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FILM WEEKLY.Friday, March?.9, 1935 '
T
--- -~ - -- ---
TO
Reg!Stered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper
BARBARA STANWYCK
IN
"COURAGEOUS"
FI LM WEEKLY, .larch 29, 193&
·CRAWFORD GABLE-
A 'TRIANGLE
WITH A MIGHTY
STAR IN EACH
CORNER - AND
a laugh in
every line!
Sunday Express
YOU'VE NEVER
KNOWN LOVE
TO BE SUCH
" Forsake everything and see it "
"A rage, not to say a riot" Sunday Dispatch •
" If you miss seeing this picture, never read this page again"
News of the World
AT ALL THE LEADING CINEMAS
ON AND AFTER MONDAY NEXT I
2
1i_·~~~~~~~J~;··1.his forthcoming Life of Christ.
~ * .. * ~
i The sentence of five days' im- ~
Francis Lederer for breaking·.:~ prisonment recently imposed on '_,:'=,,_
the Californian speed limit has
been reversed. Lederer is now
free.
* * *
Helen Hayes announces that,
on the completion of her present
M.G.JU. contract, size will leave
the cinema and devote herself
entirely to lzer family and the
stage.
Lubitsch is reported to have
bought the once popular oper-
etta, "The Count of Luxem-
burg," to be adapted for Carl
Brisson. Brisson is at present
on holiday in Honolulu.
The Cuban Government want
to ban" Rumba," George Raft's
latest picture. They say it
libels their island.
* * *
Walt Disney ha~ been pre-
sented with three wallabies by
an Australian admirer. Result:
Walt is about to start a new
cartoon called lliickey's Kan-
garoo.
*
Paramount are to film the
life of Garibaldi. They wanted
Robert Donat for the lead, but
he is already tied up.
* * *C. B. Cochran is reported to
have been otiered £15,000 a
year to take a post as produc-
tion supervisor with M.G.M.
* * *The Irish Abbey Theatre
Players are to make a talkie on
their return from America. The
story will be by Lennox Robin-
son and exteriors will be shot
in Ireland. Studio work will
be done here under an American
director.
* *
Mae Busch, star of many
silent pictures, including The
Christian and The Unholy
Three, is making a steady come-
back. Some time ago she
played in the Laurel and Hardy
comedy, Fraternally Yours.
Now she is trying her hand at ,
drama again in a supporting
r6le in Stranded, the Kay
Francis-George Brent picture.
* * *The llarmon-lsing Company
are to produa a new type of
cartoon with all the characters
and backgrounds made of cloth.
The central character is a calico
dragon who lives in a red flan-
nel castle_
* * *
La Dame aux Camelias is an.
nounced as Garbo's next pic-
ture, following Anna Karenina.
* * *
Clive Brook has signed a one.
picture contract with Fox to
play in Orchids to You, adapted
by Howard Estabrook, directed / '·~:.
by Harry Lachman.
;.......................................................................:
FILM WEEKLY, Marcil 29, 1935i
II
Bad Luck
II
Picture
" It is based on a whimsical idea and is excellently acted by a real/I bril/i -nt cas.t"
frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Margaret Sullavan and Herbert Marshall in" The Good Fairy"
I
T'S an old studio superstition
that films dogged by misfor-
tune while in the making
often turn out to be huge suc-
cesses when they reach the
cinemas.
Screen history is dotted with
bad-luck pictures which have
meant good luck at the box-office.
And unless I am greatly mis-
taken, one more is shortly to be
added to the records. It is Mar-
garet Sullavan 's latest, The Good
Fairy.
0 0 0
SEVERAL classic rows held up
the production of this unfor-
tunate film, and gave everybody
the impression that it would pro-
bably never be completed.
You know, of course, that :Miss
Sullavan eloped to Yuma with the
director, William ilyler, in the
middle of the proceedings. You
also know, if you read Margaret's
remarks in a recent issue of FILM
WEEKLY, that she and William
Wyler had a series of quarrels
about the film before tl1ey agreed
to get married.
0 0 0
ADDED to that, Vyler was
! ' fired " shortly after the
elopement for taking too many
close-ups of his wife.
Things were patched up to-
wards the end, and Uncle Carl
Laemmle, the producer, bestowed
his benediction on all concerned.
But the' people who worked on
The Good Fairy were certainly
very far from being one big happy
family.
0 0 0
THE superstitious will therefore
be pleased to know that it
has turned out a very good film.
It is to have a special pre-release
run at the Empire, Leicester
Square, a theatre usually reserved
by M.G.M. for their own pictures.
I saw it at a trade show a short
time ago, and I have seldom heard
so much laughter at the screening
of a new talkie. There was
nearly as much spontaneous en-
thusiasm as at the memorable
first performance of that famous
record-breaker, One Night of
·Love.
4
0 0
J DO not know how The Good
Fairy will be received in the
West End of London, and I
.·····················································
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Portrait
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hardly think critics will be en-
tranced by its artistic qualities,
·which are a trifle mixed. But I
believe that filmgoers generally
will find this an exceptionally
amusing romantic comedy. It is
based on a whimsical idea, and is
excellently acted by a really bril-
liant cast.
0 0 0
MISS SULLAVAN herself
gives a remarkable perform-
ance as a silly little goose of a
girl who causes everybody a great
deal of trouble by her stupidities.
Frank Morgan is fine as one of
those idiotically amorous middle-
aged men he p-0rtrays so well.
Herbert Marshall unbends
enough to play what is really a
comedy part. Reginald Owen, an
actor for whom my respect in-
creases with each succeeding pic-
ture, contributes a marv-:!lous
character study of a belligerent
waiter, so unlike anything he has
done before that I had to look up
the cast of characters for his
name.
0 0 0
S-IG~S of the disagreements
· which punctuated the mak-
ing of the picture arc easy to de-
tect. The story has emerged as
a queer cross between farce and
fantasy-a '' compromise,'' as
Margaret ?ullavan called it.
The wedding scene upon vhi<:h
Mr. Wyler is alleged to have
spent so much time, and which is
•
·································. .
NEXT
WEEK.
PAGES
3°·AS USUAL
FILM WEEKLY'S Fourth
Annual
BRIT.IS H
Fl LMS
NUMBER
D D D
Details on Page Six
I
································
••••.• .
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••a9
NEW FILMS
Reviewed in this issue
AFTER OFFICE HOURS. Clark
Gable and Constance Bennett.
MUSIC IN THE AIR. Gloria
Swanson and John Boles.
CLIVE OF INDIA. Ronald
Colman and Loretta Young.
LOTTERY LOVER. Lew Ayres
and Peggy ff!ars.
(See pages 27 to 29)
.....................•.........
FI LM ' WEEKLY10-13, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.2
· Telephone:
Temple Bar: 8171-2-3-
Friday, March 29, 1935
Volume 13, Number 337
Telegrams:
Reelinews, Lesquare, London
EDITOR: HERBERT THOMPSON Associate Editor: JOHN GAMMIE
Bergner's Big Moment
NEXT Monday is an important date in the screen career of
Elizabeth Bergner.
On that day her second British picture, Escape Me .lieuer, will
be screened at a gala premiere in London. The red carpet will be
out, and the customary policemen will be there to hold back the
crowds as the distinguished audience is decanted from its limousines
and taxis at the theatre entrance.
The significance of the occasion lies, however, not in its social
trimmings-a commonplace of every important :film premiere now-
adays-- but in the fact that it marks the first British screen appear-
. ance of Bergner in a characteristic part.
D D D
.A fe' have seen her in one or two of her German pictures. l1any
have seen her in ('ather£ne the Great. But the real Bergner is still
virtually unknown to British tilmgoers. We saw only a little of her
in the role of the unhappy Catherine, which was by no means a
suitable merlium for her gamin personality.
This, when you come to think of it, is a truly remarkable
situation.
Here is an actress who is intemationallv famous. '0./e talk of
her simply as Bergner, as ,,ve might talk of Garho. We [lave accepted
her, without qnestion, as one of the great stars of the screen. Yet
she is onlv now ;itout to make her British screen debut under ideal
conditions~ in the film version of a play which was specially
written for her. ·
I£ she has achieved. so much, on the strength of so little, what
Vill be the measure of her achievement now ? ~Has the unassailable
Garbo at last found a serious rival ? Monday's premiere vill ansv1·er
these interesting questions.
.
Clark Gable, Clown
CLARK GABLE, formerly one of the most unrelenting of he-men,
discovered an unsuspected talent for light-hearted comedy in
It Happened One Night.
His 'producers, surprised and pleased, decided to "cash in on it."
They did.
In fact, they made him something of a clown in Forsaki11g All
Others. The experiment proved very successful. Its freshness and
novelty saved it from mere silliness. But that did not mean that
it could be repeated ad lib.
It comes as a slight shock to find Gable, in After Office Hours,
again clowning his way-with far less excuse-through a part which
might have been played "straight."
It is time to cry " Enough." A little horseplay goes a long way.
3
FILJ! WEEKLY, March 29, 1935.
MakesGood
I ~~~~ ~~~ ~;~~I~ ;~ ;~~ ~~~~:
........................................... by THE EDITOR ·······································
said to have given him the idea
of marrying his star, has been cut
to a mere '' flash '' at the encl.
But the net result is extremely
funny aria:! that is all most people
are iil~ely to bother about.
0 D D
W. E shall probably bear a lot
more of William Vvler
after this. Miss Sullavan 'has
vowed ne,·er to make another
picture under him. Yet I think
their marriage will do him a great
deal of_good. . 1 • •
He 1s a pamstakmg, stuchous
type of man who would probably
become too serious, too absorbed,
in the derails of his work, with-
out a cheerv feminine influence.
I ha,·e b~en privileged to ha·e
a peep at their private life, and it
i.; nn· much like that of the Thin
Ma11 'couple. Margaret should
inspire her husband to greater
things, eyen if she doesn't ap-
prove of his methods.
D D D
WYLER, as .a matter of fact,
has bad a highly romantic
career. It would make a g·ood
film story, if it didn't sound so
improbable.
It began in the ear1y autumn
of 1920, when Carl Lacmmle, of
UniYersal, who was then on a
tour of Europe, left his gloves in
his hot'el and went into a shop in
Pari;; to buy a new pair.
The young man who served
him was the son of the proprietor,
and his name was v'illiam ;Tyler.
He recognised lIr. Laemmle; and
told him he was fed up with
gloves. You couldn't expand in
gloves! He ·anted to get: into
something like advertising or the
film business.
D D D
I MPRESSED bv 'yler's sin-
cerity and ' earnestness,
" Uncle;, Carl became interested
in this dapper glove sale!>man. .
'' Do you know anything about
films? '· he asked.
" No, sir,'' said "der, " but
I could learn ! '' ·
Inten-icws with 'ylcr's
parents followed, and, eventually,
he sailed back to America with
Mr. Laemmle, and vvas given a
job in the " Foreign Publicity
Department" of the New York
Office. He made good at once,
and, within a year, was in com-
plete charge of all the ·publicity
of Universal Pictures in the Latin-
speaking countries.
D 0 0
BUT writing advertiserpc1?ts
for pictures, eyen at a 111ce
comfortable salarv, failed to
please him. He ·wanted to. get
into the ·production side of the
business:
So he wrote to Laemmle and
told him of his ainbitions, saying
that he would be prepared to start
at the bottom if need be.
The Uni,·ersal President took
SEVE.N YEARS' HARD
Clark Gable
CLARK GABLE will be kept
busy for at least the next
seven years. M.G.M. have given
him a new contract for that period.
Not that a seven-year contract is
unusual" in itself. Lots of stars
get them-and find themselves
out of a job within six months.
But Clark has a different kind of.
col)tract.
It contains no options. Con-
tracts with actors have a habit of
being rather one-sided affairs. The
studio retains the right to break
the agreement when it likes. Not
so with Gable's contract. He
will get paid whether he works
or not.
Which just goes to show two
things : (a) Mr. Gable has a
clever manager, and (b) M.G.M.
have a lot of faith in Mr. Gable's
ability to remain popular until
1942. He'll be 41 by then.
" You know, of course, that Margaret Sullavan eloped to Yuma wich t:.e
director of the picture, William Wyler"
him at his word ! He made him
" odd job " man at Universal
City, at a salary of a few dollars
a week ! Tyler was a good odd
job man, and when The Hunch-
back of Notre Dame went into
procluctio1i, he was niade third as-
sistant direetor, and did so well
that he later became first assistant
to such directors as Ernst Lu-
rbitsch and In·ing Cummings.
D .0 D
FROM the~1 on, liis . progress
was. rapid. So rapid that he
.had to face scandal in the shape
of rl1mours that he was " in
with " the Laemmle familv and
was being pushed· to success.
The 'box office was his best
friend. He was making two-
reel "esterns, and each one he
made Yas a bigger success than the
last. So he graduated to five-reel
'esterns, and then to other pic-
tures, such as Anybody Here Seen
A'elly.? ·ith Tom Moore and
Bessie Love as his stars.
. His first chance to direct a really
important film came in 1931, 'hen
he Yas placed in charge of -alter
Huston's Law and Order.
Last year, bis able direction of
John Barrymore in C011nsellor at
Law Yon him praise from critics
on both sides of the Atlantic. And
so to T lze Good Fairy, n·hich "·ill
ha1·e boosted his reputation a few
more points by the time he return::
to Hollyrnod from his European
honeymoon ·ith Margaret Sul ]a.
van 'yler.
0 0 D
DISNEY'S NEW IDEA
N E'S of important develop·
ments at the Yalt Disney
studios reaches me from Holly-
YOod.
Disney is reported to be "think-
ing out" a cartoon, Snow-white
and the Seven Little Dwarfs, 'hich
'ill be as long as the average dra-
matic feature film, but 'ill be
made, like the Silly Symphonies,
in full Technicolour.
The cartoon king- has toyed 'ith
similar ideas in the past. He seems
to be serious about it this time.
He admits it will be an experi-
ment; a risky one, too, for_it will
cost about £30,000 and may not
"click." But if it does he will
produce at least one full-length
cartoon-not necessarily a comedy
-each year. More than one if the
public approves, and practical
difficulties can be overcome.
D D D
AT present, the Disney.·orkshop
is at full pressure. The
studios are seven cartoons behind
schedule, and each subject means
several ·eeks' hard 'Ork.
Lt is a solemri thought that Dis-
ney probably would never have
been ab~e to make such miniature
masterpieces as· The Goddess of
Spring and The Tortoise a11d tlze
Hare without the income he derives
from the sale of Mickey Mouse
dolls and toys.
The Walt Disney Enterprises
Company, formed to exploit these
reproductions of Mickey and Min-
nie Mouse and other characters
from the c.artoons, brings in more
money than is derived from the
exhibition of the films. And the
revenue goes into the production
of more and better cartoons, which
would not otherwise be a paying
proposition.
Commerce, in other words, has
onc'e again come to the aid of Art.
D D D
THAT £20,0CO
SAM GOLDWYN, back in Lon-
don after a strenuous bout of
picture making in Hollywood, pro-
fesses to be puzzied by the report
that he offered £20,coo for a story
for Eddie Cantor's next picture.
"But," says Mr. Goldwyn, "I'd
pay £50,000 for a story if I liked it
well enough."
Veil, if £20,006 is too little,
£50,000 will do.
D D D
As a matter of fact, the famous
offer was reported from a re-
liable Hollywood source, and was
probably connected with some of
Goldwyn's recent pronouncements
on the whole subject of film author-
ship.
He contends that there are far
too many screen. writers at present
wh.o are not worth the money, and
that many thousands of pounds are
thrown away annually on poor
stories.
Judging from some of the hack-
neyed pieces of fiction masquerad-
ing as stories I have come a<;ross
within the past year or two, I
should say he is perfectly right.
If he is determined to apply the
test of sheer merit to. every story
he buys ih the future-disregarding
such little things as the reputation
of the author-he will start a revo-
lution against high-priced, but
worthless, stories, which should do
a lot of good.
D D D
ASTAIRE'S LATEST
OUR Hollywood representative
is enthusiastic about the latest
Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers screen
musical comedy, Roberta, which is
scheduled to follow Lives of a
Bengal Lancer at the Carlton some
time in May.
It is an adaptation of an Ameri-
can stage success, and is said to
be immeasurably better even than
Tlze Gay Divorce. Astaire's danc-
ing is described as "terrific" and
the music "full of hits which
everybod¥ will soon be whistling.".
D D D
THE most interesting point about
the picture, to me, is that a
return has evidently been made to
stage methods of putting over
dances and musical numbers.
"FILM WEEKLY'S" GREAT
BRIT.ISH 'ANNUAL
FILM WEEKLY'S famous British Films Number
for 1935-the fourth annual edition-will be
better than ever.
Contents include FULL PAGE photogravure
PICTURES of British stars in their latest parts;
a two-page CARTOON by SHERRIFFS, the
famous caricaturist; the RESULTS of "FILM
WEEKLY'S" BRITISH FILM BALLOT for 1934; an
UNVARNISHED WHO'S WHO of British Picture
People; and pages and pages of magnificent
articles by well-known contributors.
As there will be a tremendous demand for this
Number, readers are advised to make certain
of getting their copies by placing their
orders NOW.
80 PAGES
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935.
perfect that the people in the
cinema burst into spontaneous ap-
plause a few seconds before they
appeared. The effect was "in-
tense! y thrilling."
D D D
H OLLYWOOD is now laughing
heartily up its slee·e. Pro-
ducers of "musicals" have been
striving for years to get as far
a'ay from stage technique as pos-
sible, and have spent millions of
pounds on panoramic sets and
elaborate overhead and upside-
down camera-work.
Now, someone goes right back to
the stage, using the simplest and
easiest metI'ods, and makes a great
"hit." Can you wonder that the
Busby Berkeley crovd are feeling
pretty sore about it?
0 D o•
HISTORIC MOMENT
TH IS "·eek has seen. the cine-
matic reconstruction of a
landmark in gastronomical history
-the invention of the sand,,·ich.
The place was Vauxhall Gardens,
the year somewhere around i750.
David Garrick, Dr. Johnson, Gold-
smith and other notabilities were
out on a mild spree, dinina under
the trees in front of th; boxes
where t~e more daring ,young men
of the eighteenth cent.ury took their
evening relaxation. Herbert Vil-
cox was sitting beside the camera
,'i'"ecting the scene for Peg of Old
l.Jmry.
The waiters brought on plates
of meat. Lord Sandwich, one of
the Garrick party, suddenly found
himself visited by inspiration and
called for a loaf of bread. Cuttino-
tffo slices from it, he slapped ~
piece of beef between them and
began to eat.
