GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18091, 26 February 1927, Page 23

GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

An adaptation of one of Peter 8.l Kynes famous “(,‘appy Ricks " stories, under the title of “More Pay Less \Vork," will be screened in Christchurch next month. The adventures of the younger generatifn in the shipping business form the basis for this sparkling comedy, interpreted by Mary Brian and Charles Rogers, who supply the love interest, and Albert Gran as the inimitable “Cappy.” The energetic young man who instills pep into father’s business and, makes 21 wonderful Change in the staff by the slogan of “ More Pay Less \Vork." does much to heal the breach between his father, Dad llinChfield. and the rival firm of Ricks. The production] is from the Fux Studios. 2‘: 2-: 3': During a. reL-ent visit to Los Angeles, Mr Gilbert Frankau, the English novelq ist, made dose inquiries into the firm! business, and incidentally discovered there a. world's champion who hitherto has been unknown to the world. . He' is the champion film story writer, and his name is Casey “'illiams. “What ('asey \Villiams makes at his craft I know not, because all yalues in Celluloid City are too inflated for any mere word-monger to grasp,” writes Mr Frankau in his book “My Unsentimental Journey.” which deals with his visit' to America. “But Whatever he makes, he is entitled to. For whereas a novel a year is a burdensome output for any wordmonger. this man has conceived and written 136 screen stories in four years.” 2': 3': 3': The British producing firm, the Stol! Picture Company. has just completed a - film on the subject of Boadicea, and claims that it is the biggest screen spectacle ever made in England. “'ith a‘ setting in Roman Britain, this film has a fine theme behind it, that of the heroic queen leading her oppressed‘ countrymen to battle. In the title role. Phyllis Neilson-Terry _-acts with tragic tensity. Never had a film heroine such an unpleasant existence from the moment when she is publicly whipped for insulting a Roman officer to her final scene when she perishes with her two daughters rather than bow down to Rome. The film took a full year to make, it cost many thousands‘ of pounds to produce, and employed a, cast of over 1030 people. 1 n . "3., ."z z': . . . .

llow a beautiful spy' who moved in an atmospher-e of international intrigue became so enmeshed in its net that it proved her destruction, has been used by Vicente Blasco Ibanez, world-famous Spanish author, as the basic theme of his novel, “Mare Nostrum.” It has been produced in screen form for MetroGoldwyn by Rex Ingram, the creative genius who made “ Blood and Sand,” “ Scaramouche,” and “ The Four Horsemen.” Its dramatic qualities are terrific, and its reproductions of battle scenes at sea compare with anything of the kind seen on the screen. Antonio Moreno and Alice Terry, two of the screen’s bigger personalities, are featured in the principal parts. The spirited and uproariously funny experiences of Harold Lloyd as a missionary in the slums of a big city, ending with his thrilling adventure as a distracted and much-harassed fiance—are the highlights of the bespectacled comedian's initial Paramount release, “ For Heaven’s Sake.’ Those who have had an advance view at the film describe it as a typically hilarious Lloyd comedy that offers the bespectacled comedian the type of sympathetic characterisation in which he appeals so strongly to his legion of admirers. As in all of his vehicles, romance plays its parts in the development of the story. Jobyna Ralston, who has played opposite him in many of his previous successes, is again the object of Lloyd’s love-making. Norma Shearer is probably' the most accomplished woman athlete in motion pictures. She has attained a most surprising standard of skill in tennis, swimming and golf, and has gained an enviable reputation as a speed motorist. The ugh in her other pictures she has bad little opportunity of displaying this prowess, her latest starring vehicle, “ The Waning Sex,” more than atones for past omissions. In it she swims, dives and play's tennis in a manner that compares favourablv with the most highly trained male athletes. She is the embodiment of feminine grace and ease. “ The Waning Sex ” is a droll comedy' romance, with a modern theme as its foundation. It is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture now released throughout New Zealand. An American correspondent, writing .to “ Everyone’s,” the Sydney movie publication, gives the following as the best money-making pictures in the United States for 1926, in the order of their respective box office attractions: * —“ Keeper of the Bees,” “ The Cohens and the Kellys,” “ Behind the Front,” " The Vanishing Race,” “ The Son of the Sheik,” “ The Volga Boatman,” “ The Lost World,” “ The Pony Express,” “ The Iron Horse,” “ Charley's Aunt,” “ The Ten Commandments," “ College Days.” Of these productions (writes the correspondent), “The Lost World,” “The Pony r Express,” “ The Iron Horse,” “ The Ten Commandments,” “ Charley’s Aunt ” and “ College Days ” all had been included among the best sellers for 1925. The gorgeous splendour of the semibarbaric court of the Grand Khan of Tartary*, shown in full colour in the Universal Film de France production of the famous Jules Verne melodrama, Michael Strogoff ” presents a striking contrast to the civilised magnificence of the Imperial Palace at Moscow of Alexander 11., Czar of All Russia in 1850, which is also a feature of the huge spectacular photodrama. In these days Czar and Khan were absolute rulers. Their word was law for life or death. The Grand Khan bycomparison was a petty- ruler, but his pow'er was equally absolute, and the trouble his Tartar hordes caused the army of the Czar was sufficient to make the journey' of “ Michael Strogoff ” through his hostile territory one of the greatest adventures of fiction. One of the latest films finished at the Fox Studios is “Stage Madness,” with Virginia Valli in the feminine lead. This is an engrossing drama of a dancer who married out of the profession, sickened of her quiet domestic life, and finally* returned to her old love, leaving behind a broken-hearted husband and baby girl. The child grows up, and, unknown to her mother, takes up stage work in opposition to her father's wishes. The mother’s return is marked with huge success, and for many years she reigns supreme, but one night she becomes nervous, and in a spectacular dance falls and injures herself. One of the girls of the ballet is picked to take her place, and this girl is none other than the star’s own daughter. The dramatic manner in which the mother discovers this fact is a most absorbing climax. When the stalwart gladiators of last century fought with their bare fists in the prize-ring for the glory of the sport, boxing procedure was very different from what it is to-day'. Then there were no three-minute rounds and no gloves. A round ended when one fighter was knocked down. Thus it might Jast a minute or an hour. And at the end they would often be carried away battered almost out of recognition. In the MetroGoldwy'n-Meyrer picture, “ Blarney’-,” adapted from the exciting sporting story by Donn Byrne, the reproductions of these old-time con-

