous English society beauty, Eadv Diana Manners, plays the leading part. The story deals with > the great fire of London, arid Lady Di L i js an extravagant society lady of that period, who contracts huge debts and conceives the novel idea of marrying a 5 man condemned to death on his execu- • tion day. and thus shifting the respon--1 sibility of her bills. However, the great- ' fire breaks out on that very day, and the man escapes from prison ancT re- * turns to Ladv Diana to keep her to her ’ contract. A most dramatic situation, 3 to say the least of it. Some persons like the endings of 3 their plays happy and some like them sad (says an American writer). If ? l there are any champions of the me- > * dium ending they haven’t made much

noise. Show some folk a final fade-out of the hero and herione doing a stationary version of the old-fashioned j Bunny Hug, with a touch of Sou! • Kiss tossed in for good measure, and j they’ll he likely to say: “That’s the i trouble with the movies, they’re not : true to life; life is sad.’* Show others 1 the hero dying as comfortably as he i can. with a heroine leaking glycerine ! tears all over his make-up, and it’s no*. ;at all certain they won’t remark: ! >• Ain’t that a shame. Life is sad i enough without having to pay your | good money at the box office for the I privilege of being made sadder.” | The farming out stars a.t an enor--1 mous profit %eems to be quite a sport in this part of the country (writes a Lcs Angeles correspondent). The- other day an independent producer sought a certain star whose contract called for 600 dollars a week. On inquiry the holder of the contract demanded twice that figure—and the producer signed. The first kinema in Constantinople was installed in 1905. Now there are