The first sandwich! Forerunner
of the daintier morsels which were
to make Mrs. Beeton a back number
and bring fortunes to the snack-
bar proprietors.
0 D 0
THE. scene over, Cedric Hard-
w1cke, who plays Garrick,
came over to tell me of a disturb-
ing thought that had struck him
that very morning.
"Here am I," he said, "exhibit-
ing what is in effect the most colos-
sal imp.ertinence. I, an actor, am
attemptmg to re-create on the
screen the personality of one of the
greatest actors we have, ever
known. Men of genius have been
characters in films before-but
they've urnally been poets or play-
wrights or composers or pianists.
I don't mind being cast as a world-
famous violinist-nobody expects
me to be an expert on the fiddle.
But, as Garrick, I have to act the
very parts which Garrick himself
made famous. I have to convince
the audience that I am an actor of
Garrick's greatness. Vhat impu..:
dence ! ".
Some of the dances are filmed as
though from a camera planted in
the front of the stalls in a theatre,
and at the end, Astaire and Ginger
Rogers come back and " take a
bow" as if recalled by the applause
of the audience.
At the Hollywood pre-view, the
timing of their re-entrance was so
OUT NEXT FRIDAY
3o. AS USUAL
J:ut that way, it certainly ~eems
a difficult job. The only comment
I can make on the situation is that
Sir Cedric Hardwicke is the one
actor I should have chosen to bring
it off successfully.
D D 0
NOT PARTICULAR
"c/ESAR said: 'Let me have
around me men that are
fat.' I say : 'Let me have around
me men '-and let it go at that,"-
Mae West.
6
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935.
IT PAYS to be
-A"TYPEL/
says BETTE
Not ·long ago, Bette Davis
was rejoicing at her escape
from stereotyped parts -
publicly thanking the pro-
ducers who gave her the
opportunity of playing the
character role ofthe contempt-
ible Mildred in " Of Human
Bondage " (which British film.
goers have just seen).
Now she declares that she
is not taking any more risks.
" I feel I went to the limit in
•Of Human Bondage,' she says.
Why has she changed her
mind ? She tells you all about
it in this exclusive FILM
WEEKLY article, which gives
an interesting insight into the
problems of a modern film
heroine.
THE most difficult thing
to do either on screen
or the stage is to go
on playing oneself . . . being
oneself . . . and still remain
interesting.
DAVIS
The easiest thing in the world is to play
a character role. At least, I have fouqd it
so.
Until recently, as you know, I played a
long series of sophisticated and stereotyped
rol~-nearly always the girl friend with
strong ideas on how to manage men.
If one is interested in acting, that kind of
thing is apt to grow monotonous. vVhen,
the opportunity for a change comes, as it
did to me in Of Human Bondage, the temp-
tation is very strong. So when I was asked
to play the role of Mildred in that film-at
the suggestion of Les!ie Howard-I wanted
to do it at once. "
Yet, do you know, I almost didn't? My
cournge slumped to zero as I read the book.
I was not sure I could play the part after
all, because l simply couldn't believe in
such a person as Mildred, nor believe that
she could go on holding that sort of a man.
I still feel that, in order properly to under-
stand the film-especially my part in it-
one needs to have read Somerset Maugham's
story as a text book. I don't suppose more
than one in a thousand of those who have
since seen the film had ever even heard of
the book. How many, then, could have felt '
that they really knew the girl Mildred, whom
I tried to portray? Only a very, very few I
fear-and I mean I fear !
I like experiment. I should still be glad,
at times, to have the chance of shoving the
public what I can do with a character role.
But I don't want to g-o too far. In Human
Bondage I feel I went to the limit.
vVhen my husband and my friends saw the
"I simply couldn't believe in such a
person as Mildred"
Bette Davis as herself (a·bove) and as Mi!dred in
"Of Human Bondage" (left). Many critics c~n·
sider that her performance of this part shoud
have won her the Academy acting trophy for 193.4
film, they were speechless. They simply
could not believe it was me. The fact
that the picture has since achieved such
fine results in no way minimises my own
perception of the risk I ran.
I recently finished another character
role in Bordertown with Paul Muni. I
think it gives me a better opportunity
for real acting even than Of Human
Bondage.
I am seen as an ordinary, common Ameri-
can girl, who marries a revolting old man
for the sake of his money. Unable to en-
dure his drunken amours, and having con-
ceived an interest in a young man (Muni),
I murder the husband. !he crime preys on
my mind, and finally drives me insane. It
is a good role, I think, but again, it is I
experimental, and I think it will do nice!J
for the present, thank you !
I want to go back to my nice, smartly
dressed secretaries, lady journalists, com-
mercial artists, and understanding girl
friends for a while. I know what the public
thinks about that type of role.
Nothing would please me better, just now,
than a few more parts like the one I played
in Cabin in tlte Cotton. Remember? She was
modern enough to be amusing; she had a
fine sense of humour, and she was clean and
normal enough not to make anyone in the
audience feel sick.
Let's face it. It is useless to disguise the
fact that to become popular, and keep her
popularity, a Hollywood actress has to
establish a definite screen style-an identity
to which one must frankly attach the hor-
rible description "type."
Once she has discovered a style which the
public acclaims, she must remain more or
less the same little woman in every picture
she mak~3; rather more than less, too !
This is certainly the verdict of the Ameri-
can film public. Perhaps, in Britain, where
] understand individuality is more strongly
develcped, it is performance rather than the
personality which counts. I should very
much like to find out for myself, and I will
make a film in England the very first chance
1 get;· Hollywood keeps me too busy at the
moment.
."WE fr/mgoers are growing tire<l
of spectacular miracles har-
nessed to music.''
"Some directors are of the opinion
that ' serious music can dispense with
dignity."
"Musical films as a whole are
not having a square deal."
FILl11 WEEKLY, March 29, 193f;
Where
II
Musical
II
s
by W: JOHN ELTON
" MUSICALS " are low in the esteem of
critics and discriminating filmgoers.
If tr.e word "brilliant," so frequently
applied to films varying from thrillers such as
The Man iV!to Knew Too Much to historical
romances such as The Barretts uf TVi111f'ule
Street, is by any chance associated with a pro-
duction of a musical character, we arc at once
surpris.ed and curious to know how ;,uch a
m-iracle of direction has been achieved.
This, to me and to all other lovers of mu;.ic,
is a catastrophe, but unhappily good reason
for the public's loss of faith in musical pro-
ductions is too plentiful to be denied.
No musical which evades the is,.,ues of com-
mon sense can hope to be considered arJistic-
this in spitr of Busby Berkele·, Buddy Brad-
ley, and the other brilliant manufacturers of
formation and fermentation. Yet in these
super-efficient days when heads arc turned
grey to assure the correctness of the smallest
detail in films, down to a ring on the finger
or the design of a fifteenth-century tankard,
musicals are still offering scenes and sequences
Yhich are nothing short of .an effrontery to the
intelligence of the modern audience.
Release from Realism?
The average director appears to regard music
as an immediate relea:,e from the bonds of
realism and an oppodunity to "·andcr in the
mists of an absurd fairvland without the
slightest regard to congruit-y or the vanishing
patience of his potential audience.
The pity is that very few of these musical s
scorning the rules of realism a.re sufficiently
clever or suitably designed to fall under the
heading of "burlesque" or "fantasy."
There is a very real place for fantasy on
the screen,, as was proved long ago by S1111shine
Susie and the brilliant productions of Rene
Clair. But it is significant that, even in the
case· of pictures such as Le Million, the fan-
tasy depends upon dexteritv of touch and
tricks of continuity rather than upon modern
and unnecessary miracles Yhich are never
encountered in life.
"e filmgoers arc growing tired of spectacu-
lar miracles .harnessed to music. ' e are
losing interest in sequences such as those in
Dames, which .typify such an unneces:,ary
wavering between realism and fantasy. .
Extraordinary Happenings
An examination of Dames pro·cs that the
.word " musical " is expected ' to cover some
extraordinary happenings. Dick PO·ell and
Ruby Keeler, originally on the stage of a
theatre which'; we presume, does not possess
elastic; walls, are follo"·ed during the course
. of their stage performance through streets
thronged Yith people and parked cars, into a
subway, into a raih·ay carriage (a long, long·
journey here), and over the rails of a railway
yard containing a mere half-dozen or so trains.
The sequel to this is a dazzling succession
of Bu?by Berkeley creations-' "·hich would have
called for Olympia to contain them-and then
we are sudden1y shocked to find ourselves
gazing once more at the non-rlastic theatre
and the applauding audience, these ·proving
that the director earnestly trusted us to believe
that this cavalcade of half a city had passed
across the stage. ·
Dames does not stand alone: too many large-
scale musicals are still asking for sympathy in
this way. After such a spectacle, it was a re-
lief to me to find that the chorus girls in
Brewster's Millio11s do not burst the bul 11·arks
of Jack Buchanan's yacht an,d go for a short
canter over the Bay of Biscay-oh !
Romance is not intended to be al ways in
F1Lil! JVEEKLl', March 29, 1935.
Go Wrong
Gramophone and"Film Weekly's"
Music Critic G ives Exper~ Opinion
Vexed Subjecton· a
harmony with stark realism, but even romance
is not permitted the licence of disregarding
the customs and irrevokable Jaws of Nature.
It is this licence that the directors of many
-0f -0ur musical films arbitrarily assume.
The pattern for realism in romance is found
in 011e Night of Love. This film has veak-
nes!'es-thc thin speaking ·oice of Grace Moore
in comparison Vith her glorious singing; the
forced situations such as Mary's discovery of
Monteverdi in Lally's arms-and yet it proved
an outstanding success. Yhy?
Because of its music-yes-but ~ven more
because of the sa11e prese11tatio11 of its music.
It showed sincerity. It respected the credibility
of the audience. Vhen Grace Moore indulged
in musical exercises, it did not impott an
orchestra of one hundred musicians to accom-
pany her; vhen an opera was presented at a
theatre, it remembered the dimensions of the
average stage and managed to resist the temp-
tation, in the " Madam Butterfly" scene, to
send Grace Moore drifting through forests of
blossoming trees, to finish up on the peak of
a mountain soine miles away, with prisms,
discs, candles and candies closing in to give a
symbolic fade-out. In other words, it observed
the rules of common sense, and we applauded
gratefully.
Another hurdle where realism often stumbles
to the embarrassment of a critical audience is
that of accompaniment. Musical accompani-
" The pattern (or
realism is found in
'One Night of Love'
•.. Why? . .. Because
of the sane presw-
tation of its music "
Right : Grace Moore
with Tullio Carminati in
a scene from this famous
film
ment can be of tremendous value e·en to a
film _whi~h is not otherwise musi~al, and no
one m his senses would ask directors to intro-
duce the work of an orchestra only when one
is shOVn on the screen. But what is to be
desired (quite in conformity with good art) is
that audiences should be emotionally affected
without immediately realisiuK the cause. This
ideal, particularly in the accompaniment of
actual musical items in the films, is constantly
being sacrificed for the sake of flourishing
effect. ·
In lh1fi11islied Sympho11y, for example, we
saw young Schubert sitting down to give a
recital at the piano before the Princess Kinsky.
And what did we hear? A piano? Oh no, we
heard instead the immediate and undisguised
crashing of a symphony orchestr-a. Perhaps
young Schubert carried this in his Vaistcoat
pocket. Admittedly, the orchestra was none
other than the Vienna Philharmonic and a de-
light to listen to, but is it impossible in these
days of film efficiency to increase the pleasure
of the audience by introducing an orche'1ra as
an orchestra-or even a comparatively simple,
but definitely expressive, piano as a piano?
" Tact " Wanted
I am not so stiff-collar~d as to suggeft that
an should only be applied when strictly in
line with cold realism. My argument most
certainly is, however, that music, and particu-
larly accompaniment, should be introduced
 ith tact and gentleness, so as to preserve the
illusion of realism so laboriously created on
the screen.
This can be done, and it is significant that
the films causing least complaint in this respect
are those that have been acclaimed as suc-
cesses. Referring once more to One Night of
Love-and it is difficult not to refer to this
production when dealing with the successful
presentation of music-you will probably be
able to recall the scene in which Tbllio Car-
minati, noticing Grace Moore's nervousness
before her first opera, forced her to try over
a song with him. He accompanied her on the
piano. The piano was at first the only accom-
paniment heard, and I sincerely believe that
the majority of filmgoers, if asked, would say
9
that it remained so during the whole of the
song.
As Grace Mo-0re grew in confidence and
strength of voice, however, so did the accom-
paniment match her mood by a gathering depth
and significance. Actually, the soft strings of
a violin added themselves, very quietly and
with artistic simplicity, to the chords of the
piano. The violin had a use-it symbolised
Grace Moore's strengthening confidence-and
yet not once did it make the audience blatantly
aware of its presence.
· ln ·such a way is a scene in a musical film
given dignity, and rendered more effective,
without loss of realism.
Absurdities
Unfortunately, some directors are apparently
of the opinion that serious music can dispense
with dignity. Jan Kiepura is a victim of this
policy.. In My Song for You, he was shon
in the opening scenes, in a ridiculous garb,
hopping about the deck of a yacht as he sang;
later, in the same film, he was shown in a
bathing costume at a S·irnming bath, singing
to an audience (which had paid for its ''>seats"
with the express intention of hearing his voice,
mind you !) immersed to the waists in water.
If this is what directors consider to be suit-
able presentation of a good ·voice, then it is
fortunate that Caruso lived when a tenor could
perform. with dignity. In all probability the
modern film-makers would have planted him
in a wheelbarrow and pushed a banana into
his hand.
The subject is a wide one-the difficulties of
musical comedies, the problems of presenting
popular songs-but from this alone it can be
seen that musical films as a whole are not
having a square deal. There is no art in the
world that appeals to the emotions or the
artistic sense of collected people more than
music, and yet the conductor's baton is con-
unually being turned into a jester's jack.
Let us hope, then, that directoTs will cease
to be obsessed by the belief that the applica.
tion of heavy brush-loads of music will glo:;s
over breaches of faith with their audiences.
Vhen this happens, musical films will take
their proper place in the lists of sincere and
artistic productions.
IS AMERICA UNFAIR
TO BRITISH 'FILMS?
A U.S. reader is "riled" by her country's
treatment of our pFcfures
To the Editor, FILM VEEKLv.
W
E American filmgoers have
just begun to realise the ex-
cellence of British pictures.
If we 1::.ave been a long time doing
so, 1t is largely because British pictures
have not received a fair deal in
American cinemas. All efforts to get
our local theatre managers to book
the better British films have, so far,
been unavailing.
I am still riled at the treatment of
Catherine the Great, starring Eliza-
beth Bergner-. This fine picture was
relegated to a small, sme'.ly theatre
which usually shows V,Testerns ; while
Hollywood's hoge-podge, The Scarlet
Empress, was screened at our largest
and best theatre. Ve demonstrated
our approval of the British film bv
filling the small theatre to capacit:,
while the Hollywood production
played to scant aud:ences.
It seems that America has a poor
spirit of reciprocity since Britain has
given such sp~endid support to
AmeriC3.n films. Britain has also
suppiied the American screen "ith
some of its finest' talent, includ 1ni:;-
George Arliss, Claude Rains, Herbert
~Iarshall,- Di.ana Wynyard and manv
othecs.--CORfNNE CHILDERS, <;06, Cle-
111ent Avenue, Charlotte, N. C.', C.S.A.
Misleading Advertising
J VISITED a local cinema for the
sole purpose of seeing Shirley
Temple in Change of Heart. All [
saw of her was one shot, and that
taken from the back. Yet her name on
the ·bills was quite as big as those of
the other principal artists. Is this
fair?-(:I1ss) D. M. DE.Kt:', f!a/es-
worth Road, Handswortlz, Sheffield.
- !Shirley Temple was not originally
"feature:!" in Chan?e of Flea rt, a
Ga~·nor-Farrell picture, although she
had a small part in it. She wa• com-
paratively unknown when this film wa~
made, an<l her name appears on the
distributors' synopsis only in the
detailed list of characters and players.
-ED.]
*
Although Shirley Temple's name was
hilled three or four times larger than
thus~ of the other players, she was on
the ,er; en in Stand Up and Cheer for
onlv a few minutes.
Something should be done to stop
managers from luring the public in ~o
their cinemas under false pretences.-
". YHTTAKER, !'vios<r A i'enue, F"·e
Lane Ends, Bradford.
Filming " .The Dredm"
H. lIOOlUNG'S article on A
,Y. il!ids11111111er Night's Dream
(FIUI WEEKLY, March 15) fired me
"'ith astonishment. What posoessed
Hollywood to over'.oad the gossamer
"Dream" with elaborate spectacle and
mammoth architecture? '
The greatness of the play lies in
its glorious poetry. From a dramatic
point of view, .the plot is trite and
disjointed, and not even the most in-
spired acting can make the lovers any-
thing but cardboard figures.
Shakespeare wove lovely word pic-
tures into the play and left the rest
to ' the imagination of the audience.
Sumptuous settings and elaborate de-
SHOCKING REVELATIONS. The night clubs of Rangoon, os pictured by Hollywcod
in "Mandalay," have caused delighted surprise to the unsuspecting irhabitants of
Rangcon, according to a Rangoon reader. Our illustration shaws Kay Francis, in the
film, as hostess of a Rangoon night club
tail, such as galloping unicorns and
grotesque gnomes, are unnecessary
and in ,bad taste.-(M1ss) NI:'-!.. Hix.
sos, Preston Road, TVe111bley.
Perhaps lIax Reinhardt's next ven-
ture will be a Y.arner musical founded
on lIilton's "Paradise Regained"
and played by Warner Brothers'
crooners and hot rhvthm cuties.-
~Llt<GARET lli:uucori, Hampstead
Gardens, Golders Green, N.W.
"hatever it may be as entertain-
ment, the film of "The Dream" will
no't be Shakespea.re, for three good
reasons :- .
The. elaba,rate sets, which are super-
fluous and must detract from the text.
The actors. Onlv trained Shake-
spearean artists can" deli Yer the lines
properly.
.ccent. Any English dialect would
ha'e been acceptable, but Shakespeare
could never blend' with the American
accent.-E. DORA TURBI~. Coalbrook
.Jlansions, Bedford Hill, Ba/ham,S.W.
Loud Laughter from Rangoon
J~ filming stories of the East, Holly-
wood producers seldom trouble
much about accuTacy, en the assump-
tion, I suppose', that few filmgoers have
been frere.
"hen such pictures reach the real
East, they are receiYed, as you may
imagine, witlr considerable amusement.
Following, for example, are extracts
from a review of Mandalay in The
Rangoon Gazette.