tests will be a source of amazement, to j audiences. Ralph Graves, Malcolm > Waite and “Bull" Montana are very effective as the prize-fighting gentlemen, and Renee Adoree, as a charming Irish colleen, provides a delightful ro- ; mantic interest. “ Hotel Imperial," in which Pola Xegri is the star, is claimed to be her best picture since “ Passion.” Lajos Biro, the Huungarian ramatist, wrote the story, which has the war for its theme, but an unusual phase of that great conflict—the rest period between battles, when officers and men give themselves up to relaxation and indulgence. The Russians have taken a Galician town, and the general and his staff use the principal hotel for their headquarters. The Austrian servants, j with one or two exceptions, have j fled, and a refugee Austrian officer finds shelter there and is | pressed in to service as a waiter, which saves his neck, allows him to be of use to his country, and brings a big love into his life, the chambermaid at the hotel having made a sacri- j fice of her reputation to save him from i death. Italy’s emotional heart seems to have j been stirred b\‘ a peculiar “ stunt ” or- , ganised by the William Fox rCpresenta- 1 tive in that country, with the object of finding the handsomest Italian man [ and the prettiest Italian woman. The i Fox agent received 300.000 photo-post- ' card replies, which, it is estimated, improved the revenues of the postcard industry by some" £15,000. The agent, however, “ put his foot in it ’’ by saying that though Italy seemed to have plenty of handsome men, she seemed *to lack pretty women The result was that he received the photograph of a perfectly lovely girl, who gave no name and address, but said: “ Look at me! I I am twenty years old, and what you see is what I see in my mirror. My beauty will haunt you for the rest of your life!” The Fox agent frantically advertised for the girl, or any one who knew her, to come forward. Talking pictures will soon be an actuality on theatre screens. The General Electric Company, which produced the ' new photophone, is working on several contracts for the immediate production .

