The Talking Screen

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20280, 14 April 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

The Talking Screen

GENERAL FILM GOSSIP. AVSWEBS TO COBBESPONBENTS. ** i^eres^e^-” —No definite date has been e -l, fo L the screening- of the film Little Women.” KEEN ON CYCLING. - Marian Marsh, who is now making her second British film—“ Over the Garden Wall/' with Bobby Howes—has ! caught the cycling craze. It all started when a cycling company asked her to pose for a poster on one of their Pew machines. She donned blue shorts, ! cap and pullover for the event, and now she is going to buy a bicycle, she says, just to ride around inside the I . studio. Given Another Role. Monte Blue, who makes his screen come-back in Paramount’s “ The Last Round-up.” has been given a featured i role in “Come On, Marines.” “Barretts ol Wimpole Street.” ■ Norma Shearer is to star in a Holly- - !L° od film version of “ The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” in which Margaret Rawlings, English stage actress, was teen in Christchurch in October, 1932 The central role is that of Elizabeth 1 S a rrett-Browning, wife of the" poet •' itobert Browning. Success of “Bitter Sweet.” j he talking film version of Noel! Coward’s great musical show “ Bitter j which was released simultane- • Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin at Easter, created fresh re- : cords for the theatres in which it was : shown. “ Bitter Sweet ” will be released in Christchurch in a few weeks. Secretly Married. Pat Paterson, the young British film actress, sprang a surprise on Hollvwood by announcing that she had married Charles Boyer, the French comedian. ■ They bad met less than a month before, and eloped to Arizona for the ceremony. 1

Long-term Contract. Gene Raymond, one of the more popular juvenile leading men on the screen, has been given a long-term contract by Columbia Pictures. He is now on his way to Europe for a holiday. The star plans to visit several European capitals, thus fulfilling a longcherished ambition. Raymond will return to Hollywood this month to take up his contract with the company. The j “ platinum blonde ” ac tor had a 1 meteoric rise in the cinema after a suc- | cessful New York stage career of ■ several years’ duration. He will be i remembered for his appearances in “ Ladies of the Big House ” and “ Zoo in Budapest.” (Mickey’s Voice. Have you ever wondered, when listening to the voice of Mickey Mouse on I the screen, who it really is that supplies him with vocal organs Well, you i needn’t wonder any longer. The secret |is out! Mickey’s “voice” is Walt Dis- ' ney himself, the creator of Mickey Mouse. “ The Scarlet Pimpernel.” Charles Laughton, who made such a tremendous “ hit ” in “ The Private Life of Henry VIII.,” is to play the title role in “ The Scarlet Pimpernel,” to be made by London Film Produci tions. The director said: “ I have rej viewed the entire film world and am j satisfied that there is no one else who | has such a clear title to the part as J Laughton. He is such a magnificent actor that I feel he could play almost anything, but in “ The Scarlet Pimpernel ’ it is most essential that the leading actor should be able to effect unrecognisable disguise, and in this respect I am certain that Laughton is supreme.” “ The Scarlet Pimpernel ” will be made immediately Laughton returns from Hollywood, where he has to go to play the part of Louis XVI. | with Norma Shearer in “ Marie Antoinette,” and also the leading part oppo- , site Norma Shearer in “The Barretts * of Wimpole Street.”