" I had always been led to believe
that Rangoon was. a progressive city
with modern buildings, paved streets,
an up-to-date harbour · and almost
e,·erything else that one associates with
civilisation. But I find I have been
10
wrong. Rangoon, the producer of this
entertaining dramatic comedy tells us,
is a shambling, neglected-looking,
sleepy place, with waving palm trees,
phretons .and strange, narrow, winding
streets. Those of the population who
are not 'Empire builders' are
Chinese. The wharf was a revelation.
I ha'e never seen anything like it be.
fore. And you should see our night
clubs! "-Jon:; BRADLEY, Sule Pagoda
Road, Rangoon.
[~fandalay was directed by Michael
Curtiz. with Kay FranciR as Tanya,
" t.he most notorious woman in Ran-
goon," and Ricardo Cortez as Tony,
her gun-running lover. It was released
in Britain last August.-Eo.1 ,
The Time Element
'VH' is it that so many otherwise
competent directors fad to mark
adequately the passage of time in their
films?
Two recent pictures, The ilfan Who
r..·new Too Much and The Pai.nted
Veil, were, in my opinion, marred by
neglect of the time element.
In Hitchcock's film, one of the
CRITICISM
FILMGOERS are the most
important critics, for,
whatever the professional
cr.itics may think, it is upon
their judgment that the
success of a picture depends.
Let us hear your opinions
of the films you see.
Prizes are awarded each
week for the best letters
published.
This weefc:•s awards go to :-JOHN
BRADLEY (£1. Is.} and Mrs. A. WILLIS
(I Os. 6d.), whose IE.ttsrs appear on
this page,
········................................................................~
FILM WEEKLY, Marcl. cI, 19~5.
characters appears to m.ake the journey
from the A)bert Hall to Wapping in
about two minutes.
In The Painted . Veil, Garbo is pic-
tured as a neglected wife ·almost before
we h.ave reaiised that she is married,
and ·embarks on a love affair with
· Townsehci w~en theY. have barely been
rntroduced. - (MRS.) A. WILLIS,
lllonega Road, Forest Gate, E. ·
When Freddie Recited
F1rnDDIE BARTHOLOMEW'·S sue.
cess rn David Copperfze:d recalls
to mind an incident which I witnes.sed
a few years ago in a small 'iltshire
town.
- I_ hel~ed to organise a conc«rt· ~t
which l· redd1e g-ave a number of reci-
tations: His elocution was marvellous,
especially for a child so young.
Like_ the audience, Freddie fully
apprec1.a'ed his own effort's; which he
showed by clapRing himself heartily
after nery turn.-]. H. FI<ANCIS, St.
Giidas, West End Terrace, Winches-
ter.
Early Filmgoing Days
SIT"ril'G comfortably in a palatial
· modern cinema, I reca~led my
early filmgoing days at the old Royal
Pavilion, Blackpool-the birthplace of
pictures in this town.
A temporary screen was erec'.~d on
a wooden stage at one end. Tl:.e floor .
was covered with sand, and the seat-
ing consisted of wooden forms. A
huge watchman's brazier, emitting
smoke and fumes, was the heating
apparatus.
Boys used to bring potatoes and
roast them on the brazier while watch-
·ing the pictures, returning home with
blackened hands and faces.
All the same, those were happy
days !-THO~US SHARPLES, Ball Street,
B/tickpool.
Walter Huston Missed
'VHAT qas happened to Walter
. Huston? This g-reat actor gave
magnificent performances ernn in the
early talkies. How ·much better he
might be in the superior talkies of
to-day, with their improved stories
and technique. I cannot. understand
why Hollywood neglec~s him.-C.
GRF.F.XE, Haverstock Hill, N.W.
[Walter Huston vohrntarily left
Hollywood to return to his first love,
the stage; against the wish of M.G.M..
who, it is said, have given him a stand4
ing invitation to return. He is at
present appearing in the U.S.A. in a
play baeed on Sinclair Lewis's
"Dodsworth," and rnay bring it to
London. His lust film seen in England
was Keep 'em Rolliny, relea,;ed last
N ovem!Jer.-Eo.l
As Others See Them
J THOCGHT Tlie Painted Veit
merely mellerdrammer, though
Garbo is always a rest for the eyes.
Are there no beautiful subjects that
it should be necessary to make a film
about choler.a? As one who has
nursed leprosy, I know ·the horror of
these diseases, and I protest against
pictures of such sad, sad things.-
DArSY Sl'RRIDCE, Ar1111/f Street, Cat.
ford, S.E.
Vienna has made a·nother master-
piece in So Ended a Great Love, a
worthy successor to the lovely Jfllaske-
rade. The acting is so sensitive that
you know what the characters are
th.inking without a word being spoken.
-(Miss) K., ACLAND, Oxford Street,
w.
F/L.1 WEEKLY. March 29, 1935.
Picture People
by JACK ARNOLD
Dick Powell is
ready for "Broad-
way Gordolier."
a musical with
was there to be laughed at.
In Blessed E<'ent, you
remember.Joan Blondell
G
ARY COOPER is scheduled to
p'ay in The Light that Failed,
adapted from the Rudyard
Kipling novel.
Story is of an artist who is torn
between devotion to paintinl' a master-
p iece and a longing for travel. It was
filmed way back in early silent days.
-as staged in London in 1903 with
Forbes Robertson as Dick.
J(Il'LING wrote two endings to the
story. As origina'ly planned,
and later published in novel form.
the hero went to the Sudan Var and
was killed.
However, it was first published in
a magazine, and for this pur.pose it
ended happily with the marnage of
the hero.
It is not difficult to guess which
version will be used in the film.
0 0 0 .
J
OAN CRAWFORD will have a new
type of part shortly. Metro plan
to cast her in The Garden of
Allah, from Robert Hichens' novel.
Vhe,n he was in vaude-
ville he and Ginger Rogers
did .an act together.
He gets one of the largest fan mails
In Hollywood. All letters are answered
-except proposals of marriage. He
gets several a week of those.
D 0 D
A
LINE MACMAHON is set for a
new picture with Guy Kibbee.
Title : The Patient in Room 18.
Say what you like, Aline is one of
the most versatile of players. Com-
pare her in IIeart of New York, 011e-
way Passage and A vVoman in EIer
Thirties.
Vhen the Broadway play, "Once
in a Lifetime," was being cast, Aline
did her best to get the part of May.
She was refused. However, she got
the part in a touring company.
The co.rnpany toured in California,
and, when "Once in a Lifetime" was
filmed, Hollvwood rnshed after her
holding· out the p'art with both hands.
D D 0
J OEL McCREA is going paternal
· these days. In Heaven's. Gate
he plays the part of Shirley
Temple's father.
He looks af~er Shirley all day and
his own child at night.
It's a boy, born last
September.
Joan Crawford
will soon star in
a film of" The
_Garden of
Allah"
For Iieaven' s Gate a
complete circus has been
hired. It inch!des one of the l"rgest
tents in existence and the largest ele-
phant in captivity. Shir'.ey is looking
fcrwaEd to circus fun.
PERHAPS to take his mind off two
doses of fatherhood, Joel is be-
coming a rancher. He owns about
l ,ooo acres, and plans to raise cattle.
He is doing it on the instalment
plan. Each time he finishes a picture
part of the money goes in additions
to the ranch. He says H e011en' s Gate
means another 200 acres to him.
When making his lR..st picture Joel
had an example of how the world
turns. Arnold Gray was a star in
silent pictures and J eel was his stand.-
in. In Private W or/ds Arnold Grav
was Joel's stand-in. -
n 0 0
E RNST LUBl'fSCH is plannini!
big things in his new capacity
as productio.1 chief at Para-
mount. ·
He has just purchased rig.hts in five ·
hun::lred Victor Herbert rne'odies.
Herbert wro:e many operettas, includ-
ing the one from which Naughty
l!Jariella, Jeanette r-Iacdonald's latest,
was adap ed. -
H 2 will produce a film based on the
title, Life and J!e/odies of Victor
flerbert. Probability is thitt Bing
Crosby, Carl Brisson and lIary Ellis
will play in it.
HOLLYYOOD is excited because
Lubitsch called ~farlene Dietrich
back from a holidav for re-takes for
Tfze Devil is a Woman. .And Von
Sternberg, who nevair makes re-takes
It is rumoured that when Marlene
makes another picture, Gary Cooper
may play opposite her. They were
toge ther in 111orocco.
0 , D CJ
GRETE MOSHEIM is new to
_ British films. She is leadin1'
!adv of the new Gaumont-Bri-tish
picture, Car of Dreams.
Film is a musical about a girl
worker in a musical-instrurnenr fac.
tory who finds herself the owner of
an unbelievably magnificent car.
John lIills p'.ays opposite her.
Robertson Hare is in it, too.Story, as you probably know, is
about a man who leaves a monastery
to face the world, but finally renounces
even the woman · with whom he has
fallen in love and returns to seclusion.
..................................................................................................................................................... GRETE lIOSHEir.I is another of
Max ReinhaJdt's pupils. . Her
father is a doctor in Berlin.
NO leading man has yet been chosen
for Jo.an Crawford. In a former.
film of 'the story, Ivan Petrovitch
played opposite Alice Terry. Thlt
was in 1927.
Even before that it was filmed with
Torn Santschi in the lead. Santschi
was a vVestern actor.
The play gave Nazimova what is
probably her most famous stage part.
Incidentally, Kazirnova is now actin.g
in the new Shaw play, "Simple-
ton of the Unexpected Isles," in New
York.
0 0 0
L
AWRENCE TIBBETT will be
back on the screen soon. Dar-
ryl Zanuck is ge.ting an
original story written for production
shortly.. It will, of course, have an
operatic background.
Funny that Tibbctt played opposite
Grace Moore in New Moon, yet neither
of them were "discovered."
Tibbett learnt to use his· voice as
a schoolboy when he was roped in
by an lndertaker to sing at funerals.
He got a few dollars per bunal.
One of his great points is his exu-
berance, on and off the screen.
·hen he made his first film, -7 he
Rogue Song, h'is voice was so power-
ful that a special microphone had to
be obtained.
.o 0 0
D
ICK POWELL 1s slated for a
new musical, Broadway Condo,
lier. Joan Blondell and William
Gargan will be in it.
Also the Four Mills Brothers and
several others from American radio.
DICK is now one of the topmost
screen. crooners. Yet in his first
picture "he played a crooner who
KNOW THE DIRECTORS
7.-W. S. VAN DYKE
W S. (" Woody") Van Dyke
, - has had so much publicity
lately, as the maker of " The Thin
Man " and "forsaking All Others,"
that the greatest of all his qualities
-his versatility-has been some-
what obscured. ·
He is a director who need never
become monotonous because he can
do so many things supremely well.
It was not his fault that he got into
a rut of so-called " naturalistic"
films a few years ago. Because he
had had a success with " White
Shadows in the South Seas " and
again with " Trader Horn," it was
th.ought that he should confine
himself to pictures of open-air
adventure and " nature drama " in
various forms. Because he has
recently had an even greater
succe>s with "The Thin ·Man," he
might easily find himself in another
rut-this time oft.•ltra-smc.rt comedy
dramas which, by sheer repetition,
would eventually become mechanical
and dull. Which would be a great
pity, for Van Dyke's range is wider
than that of. any other front-rank
director.
His " emancipation " from nature
films actually began as long ago
as 1931, when he directed Lionel
Barrymore in a straightforward
murder melodrama, " Guilty
Hands." Since then, he has ranged
over almost evc;ry known variety of
film fare and has shown himself to
be master of many styles.
The praise showered upon him
might have turned a lesser ma.i's
head. But Van Dyke is hard-bitten,
experienced, unlikely to be led
astray by adulation. He knows
life, and can reproduce it on the
screen, because he has lived a
particularly full life himoe'f.
Actor, miner, lumberman, news-
paper reporter, playwright-he has
tried most things once, and made
a suctess of many of them. He
got a lot of his film knowledge from
the great D. W. Griffith. He
/earned about acting as a child from
his mother, Laura Winston, once a
well-known American stage star.
Six feet tall, laconic in speech and
determined in manner, he is the
antithesis of the sensitive, tempera-
mental director. He ·just knows
what he wants-and has a habit of
getting it.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••o••••••••••••••.-•••••••••••••••••••••u•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••;
11
Grete's first "personal appearance"
was when she was very young. She
found the audience in her home too
restricted, so she took a portable har-
monium into the street and played
there .. _ until her father; heard of it.
A Continental critic writes of her:
" SErn, electric, blonde, blue-eyed,
her amazing talent is allied to delight-
ful personal characteristics ... Gish
acts ·ith her hands, Bergner with
her shoulders, lIosheirn with her lilt-
ing feet and quick, mercurial legs."•
Yhich is no mean feat, whichever way
you spell it.
D D D
R
OSEMARY AMES wins the speed
trophy in the Romancecandals
this week. At 11 a.m. she ob-
tained a six-rnir.ute divorce from
Bertie lIeyer, London stage producer.
Two hours later she married J.
Abner !itilwell, Chicaf'O banker.
She has original ideas on marriage.
Her first husband acted as best man
at her second wedding.
lJ:ORE follows. Esther Ralston has
obtained , a decree and the
custody of her two-year-old daughter.
Thelma Todd won by alle~ing dis-
illusionment and extreme cruelty.
Dorothy Gish is divorcing James
Rennie, screen actor. She played
with him in a film entitled Remodel-
ling Her Husband.
l1TO.RE follows. Anita Page has sued
ll'..l for an annulment of her mar-
riage to Kacio Herb Brown, compo-
ser. Perhaps he played the trombone
in bed, or something.
lIax Reinhardt has applied to the
courts to validate the divorce he
obtained in Riga in 1931.
~ flLM TOPICS
by GLOBE
LONDON PAVILION
Monday, April Ist
WORLD PREMIERE
of
BERGNER
in
"ESCAPE ME
NEVER"
You will be spell-
bound by her mag-
netic personality!
A British and Dominions
Production
distributed by
N.8.-" Ne// Gwyn " fifty-ward postcard
criticism competition finishes Wednesday,
April 3rd. Past- your entries before that
date, marked "Film Weekly," to Globe,
British and Dominions Studios, Boreham
Wood, Hertforffshire. Result will be an-
nounced in "Film Weekly" issue dated
April 12th,
FIL.~f WEEKLY, March 29, 10~
Studio
II
Miracle Man
HERBERT HARRIS int-erviews
Harry
wizard
Davo,
of t-he
II k II
ma e up
B.l.P. st-udios
YOU never hear much about
men like Harry Davo, al-
though they're incalculably
important to films.
You've not heard of him? I thought
maybe you had11 't. But Harry has
been a miracle-man of make-up at
the British Inter-
national Pictures stu-
dio at Elstree for six
years. Six years of
n o s e s, e y e I a sh es,
beards, spirit - gum,
paint, powder and all
the other paraphernalia
of a big studio's make-
up room.
"'hen ambitious girls
go to be made up be-
fore the all-important
"tests," they say to
Harry, "Make us as
lovely as you possibly
can! " And this plea
got so monotonous that
Harry put up a notice
that they could all see.
It read : " 'e wiII do
our best to make you beautiful, but
we are not conjurors."
That is one of the stories Harry
told me in the intriguing make-up
room at B.I.P. The walls are
decorated with scores of portraits
of stars who have passed through
Harry's almost surgical hands.
They bear grateful and admiring
messages. There is one from
Anna May Vong in Chinese. And
there is one from Jane Baxter on
the bottom of a Blossom Time
" still" which reads : " Thanks
for all the good chalking." "Jane
would call pencilling 'chalking,'"
mused Harry.
" Balancing'' a Face
Many of the portraits show the
stars in unrecognisable forms after
"treatment."
"Few people know how intricate
is make-up for films," said Harry.
"'e work in co-ope"ration 'vith the
cameramen. Vhen the player has
been made up, we call in the
cameramen, who study the subject
closely, and decide what will not
photograph we!I. Alterations are
made. Then the player is photo-
graphed and shown on the screen
of the studio theatre. Ve watch
points, and often make further
alterations. And I make up fifteen
or twenty people a day !
"One side of the face is different
from the other, you know. Ve
have to 'balance' them, often
plucking one eyebrnw to make it
correspond with the other, and so
on. I have spent two hours on the
faces of girls not even playing
character roles.
" The talkies made one slight
difference in make-up. Some
people, when speaking, will raise
one corner of the mouth rather
12
Given a painting cf Lord Burghley (Jeff) Harry
, Davo had to make up B.n Webster to match.
He achieved the mirccu/Jus result shown abcve
unduly. Ve can give the other
corner an artificial ' twist' and so
'balance' it. Yes, the game is
full of little touches like that.
"As you know, we have been re-
creating quite a lot of .historical
characters recently. In those bound
volumes up on the shelf we have
the portraits of most historical
figures, and we copy them as
closely as possible, Sometimes we
call in the National Portrait
Gallery.
"Athene Seyler, as Queen Eliza-
beth, in Drake, has an artificial
nose, and it takes me half an hour
to put it on." ·
Then Harry opened a box to ex- -
pose half a dozen "noses." Rather
a gruesome sight. They keep these
as "casts," so that noses that have
been removed can be returned to
their owners' faces in the same
shape!
"Hay Petrie, as Quilp, in The
Old Curiosity Shop, was one of my
most tricky subjects. That nose
took three-quarters of an hour to
put on. In the last part of the
film, Quilp jumps from a wharf
into the water. The first time they
shot that scene, Quilp hit the water
rather bard, and emerged "·ith his
nose on his cheek. That meant
another three-quarters of an hour
in the make-up room before a re-
take ! His whole make-up took
nearly two hours.
"Dickens characters are all
heavy work for the make-up men.
Ve had the sketches of the famous
illustrators, Pbiz, Cruickshank, and
Kyd, only, unfortunately, these
famous illustrators don't all agree
on what the characters ought to
look like. However, I think we
have brought the characters to life
in a manner that will not offend
the most ardent Dickensians."
Making up Richard Tauber to
look like Schubert was another of
Harry's tasks. He h·as had all
sorts of famous people literally
through his hands.
" I get quite a kick out of s-lap-
ping the greasepaint into the faces
of well-known boxers ! " he con-
fes~ed. "I've made up Kid Berg,
Bombardier Velis, Gunner Moir
(who is in Drake), and Jack Doyle,
star of McClusky the Sea Rover.
Vhile I was slapping the face of
Kid Berg, he suddenly looked up
at me and cried : ' Say, old man,
aren't you taking a bit of a risk? '
'Keep still,' I said, 'or I'll knock
you clean through tJ:ie wall, and
you can talk to me after I come
out of hospital.'