lof projection machines. At a second ' demonstration of the new pictures, it was explained that the directors find difficulty in excluding from the film extraneous noises. This means that in ; talking pictures the actors must not I make unnecessary noise, annd must • speak their parts exactly at the proper moment. One demonstration showed the use of music with the picture, the strains of a 100-piece orchestra flooding every corner of the exhibition room. Low-frequency tones, which in the past have been difficult to reproduce, were easily identified. The first pictures will not be in dramatic form, because of the studio problem and the human element. but pictures of bands and speakers w»th incidental sounds will be pro- ; duced. As the high technique is de- ! veloped, the production will turn to I dramas. | Sol Lesser, 'youngest of American I motion picture magnates—he is only thirty-eight years of age—on his return from a trip to Europe naturally had something to say about the industry in i that part of the globe. American proi ducers, he thinks, are soon going to ' have real foreign competition, not only I in America, but more especially in the I European market, where the theatres, i now undergoing a grouping and rc--1 organisation, will, when organised, give | organised support to their own pictures, i at the expense, of course, of American I productions. British, French and German producers are at last really beginning to “ catch up in the race in which America has held the lead for so long. Once their own market is fully organised on the theatre end, as Mr Lesser seems to believe it soon will be, the quality of their product will steadily improve and the strength of their competition steadilv increase. The desire of the different I governments to encourage and develop their local film industries. Mr Lesser asserts, is motivated more by the wish to press in their films their culture ar; native characteristics faithfully, aside from all propaganda aims, rather than to establish an entirely local in--1 dustry. { A Vienna correspondent sends to a i London newspaper a description of a j new Russian film, “ The Bear's Wed-

ding.” which seems to have created no small sensation on the Continent, although it is unlikely that it will be shown in England It is described as a film of extraordinary beauty and extraordinary horror. In sheer “ trightfulness,” according to the correspondent, it makes the best German efforts look like bloodless banalities. The story is based on Prosper Merimee’s novel “ Lokis.” the Lithuanian word for “ bear.” It takes the form of a diarykept by a German pastor who, searching for some ancient documents, visits a lonely castle tenanted by a beast in human shape, the last survivor of an aristocratic family, who, on his wedding night, turns into a bear, bites the throat of his bride, and drinks her blood. This Russian blood-curdler was produced by the Moscow Art Theatre Company. K. W. Egert,. who produced the film, also plays the two principal male roles, and one “ Madame Alechina ” is the feminine star Nazimova. one time most popular of screen actresses —in Christchurch, at any rate—is now appearing in vaudeville in a sketch entitled “ A Woman of the Earth.” It has proved an excellent draw, consequently madame is booked for a long engagement. She recently appeared in the sketch in San Francisco, and referring to her the “Chronicle” critifc writes as follows: Nazimova looks marvellously youthful, and in the rags of the zingara she was lovely as we talked. Her yellow-grey eyes are ‘bright as diamonds, and her face is rounded and dimpled. She is jubilant over the disposition of her estate in Hollywood. “My home is ‘ bust,’ ” she said, “ so I did not want to live there again. I did not sell outright. My friends thought, it best that I should 'not. and perhaps they are right, for if I had had a large sum of money given to me I would have spent it all, like the foolish woman I am. It has been leased for ninety-nine years, and the yearly income will take care of me, so I can work if I want to and something I like comes up, or I can rest and have a good time.”^ | A striking indication of the educaj tional and historical value of even those films which were made solely for entertainment purposes is found in the

application made to First National Pic- I turcs recently on the. part of the American Museum of Natural History for certain sections of the print of ‘ The Lost World,” produced by First National. Professor Barnum Brown, associate curator of fossil mammals at the famous New York scientific institution. requested a print of those portions showing the mammoth dinosaurs, brontrosauri, triceratops, megalosauri. pterdacylis, diplodoci and other prehistoric monsters in motion. These shots, which are absolutely unique in screen annals, will be used in forthcoming museum lectures. Professor Brown declared them to be invaluable to students of paleontology, who will thereby be enabled to visualise perfectly the manner in which these creatures of a forgotten age lived. Before the production of “ The Lost World ” there were no pictures in existence which showed so fully the life and habits of these giants of the past. The constructive developments in the motion picture industry during the past year will be demonstrated to the picture-loving public of New Zealand during Paramount’s Greater Movie Season next month. The occasion will be nation-wide, as a celebration of the rapid strides motion pictures have made, and also to introduce the coming of bigger and better photoplays. During the past few years the opening of elaborate new theatres, particularly the Prince Edward in Sydney, the Capitol in Melbourne, the De Luxe in Wellington, the Regent, also in that city, and one of the same name in Auckland, of more recent date, together with the Winter. Garden in Brisbane, show the marked progress of the motion picture theatre in Australasia. from the small, insignificant wood and iron structure to the magnificent edifices of to-day. Paramount’s Fourth Greater Movie Season, in celebration of Paramount’s fifteenth birthday, will impress the general public with the importance and the possibilities of motion pictures and will signalise the advances the silent art has made. Exceptional attractions are listed for practically every theatre of importance for the month of March.