HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 377, 19 March 1932, Page 24 (Supplement)

HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON

By

Mollie Merrick.

HOLLYW T OOD, February 16. Constance Bennett’s Next. How does Constance Bennett manage to get the box-office hits? This time it’s “ Lady with a Past,” and I predict that it will be a film with a future, for in it Constance Bennett is seen in the role she has really been playing for some time, a sort of wallflower who blossoms out in a big way. Acting honours in this film really go to Ben Lyon, who plays the part of a young American gigolo in a fashion that brings out all the comedy in his part. Lyon is an actor who has made big strides in talking pictures since his none too convincing role of the young Englishman in “ Hell’s Angels.” Causing Havoc. Influenza and diphtheria sweeping through the colony are causing havoc in picture-making and wracking the nerves of producers, artists and possible victims. Miriam Hopkins has been unable to continue her work due to influenza, which left her voice in such a weakened condition as to be useless. Lupe Velez, a victim of influenza, is now suffering from pleurisy following a vicious attack of the contagious malady. Ramon Novarro is up and about again after a mercifully short attack of influenza. Forgetful Ann.

Ann Harding admits to having the shortest and most treacherous memory of any woman in

Hollywood. Back, of this fault lies a trail of broken engagements, hairbreadth escapes from dinners which she had “ all but forgotten,” last moment preparations for dinner parties to which she has bidden friends in an expansive moment only to forget completely a little while later, and all the

other embarrassing complications which follow upon loss of memory. Harry Bannister tries his best to make up for his beautiful wife’s defections: he listens in when Ann Harding broadcasts invitations, and makes a mental note to inform the cook. But he can’t be at his wife’s elbow all the time, and.

occasionally the Bannister household is faced by the humorous and terrifying situation of Ann Harding completely forgetting again. Difficult Feat.

The most difficult feat attempted by producers since the advent of talking pictures has been the preparation of “ Strange Interlude ” for screen use. As it is scheduled to go into production soon, the entire force of M.G.M. has been strained to its utmost to achieve make up progression that will survive the test of the severe lighting and story continuity which will bring the meat of the picture down to super-feature length.

Eugene O’Neill’s play must needs be boiled down somewhat to get it into the ten or twelve thousand feet which it will be when finished. His characters run the gamut of a lifetime—not in quick progressions, but slowly—which makes for the most difficult make up the screen may produce. The technicians have laboured hours on end in order to arrive at the most happy manner of using the “aside,” which O’Neill revived in this play, wherein the characters speak their thoughts as well as their sentiments intended for the

I ® ® a @1 SI S! ® El S! ® ® Bl E ® ® ® ffl [g g] g other persons. The matter of this spoken thought has not yet been settled. The choice now lies between two methods of translating this strange idea to the screen. One—the double exposure negative—gives the actual character behind which and through which a hazy “ soul ” character is glimpsed and which latter character speaks the thoughts whilst the clear or actual character speaks the lines. The other method of dealing with the thoughts is to have the sound track speak the thoughts the while the actors’ lips are motionless, but the emotion of the " thought ” is carried on "by pantomime. This more nearly achieves photographed “ spoken thought ” than the double exposure negative, and is more original. Double exposures have been done repeatedly in screen work since the “ silent ” days.

The cast for “ Strange Interlude ” surpasses anything yet attempted with the exception of “ Grand Hotel.” Norma Shearer will be seen in the major role, Clark Gable will be seen as the doctor, Alexander Kirkland will play the role of the husband and Ralph Morgan the part of Charles, the family friend. Henry B. Walthall will be seen in the father’s role, but the part of the mother has not yet been decided upon. Return of Serial*. The return of the serial picture proves that producers feel there is a need to lure* the audience into the theatre by strong-arm methods. Time

was when every good picture was fairly sure of an audience. To-day we shop for films. We weigh carefully the producer, the author, the stars—l should have put these in reverse order —and as a result there is bound to be some picture left in the cold. However, if a thrilling serial is running at a theatre, that theatre is bound to have continued patronage during the run of the serial, notwithstanding its other attractions. David Selznick is starting “ The Secrets of the Paris Surete ” with this in mind, most probably. They were thrilling things to read, and should be thrillers to vision, made as he will do them, with notable and capable casts. Latest Efficiency Measure. The latest efficiency measure in the studios provides for the use of twins of different temperaments so that time may be saved in the filming of baby shots—the most difficult of all shots to

secure satisfactorily. The twins being used for “ T?he Red Harvest ” are utterly different temperamentally, although identical physically. One cries at the drop of a hat and one bills and coos all day. The producer uses the happy baby for smiling sequences and the naughty one for less pleasant moments. Since the California law permits a baby to be on the set only four hours a day, the new departure is aiding the time schedule marvellously, and when the time schedule is hastened in a picture there is a saving of money also. Amazing Novelist.

Edgar Wallace, the novelist who startled Hollywood by turning out 60,000 words in one week, is no more. Influenza, which had ravaged the colony and which, in Wallace’s case took the form of double pneumonia, put finis to one of the most colourful life stories ever written by fate. Whilst his wife hurried to his side after receiving a cablegram from his close friend, Walter Huston, warning her of her husband’s illness, Wallace slipped over the shadow line into the hereafter. At his bedside Huston and his secretary had kept vigil for some time whilst nurses and doctors administered the oxygen which was the last hope of the scientific world.

The world’s most prolific writer completed three motion pictures in three months’ time in the studios; a novel was done during the same period. His stay in Hollywood had been brief, but

he had made a host of friends in the short time with the amazing facility of one who has learned short cuts to truth and to discard the non-essentials

of human contact. No man who has passed this way will leave more sincere sorrow in his brilliant wake than Edgar Wallace, who scanned the pages of life at first hand and had more stories in his heart than he could find time to tell. Sport Pictures the Vogue. The Olympic Games are making sport pictures almost imperative in every studio, and the athletic type of leading man of the Joel M’Crea type is favoured. Even the Four Marx Brothers are having athletic sequences in their present picture, and Ramon Novarxo’s new film, “ Huddle,” goes on apace under the new impetus. Ramon has tennis and swimming championships and is the finest fencer in the colony. This is no light matter—here athletics are a necessity and the professionals are expert. A Net? Beau.

Lupe Velez has managed to find in her newest beau, Randolph Scott, a practical duplicate of Gary Cooper. Scott is that tall, rangy, lean-faced type coming into vogue in films now. He appeared with the Mexican beauty at a supper party recently, but the thing which caused fever comment, though, was the fact that John Gilbert, meek as a lamb, was clinging to Lupe’s other elbow. In Hollywood, where there are fifty women to one poor man —and fifty beauties, also—two in an evening is a very good score. (Copyright by the “ Star ” and the N.A.NA..—AII rights reserved.)