Moustache Trouble
"And talk about false mous-
taches ! One fellow liked his mili-
tary moustache so well that he went
home in it. But another poor chap
found I had gone home when he
came to ha·e his moustache re-
moved, and after tugging quite a
lot he visited the local chemist for
help.
·•You could tell false whiskers
at a glance in the old days. But
you can't now."
Harry told me he has been in
the film business since before the
war,. doing everything. He used
to do quite a lot of stunt work-
diving off housetops into the river,
hanging on cranes, and being sus-
pended upside down over the side
of a ship.
It was his work as a "double,"
in fact, that gave him his flair for
make-up. Harry has " doubled '~
for such people as Henry Ainley,
Sessue Hayakawa, and Sid Chap-
lin. He made himself up to look
as much like them as possible
tasks which helped him to perfect
his art.
11
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935
"BUDDIES"
AG.AIN
JAMES CAGNEY
and Pat O'Brien,
the two " buddies ,,
who were together
in Here Comes the
·Navy, are back again.
In the recently
finished Devil Dogs_
of the Air they are
still wrangling over
a girl. This time
the girl is Margaret
Lindsay and she
looks a girl who is
worth wrangling
over.
James Cagney and Margaret
Lindsay in "Devil Dogs of
the Air."
"Now, see here ...." Just the beginning
of an argument between Pat O'Brien and
James Cagney as to who shall escort
Margaret Lindsay.
The commander uses models to
describe certain manreuvres to Pat
O'Brien (at the left) and lames Cagney.
13
Cardinal Richelieu was the power
behind the throne of King Louis XIII
in the days when all Europe was at
the throat of France. (George Arllss
as Richelieu and Edward Arnold as
King Louis XIII.)
A scene in the cathedral.
Edward Arnold, George Ar//ss
and (right) Halliwell Hobbes.
F I R S T'
FILJ.1 WEEK/,Y,March29,1935
P 1-CT U R E S
Francis lister as Goston in the film.
FILM WBEKLY, March 29, 1936
OF N E.W
The leading feminine part is played by M!]ureen
O'Sullivan. Here she is seen in a moving scene
with Guy Bellis.
Dramatic lighting gives power to
this scene of the Cardinal's death.
George Arliss and Guy. Bel/ls in
"Richelieu."
A .R L I S S FI ·L M
•
15
LAST week FILM WEEKLY
published an exclusive -
picture of George A .rliss in
make~up as the Cardinal in
his new 20th Century
picture, Richelieu.
This week we are able to
present the first pictures of
actual scenes from the film.
They show the principal
characters in their screen
roles, and give· an excellent
impression of the atmosphere
of the picture.
For many years before his
death Richelieu was the
secret director of French
policy and .dominated Louis ·
·XIII.
Just a flash of " The
Mexicano," the new
dance which Dolores
Del Rio performs
the film.
16
FILM WEEKLY,March29, 1935
Dolores Del Rio and
Pot O'Brien In" Cali-
ente."
Leo Carillo ploys a leading port in the film with Dolores
Del Rio.
INTRODUCING
"THE MEXICANA"
FILMS have already intropuced us to several
new dances. " The Carioca :· and " The
Continental" were two of them. Now, ih
her new picture, Caliente, Dolores Del Rio
introduces "The Mexicana."
In this film Dolores plays the part of a
beautiful dancer in Agua Caliente, the Mexican
town which is a favourite pleasure resort of
many Hollywood stars.
FILM WEEKLY,March29, 1935
EVELYN
VENABLE
IN
SHIRLEY
TEMPLE'S
NEW FILM
JN her new film, 'The Little
Colonel, Shirley Temple plays
opposite Lionel Barrymore. The
story is set in the days of the
Civil War. Lionet Barrymore
is a die-hard rebel, who cuts off
his daughter (Evelyn Venable)
for marrying a Yankee (John
Lodge).
However, their little daughter
(Shirley Temple) is made
honorary colonel of a cavalry
regiment. Her sweet parade.
ground manner (or perhaps it
was her horse) melts the old
die-hard heart, and tiny hands
weave loving bonds of union
round the separated family!
~~T'."""7
17
EYelyn Venable, cast out by the
Southern rebel for maJrylng a
Yankee.
Shirley Temple and Lionel
Barrymore In " The Little
Colonel." -
Paul Robeson as ~
8osambo, the ex-
convict who becomes
a chief, and Nina Mae tMcKinney as Lilongo,
the girl whom he
rescues from slaveItraders.
------
PAUL
18
' '
The , natives are held
back with gun and
spear. Left to right,
Robert Cochran as
Bones, Paul Robeson,
Leslie a·anks, Nina
Mae McKinney, and
John Thomas as Abi-
boo.
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935
SANDERS
THE famous " Sanders " books by I
in Sanders of the River, the nev
Zoltan Korda, which will have its we
Paul Robeson will be se<:;n for i
magnificent singing will be a feature o
plays opposite him. The part of I:
by Leslie Banks.
For this film a production unit tra'i
Africa to secure material. A comple1
banks of the Thames at Teddington
together, chiefly from the ·shippin1
act as extras.
r Wallace.are brought to the screen
Jndon Films production directed by
s premiere in London on April 2.
first time in a British film and his
e production. Nina Mae McKinney
ict Commissioner Sanders is played
d thousands of miles through Central
.ative village was constructed on the
i hundreds of natives were gathered
uarters of London and Cardiff, to
King Mofloba (Toto
Ware), Sanders'
sworn enemy, bar-
gains· with the slave
traders, Smith (Eric
Maturin) and Ferrini
(Marquis de Portago).
19
While Sanders is ab-
/eave in
'England, 8osambo
and his wife ·are
captured by the
hostile tribe of King
Mofloba.
II
BRITISH ·
ARTISTS FROM
HOLLYWOOD
AN attractive portrait of Frank Lawton and Diana
Wynyard, the two British artists who are star-
ring in Over The River, the Hollywood film adaptation
of John Galsworthy's novel, which can be seen at
the cinemas next week. .
The two ·are both in England at present. Diana
Wynyard has unfortunately had to leaye her West
End play, "Sweet Aloes," owing to an operation for
appendicitis. Frank Lawton's next film, Delay In the
Sun with Binnie Barnes, has been postponed so that he
can appear on the London stage in "Worse Things
Happen at Sea."
20
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1936
FILM WEEKLY, Jfauh29, 1935
Also in 1929 came Joan's marriage to
Douglas Fairbanks Junr.
/,ovely, glamorous Joan Crawford as we know her to-day.
SELF MADE
STAR
J
OAN CRAWFORD is an- outstanding example of
a self-made star. She began unknown, unnoticed,
as an extra player. Gradually, by hard work, by con-
stant!y training herself for better things, by concentrating
on her ambitions, she climbed the ladder of success rung
by rung. Now she stands at the top among the loveliest
and most popular actresses on the screen.
These picture;; show steps in her career. It is a far
cry from the unsophisticated, untrained actress-of those
early days to the glamorous star of to-day. Joan's latest
picture, forsaking All Others, in which she leaves heavy
drama to play a vivacious, fun-loving girl, can be seen
at the cinemas next week.
21
Joan became blonde for "Laughing Sinners,"
but this· style of hairdressing shows us a new
Joan as the dancer in "Dancing Lady."
FAMILY VISITOR. You would recognise Bill Cagney
anywhere as James Cagney's brother. Bill visited
the studio recently to see how Brother Jim looked In
his costume for "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
F/Lltl. WEEKLY, March29, 1935
,...............................,
I NEWS !
I IN ;
I PICTURES i!...............................!
CELEBRITIES AT
NO HIGH-
HA TT ING
HERE. Jean
Parker has her
own dressing
table with her
name over the
·top, but if any
of the other girls
on the production
want a dab of
powder, they're
welcome to borrow
Jean's.
ACTRESSES AT SCHOOL. A school has been
opened in Berlin to train young actresses for
the screen under almost the same conditions
as they will find in a studio: Here is a- pupil
speaking into a · microphone so that faults In
her voice can be corrected.
22

·--
F 0 R T
WINKS
"The Man
Who Tried to
Buy Razor
Blades After
EightO'clock"
or "So This
is How a Film
is Directed."
The man is
Alfred Hitch-
cock, caught
sheltering
from the wind
in a doorway
in the open-air
village set
built for the
Gaumont-
British film,
" Thirty - nine
Steps."
l'ILM WBBKLY, M11rrll29, l935
DINNER
SITTING OUT. Many o( the most famous stars
wrned up recently to a dinner party given by
Director Harry Lachman. Here are Anna Sten,
Warner Baxter and Marlene Dietrich.
NEWSBOY ACTOR. Waverley Station,
Edinburgh, has been reconstructed in
the studio(or "Thirty-Nine Steps" and
just to make the thing complete,
James Cairns, the real station newsboy,
was brought 400 miles to ploy in the
(ilm. Robert Donat is buying a paper
(rom him.
PARTY
11ue1berg,
, ·onic, got his
......,1a manager several
st he &xed on a nice,
.~g little cinema, and
)d a dress suit from a
won it at strip pGker.
* *
was to send the mana-
""lema a telegram call-
y to the North of
>n as he had gone,
ormed the staff that
1anager and sacked
1en the real manager
l his attendants re-
of thugs, and was
~t by the commis-
*
the police be-
, Ike decided
· stop being a
llfortunately, he
.t of the deal.
e box-office just
>found that the
tmorency (better
, as " Hot Liz"),
25
" Even i( you offered us a contract we
wouldn't play in your rotten pictures,
so there !"
( Posed by W illiam Powell)
tune out of it. For instance, it
include:-
Shots of the first mother to eat cus-
tard apples and play three simul-
taneous games of chess while hanging
upside down from a fire-escape in
Battersea Park.
* * *
A SCREEN interview with Jabez
Vhackerboot, the nonagenarian who
for over seventy years has worked in
a pocket-knife factory manufacturincr
things - for-taking-stones-out-of-horses!".
hoofs.
Shots of a special tray for holding
trousers.
Shots showing the manufacture of
special magnifying glasses for deter-
mining average rainfall or looking at
threepenny-bits on which the Lord's
Prayer js written thirty-seven times.
Oli, the
Jootlii"'l 11li!uule
1
6LYMIEL JELLY/
I
No other preparation can do what Gly•
miel Jelly does. It contains specialsoft•
ening and beautifying ingredientsandis
madeby a processthatcannot be copied.
NO MORE CHAPPED or
CRACKED HANDS.
Tubes 3d, 6d, I/-
In Decorative
Glass Jars 2/6
Just as Glymiel Jelly gives your hands charm an:!
beauty, so G LY M l EL FACE CREAM gives
charm and ~ea11ty to vo•Jr romolexion. 6d. a t1Jbe
$'~du ri n 8 Spo rt s
Don't ri'k vour Wfl~:... hei1:~
ruinetl durini J{a1nt-... A u 774 ·· 
Net-lig-ht a11d 111v1!;ible-will pre· /J _
vent 'v;i.es l>e ng- hlown ab''" or '/,,,~
c.:ru111µlt!cl. 'car it at ni;:ht too.
Yo11r hair will 110t need S• tt111g so
ofien. Solcl i11 a~I l~a1r a~ld 6 pastel
shades :tt B >0 r::,, IJ;nrdrcS!-,t'fS,
Drar!er'i and Stores, etc. ll;_tlo ~.,,,,; , Nm ~
quahtie., fro1n 2d. ea...h, or with ~ _... • ail -
La.,.tex yarn me'ih edg-e, which S =~~~
edJ{e doe~ not mark the forehead,
from 1<!. ,.·•ch. 11.,,f, '" !·11.(• ""d HAIR NETS
/oi· ·-·The Byard Mannfactnring Co.,
Ltd., CasUo Boulevard. Nottingham.
SOLD EVERYWHERE
Sciml1fic
Of.,I/ Chemists
ctnd Stores' - YOUU KNOW WHY/TRIAL SIZE 6d •
..
" Fil m Weekly" Com petitions
Let Us Hove
Y·our "Title"
"T ITLIXG" is the new craze
.among filmgoers. ~:ach v.. eek
of these contes:s bnngs hun-
dreds of clever entries. In fact, the
number of titles sent in for the ninth
contest (resu:ts of wh'.ch are published
below) set up a record.
These contests are simple to do, yet
they demand a certain amount of film
knowledge. However, any . regular
filmgoer should find them quite easy.
On this page you see a picture of
James Cagney, Mrs. Cagney a~d
Joan Blondell. To complete it the pic-
ture needs a title.
Perhaps you have some suggestions.
All you haYe to do to stand a cha.nee
of winning one of the money prizes
offered is to give the picture a title,
hut it must be tlze title of a film.
There are no restrictions as to the·
date when the film was macte-you may
t:se the title of any fifm, old or new,
.except " shorts."
Two fxomples
For instance, you might ti tie it
Si11i; As ·we Go, or you might even
be ~ude and call it Tlze Case of tlze
H 01<li11g Dog. The picture should be
viewed on its own merits, and, of
course, the titles will not be intended
to refer to James Cagney and the
others as real people. A few minutes'
thought should giYe you plenty of
ideas.
Your aim should be to find an
Winners of
THE entries for the ninth contest
beat all others in number. In-
evitablv, with such a large entry,
several- titles were duplicated.
How Am I Doin'? was suggested
by seYeral reatj.ers, so was !'./aster and
JI!an. One reader suggested Behold,
My Wife!
The First Prize of One Guinea has
been awarded to Miss V. Hammond,
ai:nusmg and apt title that fits the
picture. The first one that comes
into your head may be good, but it
may be too hackneyed. A second
thought will probably produce a wit-
tier and more subtle titie.
Prizes Offered
for what is, in the opinion of the
Editor, .the most appropriate .and
original application of a film title to
the picture, a: First Prize of One
Guinea will be awarded. In addition,
there will be two Consolation l'rizes
of 10s. 6d. each for what are con-
sidered to be the two next best titles.
In the event of more than one reader
sending the same winning entry, the
prizes will he awarded to those entries
strictly in the order in which they are
scrutinised.
Entries should be made on post-
cards. Entrants may make as many
attempts as they wish, but not more
than two titles must appear on one
poslcard.
Remember th.at your titie must be
that of a film-recently entries have
been received bearing titles of songs,
plays or other titles not connected with
. films.
Postcards should be addressed to
"Titles (11)," fILM YEEKD.', 10-13, Iled-
ford Street, Strand, London, V.C. 2,
and must reach this office before mid-
day on Thursday, April 4.
"Ti ti es" (9)II
Port-Rouge, Torpoint, Cornwall, v. ho
struck a topical note with No Speed
Limit.
26
The two Consolation Prizes of
10s. 6d. each have been awarded to
Miss V. A. Morris, 89; Mill Hill
Road, Norwich, Norfolk, for T lze
" Last" Gentleman; and to Miss M.
Snoddy, 59, Kevern Square, S.V.,
for Up /or the Derby.
FJL.ll WEEKLY, March 29, 19~5.
jTheCHARM OF
[NATURAL LIPS!I
I
Giva your lips alluring n.atural
colour •• . without a t race of paint
To keep your lips most alluring,
y.)u 1nust use lipstick as other
wJmen do. So the thing to do is·to
u ie the lipstick especially made
t) colour lips beautifully' .
without causing a painted look in
the slightest! There is a lipstick
that does this ; it's called Tangee.
Un-like ordinary lipsticks, Tan-
gee . isn't paint. , Instead, it
contains a colour-change principle
that. enables it to intensify your
natural colouring and become a
very part of your lips!
LOOKS ORANGE - ACTS ROSE
In the stick Tangee looks orange.
On your lips it changes to rose!
Not a pale rose. Not a jarring
red. But the one shade of blush-
rose most becoming to your type!
Thus Tangee keeps your lips
youthful-looking with natural
colour instead of ageing your
appearance . with that painted
look that men detest.
Tangee lasts all day, toq ...
without smearing or rubbing
away. And its special cream
base is soothing to dry lips: Get
Tangee to-day .. . 2/ 6 and 4/ 6
sizes. Also in Theatrical, a
deeper shade for evening use.
From all hairdressers, chemists and stores.
UNTOUCHED - Lips left
untouched arc apt to have
a faded look ... make the
face seem older.
PAINTED-Don't ri~k that
pamtcd look. It'> coar.;cn
ing ancl men don't like it.
TA N G E E - lntensifie>
natural colour, restorc·s
youthtul appeal, ends that
paint"d look
Cheeks mustn't look
raintl'cl, eith~r. So use
Tangee Rouge. Chang-es.
to natural colotirini:( !
Permanent too! Colour
stays natural all day
long!
Trial sizes of Tang-ee
Lipstick ancl Tangce
Rouge o b ta i na b Ie
c very w be re at 6d.
each.
LUFT·TANGCE LTD.,
88, REGENT STREET, W .I.
Works: Johnson's Place, Pimlico, S.W . I.
I
FILM WEEK L Y , March 29, 1935.
WHAT-AND WHAT NOT-TO 'SEE
"Film Weekly's" Complete Guide to
C/a;k Gable enc: Constance Bennett
AFTER OFFICE HOURS
rf'iff, Clark Gable as Jim Branch, Co11st1mre
Beiml'lt .as Sharo11 Norwood , St11a1t E ru•i11 as
H ell/A' Parr, Billie Burke as Mrs.. Norwood , -
Ha'r1•er Stephens as Tommy Ba1111ister,_I{atlza-
ri11e Alexander as Mrs. Patterso11, Hale Hamil-
ton as !lfr. Patterson, . Henry Travers as Cap,
HnuJ 'rmetta as I talian. 111.G.M. picture,
directed by Robert Z. Leonard. At the Empire
from to-day.
Amusing and, at times,exci~ir.g news-
paper _- comedy - murder - m~lodrama.
The conflicting elements do not mix.as
well as they might, and there is rather
too much horse-play, but the g~neral
effect is entertaining enough.
B ECAUSE we laughed at Clark Gable in
It Happened One Night and Forsaki11g
- All Others, the idea now seems to be that he
should clown as m uch as he possibly can.
Which is really a pity.
This 'ould have been a better picture if
Gable had been allowed to do some more
" straight" acting. As it is, he is compelled
a lmost to burlesque his part of a "tough"
!'<e11· ·y ork newspaper editor.
The newspaper is one of those queer journals,
onlv to be found in fi lms, 11·hich are staffed bv
CQ.!llic Press photographers, halfcbaked Society
co lumnists, and half-asleep reporters, the
whole O'ned by a political " grafter " 11·ho
kno11·s nothing at all apout newspapers, any-
wa1"
'hat happens is this: Gable is fed up with
hi" society chatterer (Constance Bennett) and
"fires" her. T hen he di,covcrs that she
kno11·s .all the people intimately connected
11 ith a big sc<.rndal which is threatening to
"break" at any moment. So he makes up
to her-just for the sake of getting a scoop.