Pointed for Stardom. Another new star now in the making is Nova Pilbeam, aged fourteen, who ha? been chosen out of thousands of children to play in “ Little Friend,” a triangle drama which will be so written and photographed that the whole story is seen through the .child’s eyes, writes the “ Star’s ” London correspondent. The picture will be made at Islington by Berthold Viertel, the well-known Hollywood director. Neva Pilbeam’s part is by far the largest in the production, and if she makes a success of it she will emerge in a ’ew months as the first English child screen star of “ Mazda ” or Keen ” status, and the first girl of her age ever to become a star in talking pictures. Noya does not often go to the cinema, but she confesses admiration for Greta Garbo, although her particular idol is Madeleine Carroll, whom she would like to emulate. She has no false hopes of success, however. “ I don’t think I’m going to like myself much on the screen,” she told Viertel. “ That’s good,” he replied. “If you go into it in that spirit you’ll be all right.”—N.A.N.A. Copyright. “ Rip Van Winkle.” Washington Irving’s legend of Sleepy Hollow, “ Rip Van Winkle,” is to be made into a picture. RICO-Radio will release the film, which, however, will be made by the Pioneer Company, a new organisation, of which John Hay Whitney, familiarly known as Jock, is the backer. Whitney became interested in picture-making through visits to Hollywood, and his friendship for Merian C. Cooper, who is a prominent member of New York society, although he has been an adventurer since he and Ernest B. Schoedsack went into Northern Africa and made “ Grass,” one of the great pictures of all time. “ Rip Van Winkle ” will be the first production made by this company, and it will be made in the new three-colour process, which Whitney likes. “ The Last Days of Pompeii ” and “ Cyrano de Bergerac ” are to follow “ Rip,” and they, also, will be done in colours. Lionel Barrymore is to be the Rip, a role he should do marvellously well. He seems to be the only member of the cast yet selected. But the others hardly matter in this stor}% as Rip is its beginning, middle and end. The story, one of the most important, is found in “ The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Cra>’-on, Gent.,” which was publish- ( ed in London in 1819. Washington Irving was living in England at the time. Many plays have been drawn from the storj' and an opera or two, one by Robert Planquette. James Henry Hack-' ett, famous as America’s great Falstaff and father of James Keteltas Hackett, who- played “ The Prisoner of Zenda,” “ The Pride of Jennico ” and other romantic dramas, was an early Rip Van Winkle. He played the part much in the middle part of the nineteenth century. The Ruling Sensation. “ Catherine the Great,” Alexander Korda’s successor to his brilliant picture, “ The Private Life of Henry VIII.,” and in which the principal is Elisabeth Bergner, famous Continental actress, is the ruling sensation in New York. The New York “Daily News” gives the picture four stars—the highest grading—and remarks that it is worthy of many superlatives and that its equal has not been seen in New York since “ The Private Life of Henry VIII.” Son of Famous Contralto. Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, son of the famous contralto, has been signed for an important role in “ The World Moves On,” a Fox Film production which will have Madeleine Carroll and Lranchot Tone in the leading parts. The story is by Reginald Berkeley, author of the screen adaptation of Cavalcatde.” Others -so far named in the cast include Raoul Roulien, Reginald Denny, Sigfried Ruman, Nigel Bruce and Drue Leyton. “ General John Regan.” “ General John Ragan,” filmed by British Dominions Films from tfie popular stage success which was based on the story of the widely-read novel, is recognised as being “ the best Irish comedy since the far-away days of 4 Con the Shaughraun ’ and ‘ O’Callaghan on His Last Legs,”’ Racy and witty in the extreme, the dialogue is a treat to listen to. Henry Edwardes, so popular in “ The Flag Lieutenant,” has notched a triumph as the mercurial Dr O’Grady, who demonstrates to an American hustler that the liveliest go-getter in old Ireland is the brilliant young medico of the very small town of Ballynoy. Chrissie White makes a delightful Irish colleen. On Holiday. Having finished her latest film, “ Love, Life and Laughter,” Gracie Fields, the Lancashire comedienne, has gone holiday-making— to her new house in Capri. She bought this place, an old chateau by the sea, some months ago, and spent a good deal of money having 'it reconditioned. The former owner is a member of an old Italian . noble family, and, with characteristic thought and generosity, Gracie has allowed him to continue to live in his old home. He is to stay as her guest while the star is in possession. Fulfils Photographer’s Dream. Ann Harding has the most photographically perfect features on the screen, according to Lucien Andriot, who photographed her in RKO-Radio Pictures’ “The Right to Romance.” Andriot’s working days for the past twelve 3'ears have been devoted to perpetuating the charms of beautiful women. Of them all, he is convinced, Ann Harding comes nearest to fulfilling that dream of every photographer—a perfect sculptured face. “ The bone structure of her face is as nearly flawless as I have ever seen,” Andriot declared. “ Her facial contours are beautifully symmetrical. I n addition, she has a mobility of expression that is a joy. Swift shades of emotion are instantly mirrored on her countenance.” Diana Wynyard and Brook. Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook will be seen in “ The Dover Road,” an RKO Radio adaptation of A. A. Milne’s famous play. This will be their first co-starring vehicle since “ Cavalcade.”