The scandal doesn't "break" a:, anticipated,
but there is a murder instead. Constance
Bennett 11·as present when it happened..-:but
doesn't kno'w it. Gable is convinced that the
police have got the wrong man and, with the
aid of Miss Bennett, does some spare-time
detecti1·e work. It is then onlv a matter of
time before the real mur_clerer is rounded up
and Gable and Miss Bennett kiss and make
up ·al I their past misunderst andings.
The dialogue is peppered with wisecracks,
and there are one or tYO unexpected tl·ists
in the unra,·elling of the murder mystery. But
bouts of h011seplay, apparently introduced to
liven up tl-e picture, have the unfortunate
effec.t of robbing some of its more hectic pas-
sages of credibility.
Constance Bennett is overshado1Yed bv the
indomitable Gable. That she has to do she
does quite nicely, and that's about all. Billie
Burke, as Miss Bennett's "ritzy" mother, por-
trays another of those feather-brained and
kittenish Society mamas for which she is now
celebrated. Stuart Er1Yin is amusing as the
kind of P ress photographer one never finds in
rea l life, and the rest of the " support" are
quite equal to the demands of the story.
Clark and Conn ie
match wits and lips in
the gayest romantic
comedy;--made in the
new style-1935 model
(!faM.,
GABLE~
BENNEllw ith Stuart Erwin, Billie
Burke, Katharine Alex•
ander, Harvey Stephens
Also
LAUREL and
HARDY'S
latest laughter-piece
"TIT FOR TAT "
27
the New Films
.......... Edit-ed by .....................:..,
JOHN GAMV11E
MUSIC IN THE AI R
TFith .Gloria Swanson as Frieda, f ohn Boles
as Bruno, Douglass ll1011tr;o1i1ery as Karl, June
Lang as Siegliiide, Al Slzean as Dr. L essing,
Negiuald Owen as J;Veber, J oseph Cawthorn
as Upp111an11, Hobart Bosworth as Cornelius,
Sam Haden as Martha, Marjorie Main as
Anna, Roger I mhof as BurJ;om{zster, f ed
Prouty as Kirschner, Christian Rub as Zipfel-
huber, F uzzy Kniglzt as Nick. Fox picture,
produced by E rich Pommer, directed by f oe
May. Coming to tlze Capitol.
A m:>derately attractive adaptqtion
of. the musical play. The production
is artistic, ·but slow; .the music very
g?od; the comedy a little heavy.
T HI? Holly'ood picture actually has .a
strong German :flavour. Not merely· m
its background (it is set in the Bavarian moun-
tains), but also in .the treatment it has received
at the hands of the producer, Erich Pommer,
and the director, J oe May.
The touch of Pomm er, 'ho 'as the man
behind Congress Dances, is easily discernible
in the fine, rhythmic cro'd scenes that dis-
tinguish the beginning and the end of the fi lm.
Action, camera-'ork and cutting fit perfectly
to the s1Ying of the m usic.
But in the ponderous treatment of farcical
situations and the heavy-handed labouring of
jokes, there is a touch that is equally German,
and' not nearly so pra_iseYorthv.
It is this heaviness that causes some dull
patches, and makes . the picture seem longer
than it is. <
The story (1Yhich sticks closely to the
I
."'1~1tD BRITISH ft. I~t,~ co•" uo. rl<:rtJflf
~~ I
S-uceess at tAe
~at,
q,wii/;(eatcli
FRITZ
KORTNE~
John Betjeman
"Evening
Standard"
"I ADVISE
EVERYONE
TO SEE
T H I S
REALLY
INTEREST-
ING BRITISH
FILM"
Harris Deans
"-Sunday
.Graphic.,
"THE FIN-
EST FILM
0 F ITS
TYPE l'VE
E V E R
SEEN"
ADtlt;
D-~"1011·JIll lhe amn;,ilt'l panw
ff urentonLfofIlle Oritffl
#ow TRANSFERREP to
IJ.1~1!,!J
FIL.11 WEEK.(.¥. March 29. 11135.
"An excellent Clive '.' : Ronald Ca/man in " Clive of India "
origin~! - stage version) is none too strong to
start VIth. It tells how country boy and
girl Douglass Montgomery and June Lang
go to the great big city, get caught up in the
whirl of theatrical life, and eventually return
t() find real happiness in their o'rn little
village.
Gloria Swanson and John Boles, both play-
ing comedy roles that verge on farce, come
into the plot as two highly temperamental
light-operatic stars who philander with the
young bucolic pair.
A scene in which Boles and Miss Swanson
run through a rehearsal of the first act of
their show in their agent's office is uproari-
ously funny. But the stodginess of the direc-
tion tends to make it drag a little. The treat-
ment should ha ,.e been a little more flippant;
a lot less paimtakingly conscientious in point-
ing the jokes.
The four principals all de well and the sup-
port is good. Al Shean is very funny as a
village composer and Joseph Cawthorn con-
tributes a sound piece of character-acting as
an orchestra conductor.
See this, if it attracts you, for its crowd
scenes, music and spectacle, and for the per-
formances of the principal players. But don't
expect too much of it, or you may be disap-
pointed.
CLIVE OF INDIA
Tritlz f,on,ild <ofi,1<1,1 as Robert Clive,
l.orrtta Y 01111g llS Jlargaret Jiaskelyue,
!- rami.< L~ster as Edmund Maskelyne, Colin
I 'livt· <1 <·,1p1t1m Johnstone, C. Aubrey Smith
as tlze Prime Minister, Cesar Romero ns Mir
j,1f! 1r, Ferdi111111,l ,Vunie1 as Admiral iVatso11,
:ll u11{11gue Lo«i: ,i, Govenwr Pi1;ot, Lumsden
llare as Sergeant Clark, Mischa Auer as Suraj
Ud Dow/ah. Twentieth Ce11tury picture,
directed by Richard Bolesla7JSkV. Adapted by
TV. P. Lipscomb and R. /. Mi1111ey from their.
own play of the same title. At the Tivoli now.
Very good romantic drama built
around a stirring subject. Colman is,
on the whole, an excellent Clive, and
the film makes a strong piece ofenter-
tainment in spite of episodic develop-
ment and occasionally sketchy treat-
ment.
rr may be ,that both the historians and the
cinema "purists" will find fault with
28
Clive of India, but it is impossible to deny this
picture the possession of powerful popular
qualities, beside which its defects must seem
comparatively unimportant. It bas emotional
and roman.tic appeal, idealism and spectacle in
no mean degree. '
There has been no inore effective dramatisa-
tion of history than Messrs. Lipscomb and
Minney's story of Robert Clive. The only
point upon which tit is fair to quarrel with
them is that they have seen fit to try to tell
the whole story 'in the film, as well as in the
play, and have had to leave out so much that
the effect is sometimes scrappy and disjointed.
Important events are skimped, or side-stepped
by explanatory subtitles, and the last two
reels are weakened by the abrupt passage of
long stretches of time. Clive is whisked out
to India and back again within a few minutes,
after Ve have been carefully informed that the
voyage, in those days, took a whole year.
The latter part of 1he picture, moreover, is
a little too preoccupied with Clive's domestic
affairs. The great issues of his career some-
how become subordinate to the comparatively
trivial question of his obvious inadequacy as
a husband. The naughty boy wants to go
away and play with his soldiers in India
again, imtead of staying at home with his
poor little wife. That sort of thing is an
anti-climax to drama on the grand scale.
But, in the main, the incidents which make
up the story are well' chosen and sufficiently
important, as well as dramatic, to justify
them;eh·es. Clive's -rise, by a mixture of im-
pudence and ability, ·from humble clerk to
military commander is cleverly and amusingly
accomplished. His desperate "strategy," in-
volving even the forging of a British Admiral's
signature to a secret treaty, makes good melo-
drama. And there is a spectacular "high
light" in a confused but thrilling reconstruc-
tion of the battle of Plassey, with armour-clad
elephants lumoering towards the British forces
like prehistoric tanks.
The acting gives these episodes all the force
and fire they need. Colman, sans moustache,
but not without his usual charm, manages to
suggest the flair for leadership and adventurous
spirit of Clive as well as the man's arrogance
and humour. It is a highly coloured, but
never an irresponsible or an impossible, por-
trait.
The entire supporting cast, largely male,
performs so efficiently that it would be invi-
dious to single out any one member for special
I .
FI Llf I! EEKLY, March 29, 1935.
commendation. They are all as good as their
parts.
On the other hand, it was surely a mistake
to cast Loretta Young as Margaret Maskelyne
(afterwards Lady Clive). She is just not toe
type, although her performance is remarkably
good when one takes into consideration the
irritating sentimentalities of the part.
LOTTERY LOVER
rr·itlz Lew Ayres as Cadet Frank Harringto11,
Pat" Paterson as Patty, Peggy Fears as Gaby
Aimee. Sterling Ii olloway as Cadet Harold
Slump, Reginald De11ny as Captain Pay11e,
Alan Di11elzart as Tank, I.Vatter Ki11g as Pri11ce
/l.fida11of/, Eddie N11ge11t as Gibbs, Nick Form1
as Cadet Allen Taylor, Rafaela Ottia110 as
Gaby's maid. Fox picture, directed by n·ilZia111
Tliielt'. Seen at the Regal.
Average comedy with music. New-
comer Peggy Fears makes a promising
appearance in a none too happy part,
but the story is inane and much too
long-drawn-out.
BELIEVE it or not, this is actually another
cilmedy about the boys of the U.S. Navy.
The fleet visits France-which is simply asking
for trouble-and a bunch of young cadets is
let loose in Paris. One of them (Lew Ayres)
is more serious than the rest. He goes to bed
and reads a book 1·hile the others make
'' hoopee.
His friends "fall" hea,·ily for Gaby Aimee
. (Pegg~· fears), star of a naughty French revue.
The1· all vant to woo and 1·in her, but as that
is obl"iomly impossible, they draw lots for the
honour, 11·hich falls, as an astute ' audience 11·i1l
easily have anticipated, on booklover Lew
Avre,. 1
.Doubtful of his qualification;, for the role
of Romeo, the boys hire a chorus girl (Pat
Paterson) for him to practice on. And no one
wil 1 be surprised to learn that he falls in love
with the chorus girl instead of the star.
In fact, the less said about the plot the
better. The picture's appeal is based almost
entirely on high-spirited but obvious comedy,
plus a few quasi-French re1·ue numbers in the
theatre scenes.
Lew Ayres and Pat Paten:on make an en-
gaging pair of young lovers, but both are
worthy of something stronger in the ,,·ay of
parts.
Peggy Fears seems out of her element as a
French re'ue queen, but displays a captivating
personality which suggests that she only needs
the right role in order to make a real hit.
The film as a whole is much too long. It
real]· ends some time before the final fade-out.
Cutti'ng rnuld effect a considerable improve.
ment and probably result in an acceptable
come(ll' of " second feature" standard.
Douglass Montgomery ar:d June Lang in
" Music in the Air "
•WILLIAM
OAROANond emf o/! llwus<mds
1t
BRITISH
')J
Less.: HYDE PARK CINEMAS LTD. Props.: REGAL CINEMAS LTD. Gov. Dir.: A. E. ABRA HAMS
29
At the Cinemas Next Week
Three Fronr-Rank St-aFORSAKING ALL OTHERS ,
M.Gl11. A. American 6'Jmin> GMary.. . . . . Joan C1awford dJeff . . . . . Clark Gable
r~~p:: .. .. ~~~:i~~ ~~~::r~~~~h ronPaula ll1lhe Durke
Eleanor Rosa1md Rus~c1l
Connie . . FrancC's Drak1•
Wiffens Tom Rickets
Johnson . . Arthur Treachf-'C
Com~dyBena. . . . . Greta Meyer
Directed by W. S. Van Dykr
QNE of the most hilarious comeuies
yet made. Crawford, Gable and
Montgomery fooling at the top of their
form under the expert guidance of
director W. S. Van Dyke. First-rate
light entertainment.
It must be admitted at the outset
that this picture relies as much on
dialogue as on action for its humour-
but what dialogue! The.re is a laugh
in every line of this brilliantly funny
tale of a girl and the two men in her life.
Joan Crawford, as the girl, makes a
howling success of a harum-scarum
characterisation which carries her right
back to her Dancing Daughter days.
Robert Montgomery has a" bounder-
ish " type of part frequently putting
him in an unfavoµrable light, but one
just cannot help chucICling over his
escapades and the air of injured inno-
cence with which he leaves other people
flat or forlorn.
Clark Gable forgets all that he-man
stuff and clowns and wis'ecracks his
way through the picture with an
unbridled sense of humour.
What the story is about, in detail,
simply does not matter. It is sheer
nonsense balanced with just enough
sophistication and plot to keep it from
being completely idiotic. It has some
immensely amusing, cleverly contrived
situations, of the type at which you
can chuckle in advance, and some
stretches of pure slapstick, when the
characters fool around and fall off
things and get into absurd scrapes.
The sparkle of Van Dyke's direction
hardly lets up for a moment, and the
performances of the three stars could
not be bettered. There is·the added
• advantage that you never can b~ quite
sure into whose arms Miss Crawford
will finally fall.
Just in case the three principals tire,
Charles Butterworth and Billie Burke,
both at the top of their form, are on
hand to chip in at intervals with their
well-known inanities.
*** Nobody was more surprised at the
success of this film than the three stars, who
thought little of the story before it was made.
It is the first time they have all appeared
r····;~~···~·:~~···~~~:~:~~····~·~·~~···~~~·..···1
officially " released " to the
cinemas next week. This means
that the majority of cinemas will
be showing them from Monday
onwards, although it is possible
that they may already have ap-
peared in your district, or may be
a week or two late in reaching it.
The information given below
the title of each picture reviewed
consists of name of producer,
Censor's certificate (Adult or
Universal), Country of origin,
and running time.
Items of general interest are
appended in the form of footnotes.
~••••oa•o•o•o••••••••••••••••••H••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
" The performances of the three stars could not be 'bettered ''
Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
together, though both Gable and Montgomery
have Played separately with Miss Crawford.
Note the "modernised Victorian" i11-
t.eriors-a new M.G.M. style of decoration,
inspired by " The Barretts of Wimpole
Street." Joan Crawford's hoop-skirted
wedding gown-one of twenty different
.costumes worn by her· in the film-will
interest the dress-minded. It is Adrian's
idea of a 1936 fashion.
OVER THE RIVER
Universal. ·A. American. 86 mins.
CJare.. . . Diana Wyoyard
Tony. . . . . . Frank Lawton
Lady Mont . . . . Mrs. Pat Campbell
Dinny . . • . Jane Wyatt
Sir Gerald Corven . . Colin Clive
David Dornford . . Heginald Denny
Gen. CharwelJ . . C. Aubrey Smith
Sir Law. Mont . . Henry Stephenson
Brough LioncI Atwill
Forsyte . . Alan Mowbray
Lady Charwell Kathleen Howard
Judge Gilbert Emery
Chayne E. E. Clive
Blore. • Rob<'rt Greig
Benjy . . Gunnis Davis
Mrs. ~urdy . . . . Tempe Piggott
Directed by James Whalf'.
From tbe novel by John Galsworthy.
DIANA WYNYARD and Frank Law-
ton in an ·exposure of divorce-
court injustice. Good dramatic enter-
tainment. Though it is heavy at times
and has numerous minor faults, the
strong central theme makes it interest-
ing.
Quite the best part of this picture
consists of a long, detailed reproduction
of the hearing of an English Society
divorce case, done with all the fidelity
to fact, and lack of embellishment, of a
verbatim report. The result is in-
herently dramatic. It is just a pity
t?at the rest of the picture, leading up
30
to this big s~ene, is neither as strong
nor as convincing.
A great deal of time and patience is
wasted at the beginning in showing off
a collection of authentic English back-
grounds. Practically all that is con-
veyed by the first reel or two is that
Lady Corven (Diana Wynyard) has
left her sadistic husband (Colin Clive)
and has met a nice young man (Frank
Lawton) on the way home from abroad.
The husband pleads with her to
return to him, but she defies him and
indiscreetly continues seeing her per-
sistent young man, while private
detectives snoop in the background,
making notes.
Then, in court, the whule messy
business of divorce is gone through.
The blameless wife and co-respondent
suffer intensely. The husband is
publicly white-washed.
There is an unfortunate anti-climax
after that, but the tense drama of the
courtroom ·is not easily forgotten.
With one regrettable exception-
Colin Clive's absurdly melodramatic
husband-the acting touches a high
level. Diana Wynyard gives a per-
formance of Cavalcade quality as Lady
Corven. Frank Lawton is a good, if
rather boyish, Jover, and Mrs. Patrick
Campbell sweeps her way irresistibly
through a garrulous · part such as she
had in Rip Tide. .
*** ] ohn Galsworthy completed the novel
-the last of his stories about the Forsyte
family-shortly before his death. A stickler
for accuracy, he disliked having his works
altered for screen purposes, though several
of them have been filmed, including " The
White Monkey," "Loyalties" and" Escape."
In adaptinrJ the novel for the screen,
R. C._ Sherri![ red'uced 10,950 lines of
FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935.
rs
dialogue and prose to 3,373 lines of dialogue
and "continuity," including 417 lines of
new dialogue. He made Clare the heroine
inst.ead of Dinny, changed Dornford's
christian name from Eustace (disliked in
America) to David and abolished the
moustache h6 wears in the novel ; invented
the restaurant scene and greatly expanded
the election and trial episodes.
The. players in the picture, •ch.ich 'if•as
nade m Holly•f'ood last summer, are British
•cith one exception, Jane Wyatt, who comes
from the New York stage and is t1centy-two.
'J;he film is Frank La7£ton's second
Holly1coodl picture and Mrs. Patrick
Carnpbell's third. Mrs. Campbell's own
maid and her pet Pekinesc appear 'iJ.·ith her
011 the screen. The child is Reginald
Denny's daughter, Barbara.
THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP
' R. l.P. U. British. 95 min.,;;.
The Grandfather . . Ben Webc;ter
?ell . . Elaine Benson
Quilp Hay Petrie
His Wife . . fif!atrix Thomson
Sampson Brass Gibb McLaughlin
Sally Brass . . Lily Lo~g
Dick Swivcllc.r Reginald Purdell
The :'Iarchioncss . . Polly Ward
Thf' Single Gentleman James Harcourt
The Schoolmaster J. Fisher-White
Codlin Dick Tubb
Short . . . . Roddy Hughes
~frs. Jarley . . Amy Veness
Rit . . . . Petcr•Penrose
Tom Scott . . . . Vic Filmer
Directed by Thomas Bentlf'y.
A REMARKABLY faithful recon-
struction of the spirit and letter of
the book. Hay Petrie stands out with
a broad and vivid performance as Quilp.
Good entertainment for Dickens-lovers.
Director Thomas Bentley, acknow-
ledged Dickens expert, has stuck closely
to the letter of the book, and does not
attempt to disguise the fact that
several of the characters, literally
rendered, are really semi-caricatures.
Every important situation and scene
in the original narrative is painstakingly
portrayed with an astonishing wealth
of detail which, though inclined to be
cumbersome, is eloquent of the pro-
ducers' desire to maintain absolute
fidelity to a classic of fiction.
The concluding scenes showing the
death of Little Nell are carried to an
incredible length, but exert an un-
mistakable emotional appeal.
The .acting is dominated Q.y Hay
Petrie's portrayal of Quilp-a master-
piece of comic nastiness which must
be seen to be believed. It is a frankly
popular characterisation, done with
immense gusto.
Ben Vebster is rather negative as
the Grandfather,· but he ·certainly
creates a lovable character. Elaine
Benson, the new child "discovery,"
makes a suitable Little Nell, although
she acts, rather than feels, the emo-
tions she is called upon to register.
••* " I am breaking my heart over this
story," wrote Charles Dickens. " I am
nearly dead with grief for the loss of my
child (Little Nell)." His readers were
equally moved and, when the final chapters
of the novel appeared (it was published,
1840-41, in serial form), they charged him
indignantly with. being "cruel." Originally,
Dickens had no intention of "killing" Nell,
but was persuaded reluctantly that it was
the right thing to do " after taking so mere a
child through such a tragedy of sorrow." It
was his third novel.
The story was adapted by novelist
Margaret Kennedy, of" Constant Nymph"
.fame.
El~ne Benson is the daughter of a Lo11don
bank manager · She applied for a test, with
no previous film experience, and.was engaged
to play Little Nell on her fourteenth birth-
day. She is a schoolfriend of Nova Pi/beam.
Ben Webster, a pioneer British film star,
played for the pre-War London Film
Film Weekly March 29 1935
Film Weekly March 29 1935
Film Weekly March 29 1935
Film Weekly March 29 1935
Film Weekly March 29 1935
Film Weekly March 29 1935

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Film Weekly March 29 1935

  • 1. FILM WEEKLY.Friday, March?.9, 1935 ' T --- -~ - -- --- TO Reg!Stered at the G.P.O. as a Newspaper BARBARA STANWYCK IN "COURAGEOUS"
  • 2. FI LM WEEKLY, .larch 29, 193& ·CRAWFORD GABLE- A 'TRIANGLE WITH A MIGHTY STAR IN EACH CORNER - AND a laugh in every line! Sunday Express YOU'VE NEVER KNOWN LOVE TO BE SUCH " Forsake everything and see it " "A rage, not to say a riot" Sunday Dispatch • " If you miss seeing this picture, never read this page again" News of the World AT ALL THE LEADING CINEMAS ON AND AFTER MONDAY NEXT I 2
  • 3. 1i_·~~~~~~~J~;··1.his forthcoming Life of Christ. ~ * .. * ~ i The sentence of five days' im- ~ Francis Lederer for breaking·.:~ prisonment recently imposed on '_,:'=,,_ the Californian speed limit has been reversed. Lederer is now free. * * * Helen Hayes announces that, on the completion of her present M.G.JU. contract, size will leave the cinema and devote herself entirely to lzer family and the stage. Lubitsch is reported to have bought the once popular oper- etta, "The Count of Luxem- burg," to be adapted for Carl Brisson. Brisson is at present on holiday in Honolulu. The Cuban Government want to ban" Rumba," George Raft's latest picture. They say it libels their island. * * * Walt Disney ha~ been pre- sented with three wallabies by an Australian admirer. Result: Walt is about to start a new cartoon called lliickey's Kan- garoo. * Paramount are to film the life of Garibaldi. They wanted Robert Donat for the lead, but he is already tied up. * * *C. B. Cochran is reported to have been otiered £15,000 a year to take a post as produc- tion supervisor with M.G.M. * * *The Irish Abbey Theatre Players are to make a talkie on their return from America. The story will be by Lennox Robin- son and exteriors will be shot in Ireland. Studio work will be done here under an American director. * * Mae Busch, star of many silent pictures, including The Christian and The Unholy Three, is making a steady come- back. Some time ago she played in the Laurel and Hardy comedy, Fraternally Yours. Now she is trying her hand at , drama again in a supporting r6le in Stranded, the Kay Francis-George Brent picture. * * *The llarmon-lsing Company are to produa a new type of cartoon with all the characters and backgrounds made of cloth. The central character is a calico dragon who lives in a red flan- nel castle_ * * * La Dame aux Camelias is an. nounced as Garbo's next pic- ture, following Anna Karenina. * * * Clive Brook has signed a one. picture contract with Fox to play in Orchids to You, adapted by Howard Estabrook, directed / '·~:. by Harry Lachman. ;.......................................................................: FILM WEEKLY, Marcil 29, 1935i II Bad Luck II Picture " It is based on a whimsical idea and is excellently acted by a real/I bril/i -nt cas.t" frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Margaret Sullavan and Herbert Marshall in" The Good Fairy" I T'S an old studio superstition that films dogged by misfor- tune while in the making often turn out to be huge suc- cesses when they reach the cinemas. Screen history is dotted with bad-luck pictures which have meant good luck at the box-office. And unless I am greatly mis- taken, one more is shortly to be added to the records. It is Mar- garet Sullavan 's latest, The Good Fairy. 0 0 0 SEVERAL classic rows held up the production of this unfor- tunate film, and gave everybody the impression that it would pro- bably never be completed. You know, of course, that :Miss Sullavan eloped to Yuma with the director, William ilyler, in the middle of the proceedings. You also know, if you read Margaret's remarks in a recent issue of FILM WEEKLY, that she and William Wyler had a series of quarrels about the film before tl1ey agreed to get married. 0 0 0 ADDED to that, Vyler was ! ' fired " shortly after the elopement for taking too many close-ups of his wife. Things were patched up to- wards the end, and Uncle Carl Laemmle, the producer, bestowed his benediction on all concerned. But the' people who worked on The Good Fairy were certainly very far from being one big happy family. 0 0 0 THE superstitious will therefore be pleased to know that it has turned out a very good film. It is to have a special pre-release run at the Empire, Leicester Square, a theatre usually reserved by M.G.M. for their own pictures. I saw it at a trade show a short time ago, and I have seldom heard so much laughter at the screening of a new talkie. There was nearly as much spontaneous en- thusiasm as at the memorable first performance of that famous record-breaker, One Night of ·Love. 4 0 0 J DO not know how The Good Fairy will be received in the West End of London, and I .····················································· Star Portrait FREE See Page 34 .. ,,ooo-00000000•••0000000000000000000000000000000 0000000H0000 0000000•o hardly think critics will be en- tranced by its artistic qualities, ·which are a trifle mixed. But I believe that filmgoers generally will find this an exceptionally amusing romantic comedy. It is based on a whimsical idea, and is excellently acted by a really bril- liant cast. 0 0 0 MISS SULLAVAN herself gives a remarkable perform- ance as a silly little goose of a girl who causes everybody a great deal of trouble by her stupidities. Frank Morgan is fine as one of those idiotically amorous middle- aged men he p-0rtrays so well. Herbert Marshall unbends enough to play what is really a comedy part. Reginald Owen, an actor for whom my respect in- creases with each succeeding pic- ture, contributes a marv-:!lous character study of a belligerent waiter, so unlike anything he has done before that I had to look up the cast of characters for his name. 0 0 0 S-IG~S of the disagreements · which punctuated the mak- ing of the picture arc easy to de- tect. The story has emerged as a queer cross between farce and fantasy-a '' compromise,'' as Margaret ?ullavan called it. The wedding scene upon vhi<:h Mr. Wyler is alleged to have spent so much time, and which is
  • 4. • ·································. . NEXT WEEK. PAGES 3°·AS USUAL FILM WEEKLY'S Fourth Annual BRIT.IS H Fl LMS NUMBER D D D Details on Page Six I ································ ••••.• . ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••a9 NEW FILMS Reviewed in this issue AFTER OFFICE HOURS. Clark Gable and Constance Bennett. MUSIC IN THE AIR. Gloria Swanson and John Boles. CLIVE OF INDIA. Ronald Colman and Loretta Young. LOTTERY LOVER. Lew Ayres and Peggy ff!ars. (See pages 27 to 29) .....................•......... FI LM ' WEEKLY10-13, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.2 · Telephone: Temple Bar: 8171-2-3- Friday, March 29, 1935 Volume 13, Number 337 Telegrams: Reelinews, Lesquare, London EDITOR: HERBERT THOMPSON Associate Editor: JOHN GAMMIE Bergner's Big Moment NEXT Monday is an important date in the screen career of Elizabeth Bergner. On that day her second British picture, Escape Me .lieuer, will be screened at a gala premiere in London. The red carpet will be out, and the customary policemen will be there to hold back the crowds as the distinguished audience is decanted from its limousines and taxis at the theatre entrance. The significance of the occasion lies, however, not in its social trimmings-a commonplace of every important :film premiere now- adays-- but in the fact that it marks the first British screen appear- . ance of Bergner in a characteristic part. D D D .A fe' have seen her in one or two of her German pictures. l1any have seen her in ('ather£ne the Great. But the real Bergner is still virtually unknown to British tilmgoers. We saw only a little of her in the role of the unhappy Catherine, which was by no means a suitable merlium for her gamin personality. This, when you come to think of it, is a truly remarkable situation. Here is an actress who is intemationallv famous. '0./e talk of her simply as Bergner, as ,,ve might talk of Garho. We [lave accepted her, without qnestion, as one of the great stars of the screen. Yet she is onlv now ;itout to make her British screen debut under ideal conditions~ in the film version of a play which was specially written for her. · I£ she has achieved. so much, on the strength of so little, what Vill be the measure of her achievement now ? ~Has the unassailable Garbo at last found a serious rival ? Monday's premiere vill ansv1·er these interesting questions. . Clark Gable, Clown CLARK GABLE, formerly one of the most unrelenting of he-men, discovered an unsuspected talent for light-hearted comedy in It Happened One Night. His 'producers, surprised and pleased, decided to "cash in on it." They did. In fact, they made him something of a clown in Forsaki11g All Others. The experiment proved very successful. Its freshness and novelty saved it from mere silliness. But that did not mean that it could be repeated ad lib. It comes as a slight shock to find Gable, in After Office Hours, again clowning his way-with far less excuse-through a part which might have been played "straight." It is time to cry " Enough." A little horseplay goes a long way. 3
  • 5. FILJ! WEEKLY, March 29, 1935. MakesGood I ~~~~ ~~~ ~;~~I~ ;~ ;~~ ~~~~: ........................................... by THE EDITOR ······································· said to have given him the idea of marrying his star, has been cut to a mere '' flash '' at the encl. But the net result is extremely funny aria:! that is all most people are iil~ely to bother about. 0 D D W. E shall probably bear a lot more of William Vvler after this. Miss Sullavan 'has vowed ne,·er to make another picture under him. Yet I think their marriage will do him a great deal of_good. . 1 • • He 1s a pamstakmg, stuchous type of man who would probably become too serious, too absorbed, in the derails of his work, with- out a cheerv feminine influence. I ha,·e b~en privileged to ha·e a peep at their private life, and it i.; nn· much like that of the Thin Ma11 'couple. Margaret should inspire her husband to greater things, eyen if she doesn't ap- prove of his methods. D D D WYLER, as .a matter of fact, has bad a highly romantic career. It would make a g·ood film story, if it didn't sound so improbable. It began in the ear1y autumn of 1920, when Carl Lacmmle, of UniYersal, who was then on a tour of Europe, left his gloves in his hot'el and went into a shop in Pari;; to buy a new pair. The young man who served him was the son of the proprietor, and his name was v'illiam ;Tyler. He recognised lIr. Laemmle; and told him he was fed up with gloves. You couldn't expand in gloves! He ·anted to get: into something like advertising or the film business. D D D I MPRESSED bv 'yler's sin- cerity and ' earnestness, " Uncle;, Carl became interested in this dapper glove sale!>man. . '' Do you know anything about films? '· he asked. " No, sir,'' said "der, " but I could learn ! '' · Inten-icws with 'ylcr's parents followed, and, eventually, he sailed back to America with Mr. Laemmle, and vvas given a job in the " Foreign Publicity Department" of the New York Office. He made good at once, and, within a year, was in com- plete charge of all the ·publicity of Universal Pictures in the Latin- speaking countries. D 0 0 BUT writing advertiserpc1?ts for pictures, eyen at a 111ce comfortable salarv, failed to please him. He ·wanted to. get into the ·production side of the business: So he wrote to Laemmle and told him of his ainbitions, saying that he would be prepared to start at the bottom if need be. The Uni,·ersal President took SEVE.N YEARS' HARD Clark Gable CLARK GABLE will be kept busy for at least the next seven years. M.G.M. have given him a new contract for that period. Not that a seven-year contract is unusual" in itself. Lots of stars get them-and find themselves out of a job within six months. But Clark has a different kind of. col)tract. It contains no options. Con- tracts with actors have a habit of being rather one-sided affairs. The studio retains the right to break the agreement when it likes. Not so with Gable's contract. He will get paid whether he works or not. Which just goes to show two things : (a) Mr. Gable has a clever manager, and (b) M.G.M. have a lot of faith in Mr. Gable's ability to remain popular until 1942. He'll be 41 by then. " You know, of course, that Margaret Sullavan eloped to Yuma wich t:.e director of the picture, William Wyler" him at his word ! He made him " odd job " man at Universal City, at a salary of a few dollars a week ! Tyler was a good odd job man, and when The Hunch- back of Notre Dame went into procluctio1i, he was niade third as- sistant direetor, and did so well that he later became first assistant to such directors as Ernst Lu- rbitsch and In·ing Cummings. D .0 D FROM the~1 on, liis . progress was. rapid. So rapid that he .had to face scandal in the shape of rl1mours that he was " in with " the Laemmle familv and was being pushed· to success. The 'box office was his best friend. He was making two- reel "esterns, and each one he made Yas a bigger success than the last. So he graduated to five-reel 'esterns, and then to other pic- tures, such as Anybody Here Seen A'elly.? ·ith Tom Moore and Bessie Love as his stars. . His first chance to direct a really important film came in 1931, 'hen he Yas placed in charge of -alter Huston's Law and Order. Last year, bis able direction of John Barrymore in C011nsellor at Law Yon him praise from critics on both sides of the Atlantic. And so to T lze Good Fairy, n·hich "·ill ha1·e boosted his reputation a few more points by the time he return:: to Hollyrnod from his European honeymoon ·ith Margaret Sul ]a. van 'yler. 0 0 D DISNEY'S NEW IDEA N E'S of important develop· ments at the Yalt Disney studios reaches me from Holly- YOod. Disney is reported to be "think- ing out" a cartoon, Snow-white and the Seven Little Dwarfs, 'hich 'ill be as long as the average dra- matic feature film, but 'ill be made, like the Silly Symphonies, in full Technicolour. The cartoon king- has toyed 'ith similar ideas in the past. He seems to be serious about it this time. He admits it will be an experi- ment; a risky one, too, for_it will cost about £30,000 and may not "click." But if it does he will produce at least one full-length cartoon-not necessarily a comedy -each year. More than one if the public approves, and practical difficulties can be overcome. D D D AT present, the Disney.·orkshop is at full pressure. The studios are seven cartoons behind schedule, and each subject means several ·eeks' hard 'Ork. Lt is a solemri thought that Dis- ney probably would never have been ab~e to make such miniature
  • 6. masterpieces as· The Goddess of Spring and The Tortoise a11d tlze Hare without the income he derives from the sale of Mickey Mouse dolls and toys. The Walt Disney Enterprises Company, formed to exploit these reproductions of Mickey and Min- nie Mouse and other characters from the c.artoons, brings in more money than is derived from the exhibition of the films. And the revenue goes into the production of more and better cartoons, which would not otherwise be a paying proposition. Commerce, in other words, has onc'e again come to the aid of Art. D D D THAT £20,0CO SAM GOLDWYN, back in Lon- don after a strenuous bout of picture making in Hollywood, pro- fesses to be puzzied by the report that he offered £20,coo for a story for Eddie Cantor's next picture. "But," says Mr. Goldwyn, "I'd pay £50,000 for a story if I liked it well enough." Veil, if £20,006 is too little, £50,000 will do. D D D As a matter of fact, the famous offer was reported from a re- liable Hollywood source, and was probably connected with some of Goldwyn's recent pronouncements on the whole subject of film author- ship. He contends that there are far too many screen. writers at present wh.o are not worth the money, and that many thousands of pounds are thrown away annually on poor stories. Judging from some of the hack- neyed pieces of fiction masquerad- ing as stories I have come a<;ross within the past year or two, I should say he is perfectly right. If he is determined to apply the test of sheer merit to. every story he buys ih the future-disregarding such little things as the reputation of the author-he will start a revo- lution against high-priced, but worthless, stories, which should do a lot of good. D D D ASTAIRE'S LATEST OUR Hollywood representative is enthusiastic about the latest Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers screen musical comedy, Roberta, which is scheduled to follow Lives of a Bengal Lancer at the Carlton some time in May. It is an adaptation of an Ameri- can stage success, and is said to be immeasurably better even than Tlze Gay Divorce. Astaire's danc- ing is described as "terrific" and the music "full of hits which everybod¥ will soon be whistling.". D D D THE most interesting point about the picture, to me, is that a return has evidently been made to stage methods of putting over dances and musical numbers. "FILM WEEKLY'S" GREAT BRIT.ISH 'ANNUAL FILM WEEKLY'S famous British Films Number for 1935-the fourth annual edition-will be better than ever. Contents include FULL PAGE photogravure PICTURES of British stars in their latest parts; a two-page CARTOON by SHERRIFFS, the famous caricaturist; the RESULTS of "FILM WEEKLY'S" BRITISH FILM BALLOT for 1934; an UNVARNISHED WHO'S WHO of British Picture People; and pages and pages of magnificent articles by well-known contributors. As there will be a tremendous demand for this Number, readers are advised to make certain of getting their copies by placing their orders NOW. 80 PAGES FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935. perfect that the people in the cinema burst into spontaneous ap- plause a few seconds before they appeared. The effect was "in- tense! y thrilling." D D D H OLLYWOOD is now laughing heartily up its slee·e. Pro- ducers of "musicals" have been striving for years to get as far a'ay from stage technique as pos- sible, and have spent millions of pounds on panoramic sets and elaborate overhead and upside- down camera-work. Now, someone goes right back to the stage, using the simplest and easiest metI'ods, and makes a great "hit." Can you wonder that the Busby Berkeley crovd are feeling pretty sore about it? 0 D o• HISTORIC MOMENT TH IS "·eek has seen. the cine- matic reconstruction of a landmark in gastronomical history -the invention of the sand,,·ich. The place was Vauxhall Gardens, the year somewhere around i750. David Garrick, Dr. Johnson, Gold- smith and other notabilities were out on a mild spree, dinina under the trees in front of th; boxes where t~e more daring ,young men of the eighteenth cent.ury took their evening relaxation. Herbert Vil- cox was sitting beside the camera ,'i'"ecting the scene for Peg of Old l.Jmry. The waiters brought on plates of meat. Lord Sandwich, one of the Garrick party, suddenly found himself visited by inspiration and called for a loaf of bread. Cuttino- tffo slices from it, he slapped ~ piece of beef between them and began to eat. The first sandwich! Forerunner of the daintier morsels which were to make Mrs. Beeton a back number and bring fortunes to the snack- bar proprietors. 0 D 0 THE. scene over, Cedric Hard- w1cke, who plays Garrick, came over to tell me of a disturb- ing thought that had struck him that very morning. "Here am I," he said, "exhibit- ing what is in effect the most colos- sal imp.ertinence. I, an actor, am attemptmg to re-create on the screen the personality of one of the greatest actors we have, ever known. Men of genius have been characters in films before-but they've urnally been poets or play- wrights or composers or pianists. I don't mind being cast as a world- famous violinist-nobody expects me to be an expert on the fiddle. But, as Garrick, I have to act the very parts which Garrick himself made famous. I have to convince the audience that I am an actor of Garrick's greatness. Vhat impu..: dence ! ". Some of the dances are filmed as though from a camera planted in the front of the stalls in a theatre, and at the end, Astaire and Ginger Rogers come back and " take a bow" as if recalled by the applause of the audience. At the Hollywood pre-view, the timing of their re-entrance was so OUT NEXT FRIDAY 3o. AS USUAL J:ut that way, it certainly ~eems a difficult job. The only comment I can make on the situation is that Sir Cedric Hardwicke is the one actor I should have chosen to bring it off successfully. D D 0 NOT PARTICULAR "c/ESAR said: 'Let me have around me men that are fat.' I say : 'Let me have around me men '-and let it go at that,"- Mae West. 6