BRUNNETTES LEAD. Scored Most Successes in Films. Looking over the stops made by the wheel of fortune during the last year in Hollywood the biggest percentage of winning numbers has gone to the blacks, a surprisingly few to the whites, and only a couple to the reds. Which is another way of saj’ing (writes Rosalind Schaffer in the “ Chicago Sunday Tribune ”) that it has been a big year for brunettes. Blondes have furnisha few spectacular successes and redheads have been scarce indeed. A few years ago the screen was over-whelmed with red-heads, then blondes, and then the platinum blonde held th.2 scene. Now the brunettes are having their day. While a listing of established successes might show a larger percentage of blondes, the new girls for whom the closing year was their big season are preponderantly brunette. Leading off with the names of the most important ones one finds Ruby Keeler, Alice Brady, Diana Wynyard, Gracie Allen, Kay Francis, Elizabeth Allan, Benita Hume-, Margaret Lindsay, Mae Clarke, Rochelle Hudson, Heathej Angel, Margaret Sulla van, Frances Dee, Irene Bentley, Jean Parker, Dorothy Wilson, Pert Kelton and Helen Mack among the newly successful brunette sisterhood. Blondes have their queen in Mae West. Lilian Gloria Stuart, Toby Wing, June Knight, Madge Evans, Mary Carlisle and Charlotte Henry gleaned other honours for the blondes. The “ between colour ” girls, those with light brown hair and blue eyes, include some famous names. Dorothea Wieck, .Judith Allen, and Katherine Hepburn belong here. “ Ginger ” Rogers is the sole redhead now that Clara Bow has made what may be her last “ fling.” Matheson Dang Starred. Matheson Lang will play the leading role in a 8.1. P. film based on the life of the late Sir Edward Marshall Hall. “ Lorna Doone.” Victor Hopper will play the title role in Basil Dean’s production of “ Lorna Doone.”

I*l l*] i*j m i*i I*l i*i i*i i*j i*i i*i m i*i I*l i*i i*i I*ll*l \± Directors at Elstree. The British International Studios at Elstree live up to their name, at least as regards their directors.« Here are a few thumb-nail sketches of men who have been making pictures there recently:—Paul Stein, German. Sensitive and artistic, with an expressive, intellectual face. Sometimes elated, sometimes sad, but always knows it’s going to be all right in the end. Develops ideas through tense emotions. While directing “ Red Wagon,” he lived, ate and slept with the circus. Now directing the Tauber Schubert film. Robert Milton, Russian origin and Hollywood experience. Small, rotund and benevolent. Always carries a heavy walking stick, but never uses it. Very popular. Has just directed “ Contraband.” Paul Merzbach, German. Slim, fair-haired, wears glasses, and looks like a school teacher. Persuades rather than directs his artists. Just completed “ Love at Second Sight,” with Marian Marsh. Thomas Bentley, English, and looks it. Middleaged and robust. Looks like a farmer, calls everybody “ laddie,” and wears a disreputable old velour hat and tweeds. A Dickens addict and loves old-time stories. Now directing Pinero’s farce of the ’nineties, “ The Magistrate.” Norman Lee, British, former newspaper man. Tall and thick-set, with bald head. A natural humorist. Writes all his letters with caricatured illustrations. Now directing Leslie Fuller in “The Outcast.”—N.A.N.A. Copyright. Lugosi and Karloff. Bela Lugosi (of “ Dracula ” fame) and Boris Karloff (“ The Mummy ” and “ Frankenstein ”) are to be seen together in “ The Black Cat,” from the story bjr Edgar Allen Poe. Signs New Contract. Marie Dressier has signed a new long-term contract with Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer. Makes Good. The nineteen-year-old Ida Lupino, daughter of the famous Stanley Lupino, has made good in Hollywood. Paramount have decided to take up the second six months’ period of her contract. Ida, who now receives £l2O a week, will have the lead in “ Ready to Love.”