  • 7. FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935. IT PAYS to be -A"TYPEL/ says BETTE Not ·long ago, Bette Davis was rejoicing at her escape from stereotyped parts - publicly thanking the pro- ducers who gave her the opportunity of playing the character role ofthe contempt- ible Mildred in " Of Human Bondage " (which British film. goers have just seen). Now she declares that she is not taking any more risks. " I feel I went to the limit in •Of Human Bondage,' she says. Why has she changed her mind ? She tells you all about it in this exclusive FILM WEEKLY article, which gives an interesting insight into the problems of a modern film heroine. THE most difficult thing to do either on screen or the stage is to go on playing oneself . . . being oneself . . . and still remain interesting. DAVIS The easiest thing in the world is to play a character role. At least, I have fouqd it so. Until recently, as you know, I played a long series of sophisticated and stereotyped rol~-nearly always the girl friend with strong ideas on how to manage men. If one is interested in acting, that kind of thing is apt to grow monotonous. vVhen, the opportunity for a change comes, as it did to me in Of Human Bondage, the temp- tation is very strong. So when I was asked to play the role of Mildred in that film-at the suggestion of Les!ie Howard-I wanted to do it at once. " Yet, do you know, I almost didn't? My cournge slumped to zero as I read the book. I was not sure I could play the part after all, because l simply couldn't believe in such a person as Mildred, nor believe that she could go on holding that sort of a man. I still feel that, in order properly to under- stand the film-especially my part in it- one needs to have read Somerset Maugham's story as a text book. I don't suppose more than one in a thousand of those who have since seen the film had ever even heard of the book. How many, then, could have felt ' that they really knew the girl Mildred, whom I tried to portray? Only a very, very few I fear-and I mean I fear ! I like experiment. I should still be glad, at times, to have the chance of shoving the public what I can do with a character role. But I don't want to g-o too far. In Human Bondage I feel I went to the limit. vVhen my husband and my friends saw the "I simply couldn't believe in such a person as Mildred" Bette Davis as herself (a·bove) and as Mi!dred in "Of Human Bondage" (left). Many critics c~n· sider that her performance of this part shoud have won her the Academy acting trophy for 193.4 film, they were speechless. They simply could not believe it was me. The fact that the picture has since achieved such fine results in no way minimises my own perception of the risk I ran. I recently finished another character role in Bordertown with Paul Muni. I think it gives me a better opportunity for real acting even than Of Human Bondage. I am seen as an ordinary, common Ameri- can girl, who marries a revolting old man for the sake of his money. Unable to en- dure his drunken amours, and having con- ceived an interest in a young man (Muni), I murder the husband. !he crime preys on my mind, and finally drives me insane. It is a good role, I think, but again, it is I experimental, and I think it will do nice!J for the present, thank you ! I want to go back to my nice, smartly dressed secretaries, lady journalists, com- mercial artists, and understanding girl friends for a while. I know what the public thinks about that type of role. Nothing would please me better, just now, than a few more parts like the one I played in Cabin in tlte Cotton. Remember? She was modern enough to be amusing; she had a fine sense of humour, and she was clean and normal enough not to make anyone in the audience feel sick. Let's face it. It is useless to disguise the fact that to become popular, and keep her popularity, a Hollywood actress has to establish a definite screen style-an identity to which one must frankly attach the hor- rible description "type." Once she has discovered a style which the public acclaims, she must remain more or less the same little woman in every picture she mak~3; rather more than less, too ! This is certainly the verdict of the Ameri- can film public. Perhaps, in Britain, where ] understand individuality is more strongly develcped, it is performance rather than the personality which counts. I should very much like to find out for myself, and I will make a film in England the very first chance 1 get;· Hollywood keeps me too busy at the moment.
  • 8. ."WE fr/mgoers are growing tire<l of spectacular miracles har- nessed to music.'' "Some directors are of the opinion that ' serious music can dispense with dignity." "Musical films as a whole are not having a square deal." FILl11 WEEKLY, March 29, 193f; Where II Musical II s by W: JOHN ELTON " MUSICALS " are low in the esteem of critics and discriminating filmgoers. If tr.e word "brilliant," so frequently applied to films varying from thrillers such as The Man iV!to Knew Too Much to historical romances such as The Barretts uf TVi111f'ule Street, is by any chance associated with a pro- duction of a musical character, we arc at once surpris.ed and curious to know how ;,uch a m-iracle of direction has been achieved. This, to me and to all other lovers of mu;.ic, is a catastrophe, but unhappily good reason for the public's loss of faith in musical pro- ductions is too plentiful to be denied. No musical which evades the is,.,ues of com- mon sense can hope to be considered arJistic- this in spitr of Busby Berkele·, Buddy Brad- ley, and the other brilliant manufacturers of formation and fermentation. Yet in these super-efficient days when heads arc turned grey to assure the correctness of the smallest detail in films, down to a ring on the finger or the design of a fifteenth-century tankard, musicals are still offering scenes and sequences Yhich are nothing short of .an effrontery to the intelligence of the modern audience. Release from Realism? The average director appears to regard music as an immediate relea:,e from the bonds of realism and an oppodunity to "·andcr in the mists of an absurd fairvland without the slightest regard to congruit-y or the vanishing patience of his potential audience. The pity is that very few of these musical s scorning the rules of realism a.re sufficiently clever or suitably designed to fall under the heading of "burlesque" or "fantasy." There is a very real place for fantasy on the screen,, as was proved long ago by S1111shine Susie and the brilliant productions of Rene Clair. But it is significant that, even in the case· of pictures such as Le Million, the fan- tasy depends upon dexteritv of touch and tricks of continuity rather than upon modern and unnecessary miracles Yhich are never encountered in life. "e filmgoers arc growing tired of spectacu- lar miracles .harnessed to music. ' e are losing interest in sequences such as those in Dames, which .typify such an unneces:,ary wavering between realism and fantasy. . Extraordinary Happenings An examination of Dames pro·cs that the .word " musical " is expected ' to cover some extraordinary happenings. Dick PO·ell and Ruby Keeler, originally on the stage of a theatre which'; we presume, does not possess elastic; walls, are follo"·ed during the course . of their stage performance through streets thronged Yith people and parked cars, into a subway, into a raih·ay carriage (a long, long· journey here), and over the rails of a railway yard containing a mere half-dozen or so trains. The sequel to this is a dazzling succession of Bu?by Berkeley creations-' "·hich would have called for Olympia to contain them-and then we are sudden1y shocked to find ourselves gazing once more at the non-rlastic theatre and the applauding audience, these ·proving that the director earnestly trusted us to believe that this cavalcade of half a city had passed across the stage. · Dames does not stand alone: too many large- scale musicals are still asking for sympathy in this way. After such a spectacle, it was a re- lief to me to find that the chorus girls in Brewster's Millio11s do not burst the bul 11·arks of Jack Buchanan's yacht an,d go for a short canter over the Bay of Biscay-oh ! Romance is not intended to be al ways in
  • 9. F1Lil! JVEEKLl', March 29, 1935. Go Wrong Gramophone and"Film Weekly's" Music Critic G ives Exper~ Opinion Vexed Subjecton· a harmony with stark realism, but even romance is not permitted the licence of disregarding the customs and irrevokable Jaws of Nature. It is this licence that the directors of many -0f -0ur musical films arbitrarily assume. The pattern for realism in romance is found in 011e Night of Love. This film has veak- nes!'es-thc thin speaking ·oice of Grace Moore in comparison Vith her glorious singing; the forced situations such as Mary's discovery of Monteverdi in Lally's arms-and yet it proved an outstanding success. Yhy? Because of its music-yes-but ~ven more because of the sa11e prese11tatio11 of its music. It showed sincerity. It respected the credibility of the audience. Vhen Grace Moore indulged in musical exercises, it did not impott an orchestra of one hundred musicians to accom- pany her; vhen an opera was presented at a theatre, it remembered the dimensions of the average stage and managed to resist the temp- tation, in the " Madam Butterfly" scene, to send Grace Moore drifting through forests of blossoming trees, to finish up on the peak of a mountain soine miles away, with prisms, discs, candles and candies closing in to give a symbolic fade-out. In other words, it observed the rules of common sense, and we applauded gratefully. Another hurdle where realism often stumbles to the embarrassment of a critical audience is that of accompaniment. Musical accompani- " The pattern (or realism is found in 'One Night of Love' •.. Why? . .. Because of the sane presw- tation of its music " Right : Grace Moore with Tullio Carminati in a scene from this famous film ment can be of tremendous value e·en to a film _whi~h is not otherwise musi~al, and no one m his senses would ask directors to intro- duce the work of an orchestra only when one is shOVn on the screen. But what is to be desired (quite in conformity with good art) is that audiences should be emotionally affected without immediately realisiuK the cause. This ideal, particularly in the accompaniment of actual musical items in the films, is constantly being sacrificed for the sake of flourishing effect. · In lh1fi11islied Sympho11y, for example, we saw young Schubert sitting down to give a recital at the piano before the Princess Kinsky. And what did we hear? A piano? Oh no, we heard instead the immediate and undisguised crashing of a symphony orchestr-a. Perhaps young Schubert carried this in his Vaistcoat pocket. Admittedly, the orchestra was none other than the Vienna Philharmonic and a de- light to listen to, but is it impossible in these days of film efficiency to increase the pleasure of the audience by introducing an orche'1ra as an orchestra-or even a comparatively simple, but definitely expressive, piano as a piano? " Tact " Wanted I am not so stiff-collar~d as to suggeft that an should only be applied when strictly in line with cold realism. My argument most certainly is, however, that music, and particu- larly accompaniment, should be introduced ith tact and gentleness, so as to preserve the illusion of realism so laboriously created on the screen. This can be done, and it is significant that the films causing least complaint in this respect are those that have been acclaimed as suc- cesses. Referring once more to One Night of Love-and it is difficult not to refer to this production when dealing with the successful presentation of music-you will probably be able to recall the scene in which Tbllio Car- minati, noticing Grace Moore's nervousness before her first opera, forced her to try over a song with him. He accompanied her on the piano. The piano was at first the only accom- paniment heard, and I sincerely believe that the majority of filmgoers, if asked, would say 9 that it remained so during the whole of the song. As Grace Mo-0re grew in confidence and strength of voice, however, so did the accom- paniment match her mood by a gathering depth and significance. Actually, the soft strings of a violin added themselves, very quietly and with artistic simplicity, to the chords of the piano. The violin had a use-it symbolised Grace Moore's strengthening confidence-and yet not once did it make the audience blatantly aware of its presence. · ln ·such a way is a scene in a musical film given dignity, and rendered more effective, without loss of realism. Absurdities Unfortunately, some directors are apparently of the opinion that serious music can dispense with dignity. Jan Kiepura is a victim of this policy.. In My Song for You, he was shon in the opening scenes, in a ridiculous garb, hopping about the deck of a yacht as he sang; later, in the same film, he was shown in a bathing costume at a S·irnming bath, singing to an audience (which had paid for its ''>seats" with the express intention of hearing his voice, mind you !) immersed to the waists in water. If this is what directors consider to be suit- able presentation of a good ·voice, then it is fortunate that Caruso lived when a tenor could perform. with dignity. In all probability the modern film-makers would have planted him in a wheelbarrow and pushed a banana into his hand. The subject is a wide one-the difficulties of musical comedies, the problems of presenting popular songs-but from this alone it can be seen that musical films as a whole are not having a square deal. There is no art in the world that appeals to the emotions or the artistic sense of collected people more than music, and yet the conductor's baton is con- unually being turned into a jester's jack. Let us hope, then, that directoTs will cease to be obsessed by the belief that the applica. tion of heavy brush-loads of music will glo:;s over breaches of faith with their audiences. Vhen this happens, musical films will take their proper place in the lists of sincere and artistic productions.
  • 10. IS AMERICA UNFAIR TO BRITISH 'FILMS? A U.S. reader is "riled" by her country's treatment of our pFcfures To the Editor, FILM VEEKLv. W E American filmgoers have just begun to realise the ex- cellence of British pictures. If we 1::.ave been a long time doing so, 1t is largely because British pictures have not received a fair deal in American cinemas. All efforts to get our local theatre managers to book the better British films have, so far, been unavailing. I am still riled at the treatment of Catherine the Great, starring Eliza- beth Bergner-. This fine picture was relegated to a small, sme'.ly theatre which usually shows V,Testerns ; while Hollywood's hoge-podge, The Scarlet Empress, was screened at our largest and best theatre. Ve demonstrated our approval of the British film bv filling the small theatre to capacit:, while the Hollywood production played to scant aud:ences. It seems that America has a poor spirit of reciprocity since Britain has given such sp~endid support to AmeriC3.n films. Britain has also suppiied the American screen "ith some of its finest' talent, includ 1ni:;- George Arliss, Claude Rains, Herbert ~Iarshall,- Di.ana Wynyard and manv othecs.--CORfNNE CHILDERS, <;06, Cle- 111ent Avenue, Charlotte, N. C.', C.S.A. Misleading Advertising J VISITED a local cinema for the sole purpose of seeing Shirley Temple in Change of Heart. All [ saw of her was one shot, and that taken from the back. Yet her name on the ·bills was quite as big as those of the other principal artists. Is this fair?-(:I1ss) D. M. DE.Kt:', f!a/es- worth Road, Handswortlz, Sheffield. - !Shirley Temple was not originally "feature:!" in Chan?e of Flea rt, a Ga~·nor-Farrell picture, although she had a small part in it. She wa• com- paratively unknown when this film wa~ made, an<l her name appears on the distributors' synopsis only in the detailed list of characters and players. -ED.] * Although Shirley Temple's name was hilled three or four times larger than thus~ of the other players, she was on the ,er; en in Stand Up and Cheer for onlv a few minutes. Something should be done to stop managers from luring the public in ~o their cinemas under false pretences.- ". YHTTAKER, !'vios<r A i'enue, F"·e Lane Ends, Bradford. Filming " .The Dredm" H. lIOOlUNG'S article on A ,Y. il!ids11111111er Night's Dream (FIUI WEEKLY, March 15) fired me "'ith astonishment. What posoessed Hollywood to over'.oad the gossamer "Dream" with elaborate spectacle and mammoth architecture? ' The greatness of the play lies in its glorious poetry. From a dramatic point of view, .the plot is trite and disjointed, and not even the most in- spired acting can make the lovers any- thing but cardboard figures. Shakespeare wove lovely word pic- tures into the play and left the rest to ' the imagination of the audience. Sumptuous settings and elaborate de- SHOCKING REVELATIONS. The night clubs of Rangoon, os pictured by Hollywcod in "Mandalay," have caused delighted surprise to the unsuspecting irhabitants of Rangcon, according to a Rangoon reader. Our illustration shaws Kay Francis, in the film, as hostess of a Rangoon night club tail, such as galloping unicorns and grotesque gnomes, are unnecessary and in ,bad taste.-(M1ss) NI:'-!.. Hix. sos, Preston Road, TVe111bley. Perhaps lIax Reinhardt's next ven- ture will be a Y.arner musical founded on lIilton's "Paradise Regained" and played by Warner Brothers' crooners and hot rhvthm cuties.- ~Llt<GARET lli:uucori, Hampstead Gardens, Golders Green, N.W. "hatever it may be as entertain- ment, the film of "The Dream" will no't be Shakespea.re, for three good reasons :- . The. elaba,rate sets, which are super- fluous and must detract from the text. The actors. Onlv trained Shake- spearean artists can" deli Yer the lines properly. .ccent. Any English dialect would ha'e been acceptable, but Shakespeare could never blend' with the American accent.-E. DORA TURBI~. Coalbrook .Jlansions, Bedford Hill, Ba/ham,S.W. Loud Laughter from Rangoon J~ filming stories of the East, Holly- wood producers seldom trouble much about accuTacy, en the assump- tion, I suppose', that few filmgoers have been frere. "hen such pictures reach the real East, they are receiYed, as you may imagine, witlr considerable amusement. Following, for example, are extracts from a review of Mandalay in The Rangoon Gazette. " I had always been led to believe that Rangoon was. a progressive city with modern buildings, paved streets, an up-to-date harbour · and almost e,·erything else that one associates with civilisation. But I find I have been 10 wrong. Rangoon, the producer of this entertaining dramatic comedy tells us, is a shambling, neglected-looking, sleepy place, with waving palm trees, phretons .and strange, narrow, winding streets. Those of the population who are not 'Empire builders' are Chinese. The wharf was a revelation. I ha'e never seen anything like it be. fore. And you should see our night clubs! "-Jon:; BRADLEY, Sule Pagoda Road, Rangoon. [~fandalay was directed by Michael Curtiz. with Kay FranciR as Tanya, " t.he most notorious woman in Ran- goon," and Ricardo Cortez as Tony, her gun-running lover. It was released in Britain last August.-Eo.1 , The Time Element 'VH' is it that so many otherwise competent directors fad to mark adequately the passage of time in their films? Two recent pictures, The ilfan Who r..·new Too Much and The Pai.nted Veil, were, in my opinion, marred by neglect of the time element. In Hitchcock's film, one of the CRITICISM FILMGOERS are the most important critics, for, whatever the professional cr.itics may think, it is upon their judgment that the success of a picture depends. Let us hear your opinions of the films you see. Prizes are awarded each week for the best letters published. This weefc:•s awards go to :-JOHN BRADLEY (£1. Is.} and Mrs. A. WILLIS (I Os. 6d.), whose IE.ttsrs appear on this page, ········................................................................~ FILM WEEKLY, Marcl. cI, 19~5. characters appears to m.ake the journey from the A)bert Hall to Wapping in about two minutes. In The Painted . Veil, Garbo is pic- tured as a neglected wife ·almost before we h.ave reaiised that she is married, and ·embarks on a love affair with · Townsehci w~en theY. have barely been rntroduced. - (MRS.) A. WILLIS, lllonega Road, Forest Gate, E. · When Freddie Recited F1rnDDIE BARTHOLOMEW'·S sue. cess rn David Copperfze:d recalls to mind an incident which I witnes.sed a few years ago in a small 'iltshire town. - I_ hel~ed to organise a conc«rt· ~t which l· redd1e g-ave a number of reci- tations: His elocution was marvellous, especially for a child so young. Like_ the audience, Freddie fully apprec1.a'ed his own effort's; which he showed by clapRing himself heartily after nery turn.-]. H. FI<ANCIS, St. Giidas, West End Terrace, Winches- ter. Early Filmgoing Days SIT"ril'G comfortably in a palatial · modern cinema, I reca~led my early filmgoing days at the old Royal Pavilion, Blackpool-the birthplace of pictures in this town. A temporary screen was erec'.~d on a wooden stage at one end. Tl:.e floor . was covered with sand, and the seat- ing consisted of wooden forms. A huge watchman's brazier, emitting smoke and fumes, was the heating apparatus. Boys used to bring potatoes and roast them on the brazier while watch- ·ing the pictures, returning home with blackened hands and faces. All the same, those were happy days !-THO~US SHARPLES, Ball Street, B/tickpool. Walter Huston Missed 'VHAT qas happened to Walter . Huston? This g-reat actor gave magnificent performances ernn in the early talkies. How ·much better he might be in the superior talkies of to-day, with their improved stories and technique. I cannot. understand why Hollywood neglec~s him.-C. GRF.F.XE, Haverstock Hill, N.W. [Walter Huston vohrntarily left Hollywood to return to his first love, the stage; against the wish of M.G.M.. who, it is said, have given him a stand4 ing invitation to return. He is at present appearing in the U.S.A. in a play baeed on Sinclair Lewis's "Dodsworth," and rnay bring it to London. His lust film seen in England was Keep 'em Rolliny, relea,;ed last N ovem!Jer.-Eo.l As Others See Them J THOCGHT Tlie Painted Veit merely mellerdrammer, though Garbo is always a rest for the eyes. Are there no beautiful subjects that it should be necessary to make a film about choler.a? As one who has nursed leprosy, I know ·the horror of these diseases, and I protest against pictures of such sad, sad things.- DArSY Sl'RRIDCE, Ar1111/f Street, Cat. ford, S.E. Vienna has made a·nother master- piece in So Ended a Great Love, a worthy successor to the lovely Jfllaske- rade. The acting is so sensitive that you know what the characters are th.inking without a word being spoken. -(Miss) K., ACLAND, Oxford Street, w.
  • 11. F/L.1 WEEKLY. March 29, 1935. Picture People by JACK ARNOLD Dick Powell is ready for "Broad- way Gordolier." a musical with was there to be laughed at. In Blessed E<'ent, you remember.Joan Blondell G ARY COOPER is scheduled to p'ay in The Light that Failed, adapted from the Rudyard Kipling novel. Story is of an artist who is torn between devotion to paintinl' a master- p iece and a longing for travel. It was filmed way back in early silent days. -as staged in London in 1903 with Forbes Robertson as Dick. J(Il'LING wrote two endings to the story. As origina'ly planned, and later published in novel form. the hero went to the Sudan Var and was killed. However, it was first published in a magazine, and for this pur.pose it ended happily with the marnage of the hero. It is not difficult to guess which version will be used in the film. 0 0 0 . J OAN CRAWFORD will have a new type of part shortly. Metro plan to cast her in The Garden of Allah, from Robert Hichens' novel. Vhe,n he was in vaude- ville he and Ginger Rogers did .an act together. He gets one of the largest fan mails In Hollywood. All letters are answered -except proposals of marriage. He gets several a week of those. D 0 D A LINE MACMAHON is set for a new picture with Guy Kibbee. Title : The Patient in Room 18. Say what you like, Aline is one of the most versatile of players. Com- pare her in IIeart of New York, 011e- way Passage and A vVoman in EIer Thirties. Vhen the Broadway play, "Once in a Lifetime," was being cast, Aline did her best to get the part of May. She was refused. However, she got the part in a touring company. The co.rnpany toured in California, and, when "Once in a Lifetime" was filmed, Hollvwood rnshed after her holding· out the p'art with both hands. D D 0 J OEL McCREA is going paternal · these days. In Heaven's. Gate he plays the part of Shirley Temple's father. He looks af~er Shirley all day and his own child at night. It's a boy, born last September. Joan Crawford will soon star in a film of" The _Garden of Allah" For Iieaven' s Gate a complete circus has been hired. It inch!des one of the l"rgest tents in existence and the largest ele- phant in captivity. Shir'.ey is looking fcrwaEd to circus fun. PERHAPS to take his mind off two doses of fatherhood, Joel is be- coming a rancher. He owns about l ,ooo acres, and plans to raise cattle. He is doing it on the instalment plan. Each time he finishes a picture part of the money goes in additions to the ranch. He says H e011en' s Gate means another 200 acres to him. When making his lR..st picture Joel had an example of how the world turns. Arnold Gray was a star in silent pictures and J eel was his stand.- in. In Private W or/ds Arnold Grav was Joel's stand-in. - n 0 0 E RNST LUBl'fSCH is plannini! big things in his new capacity as productio.1 chief at Para- mount. · He has just purchased rig.hts in five · hun::lred Victor Herbert rne'odies. Herbert wro:e many operettas, includ- ing the one from which Naughty l!Jariella, Jeanette r-Iacdonald's latest, was adap ed. - H 2 will produce a film based on the title, Life and J!e/odies of Victor flerbert. Probability is thitt Bing Crosby, Carl Brisson and lIary Ellis will play in it. HOLLYYOOD is excited because Lubitsch called ~farlene Dietrich back from a holidav for re-takes for Tfze Devil is a Woman. .And Von Sternberg, who nevair makes re-takes It is rumoured that when Marlene makes another picture, Gary Cooper may play opposite her. They were toge ther in 111orocco. 0 , D CJ GRETE MOSHEIM is new to _ British films. She is leadin1' !adv of the new Gaumont-Bri-tish picture, Car of Dreams. Film is a musical about a girl worker in a musical-instrurnenr fac. tory who finds herself the owner of an unbelievably magnificent car. John lIills p'.ays opposite her. Robertson Hare is in it, too.Story, as you probably know, is about a man who leaves a monastery to face the world, but finally renounces even the woman · with whom he has fallen in love and returns to seclusion. ..................................................................................................................................................... GRETE lIOSHEir.I is another of Max ReinhaJdt's pupils. . Her father is a doctor in Berlin. NO leading man has yet been chosen for Jo.an Crawford. In a former. film of 'the story, Ivan Petrovitch played opposite Alice Terry. Thlt was in 1927. Even before that it was filmed with Torn Santschi in the lead. Santschi was a vVestern actor. The play gave Nazimova what is probably her most famous stage part. Incidentally, Kazirnova is now actin.g in the new Shaw play, "Simple- ton of the Unexpected Isles," in New York. 0 0 0 L AWRENCE TIBBETT will be back on the screen soon. Dar- ryl Zanuck is ge.ting an original story written for production shortly.. It will, of course, have an operatic background. Funny that Tibbctt played opposite Grace Moore in New Moon, yet neither of them were "discovered." Tibbett learnt to use his· voice as a schoolboy when he was roped in by an lndertaker to sing at funerals. He got a few dollars per bunal. One of his great points is his exu- berance, on and off the screen. ·hen he made his first film, -7 he Rogue Song, h'is voice was so power- ful that a special microphone had to be obtained. .o 0 0 D ICK POWELL 1s slated for a new musical, Broadway Condo, lier. Joan Blondell and William Gargan will be in it. Also the Four Mills Brothers and several others from American radio. DICK is now one of the topmost screen. crooners. Yet in his first picture "he played a crooner who KNOW THE DIRECTORS 7.-W. S. VAN DYKE W S. (" Woody") Van Dyke , - has had so much publicity lately, as the maker of " The Thin Man " and "forsaking All Others," that the greatest of all his qualities -his versatility-has been some- what obscured. · He is a director who need never become monotonous because he can do so many things supremely well. It was not his fault that he got into a rut of so-called " naturalistic" films a few years ago. Because he had had a success with " White Shadows in the South Seas " and again with " Trader Horn," it was th.ought that he should confine himself to pictures of open-air adventure and " nature drama " in various forms. Because he has recently had an even greater succe>s with "The Thin ·Man," he might easily find himself in another rut-this time oft.•ltra-smc.rt comedy dramas which, by sheer repetition, would eventually become mechanical and dull. Which would be a great pity, for Van Dyke's range is wider than that of. any other front-rank director. His " emancipation " from nature films actually began as long ago as 1931, when he directed Lionel Barrymore in a straightforward murder melodrama, " Guilty Hands." Since then, he has ranged over almost evc;ry known variety of film fare and has shown himself to be master of many styles. The praise showered upon him might have turned a lesser ma.i's head. But Van Dyke is hard-bitten, experienced, unlikely to be led astray by adulation. He knows life, and can reproduce it on the screen, because he has lived a particularly full life himoe'f. Actor, miner, lumberman, news- paper reporter, playwright-he has tried most things once, and made a suctess of many of them. He got a lot of his film knowledge from the great D. W. Griffith. He /earned about acting as a child from his mother, Laura Winston, once a well-known American stage star. Six feet tall, laconic in speech and determined in manner, he is the antithesis of the sensitive, tempera- mental director. He ·just knows what he wants-and has a habit of getting it. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••o••••••••••••••.-•••••••••••••••••••••u•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••; 11 Grete's first "personal appearance" was when she was very young. She found the audience in her home too restricted, so she took a portable har- monium into the street and played there .. _ until her father; heard of it. A Continental critic writes of her: " SErn, electric, blonde, blue-eyed, her amazing talent is allied to delight- ful personal characteristics ... Gish acts ·ith her hands, Bergner with her shoulders, lIosheirn with her lilt- ing feet and quick, mercurial legs."• Yhich is no mean feat, whichever way you spell it. D D D R OSEMARY AMES wins the speed trophy in the Romancecandals this week. At 11 a.m. she ob- tained a six-rnir.ute divorce from Bertie lIeyer, London stage producer. Two hours later she married J. Abner !itilwell, Chicaf'O banker. She has original ideas on marriage. Her first husband acted as best man at her second wedding. lJ:ORE follows. Esther Ralston has obtained , a decree and the custody of her two-year-old daughter. Thelma Todd won by alle~ing dis- illusionment and extreme cruelty. Dorothy Gish is divorcing James Rennie, screen actor. She played with him in a film entitled Remodel- ling Her Husband. l1TO.RE follows. Anita Page has sued ll'..l for an annulment of her mar- riage to Kacio Herb Brown, compo- ser. Perhaps he played the trombone in bed, or something. lIax Reinhardt has applied to the courts to validate the divorce he obtained in Riga in 1931.
  • 12. ~ flLM TOPICS by GLOBE LONDON PAVILION Monday, April Ist WORLD PREMIERE of BERGNER in "ESCAPE ME NEVER" You will be spell- bound by her mag- netic personality! A British and Dominions Production distributed by N.8.-" Ne// Gwyn " fifty-ward postcard criticism competition finishes Wednesday, April 3rd. Past- your entries before that date, marked "Film Weekly," to Globe, British and Dominions Studios, Boreham Wood, Hertforffshire. Result will be an- nounced in "Film Weekly" issue dated April 12th, FIL.~f WEEKLY, March 29, 10~ Studio II Miracle Man HERBERT HARRIS int-erviews Harry wizard Davo, of t-he II k II ma e up B.l.P. st-udios YOU never hear much about men like Harry Davo, al- though they're incalculably important to films. You've not heard of him? I thought maybe you had11 't. But Harry has been a miracle-man of make-up at the British Inter- national Pictures stu- dio at Elstree for six years. Six years of n o s e s, e y e I a sh es, beards, spirit - gum, paint, powder and all the other paraphernalia of a big studio's make- up room. "'hen ambitious girls go to be made up be- fore the all-important "tests," they say to Harry, "Make us as lovely as you possibly can! " And this plea got so monotonous that Harry put up a notice that they could all see. It read : " 'e wiII do our best to make you beautiful, but we are not conjurors." That is one of the stories Harry told me in the intriguing make-up room at B.I.P. The walls are decorated with scores of portraits of stars who have passed through Harry's almost surgical hands. They bear grateful and admiring messages. There is one from Anna May Vong in Chinese. And there is one from Jane Baxter on the bottom of a Blossom Time " still" which reads : " Thanks for all the good chalking." "Jane would call pencilling 'chalking,'" mused Harry. " Balancing'' a Face Many of the portraits show the stars in unrecognisable forms after "treatment." "Few people know how intricate is make-up for films," said Harry. "'e work in co-ope"ration 'vith the cameramen. Vhen the player has been made up, we call in the cameramen, who study the subject closely, and decide what will not photograph we!I. Alterations are made. Then the player is photo- graphed and shown on the screen of the studio theatre. Ve watch points, and often make further alterations. And I make up fifteen or twenty people a day ! "One side of the face is different from the other, you know. Ve have to 'balance' them, often plucking one eyebrnw to make it correspond with the other, and so on. I have spent two hours on the faces of girls not even playing character roles. " The talkies made one slight difference in make-up. Some people, when speaking, will raise one corner of the mouth rather 12 Given a painting cf Lord Burghley (Jeff) Harry , Davo had to make up B.n Webster to match. He achieved the mirccu/Jus result shown abcve unduly. Ve can give the other corner an artificial ' twist' and so 'balance' it. Yes, the game is full of little touches like that. "As you know, we have been re- creating quite a lot of .historical characters recently. In those bound volumes up on the shelf we have the portraits of most historical figures, and we copy them as closely as possible, Sometimes we call in the National Portrait Gallery. "Athene Seyler, as Queen Eliza- beth, in Drake, has an artificial nose, and it takes me half an hour to put it on." · Then Harry opened a box to ex- - pose half a dozen "noses." Rather a gruesome sight. They keep these as "casts," so that noses that have been removed can be returned to their owners' faces in the same shape! "Hay Petrie, as Quilp, in The Old Curiosity Shop, was one of my most tricky subjects. That nose took three-quarters of an hour to put on. In the last part of the film, Quilp jumps from a wharf into the water. The first time they shot that scene, Quilp hit the water rather bard, and emerged "·ith his nose on his cheek. That meant another three-quarters of an hour in the make-up room before a re- take ! His whole make-up took nearly two hours. "Dickens characters are all heavy work for the make-up men. Ve had the sketches of the famous illustrators, Pbiz, Cruickshank, and Kyd, only, unfortunately, these famous illustrators don't all agree on what the characters ought to look like. However, I think we have brought the characters to life in a manner that will not offend the most ardent Dickensians." Making up Richard Tauber to look like Schubert was another of Harry's tasks. He h·as had all sorts of famous people literally through his hands. " I get quite a kick out of s-lap- ping the greasepaint into the faces of well-known boxers ! " he con- fes~ed. "I've made up Kid Berg, Bombardier Velis, Gunner Moir (who is in Drake), and Jack Doyle, star of McClusky the Sea Rover. Vhile I was slapping the face of Kid Berg, he suddenly looked up at me and cried : ' Say, old man, aren't you taking a bit of a risk? ' 'Keep still,' I said, 'or I'll knock you clean through tJ:ie wall, and you can talk to me after I come out of hospital.' Moustache Trouble "And talk about false mous- taches ! One fellow liked his mili- tary moustache so well that he went home in it. But another poor chap found I had gone home when he came to ha·e his moustache re- moved, and after tugging quite a lot he visited the local chemist for help. ·•You could tell false whiskers at a glance in the old days. But you can't now." Harry told me he has been in the film business since before the war,. doing everything. He used to do quite a lot of stunt work- diving off housetops into the river, hanging on cranes, and being sus- pended upside down over the side of a ship. It was his work as a "double," in fact, that gave him his flair for make-up. Harry has " doubled '~ for such people as Henry Ainley, Sessue Hayakawa, and Sid Chap- lin. He made himself up to look as much like them as possible tasks which helped him to perfect his art.
  • 13. 11 FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935 "BUDDIES" AG.AIN JAMES CAGNEY and Pat O'Brien, the two " buddies ,, who were together in Here Comes the ·Navy, are back again. In the recently finished Devil Dogs_ of the Air they are still wrangling over a girl. This time the girl is Margaret Lindsay and she looks a girl who is worth wrangling over. James Cagney and Margaret Lindsay in "Devil Dogs of the Air." "Now, see here ...." Just the beginning of an argument between Pat O'Brien and James Cagney as to who shall escort Margaret Lindsay. The commander uses models to describe certain manreuvres to Pat O'Brien (at the left) and lames Cagney. 13
  • 14. Cardinal Richelieu was the power behind the throne of King Louis XIII in the days when all Europe was at the throat of France. (George Arllss as Richelieu and Edward Arnold as King Louis XIII.) A scene in the cathedral. Edward Arnold, George Ar//ss and (right) Halliwell Hobbes. F I R S T' FILJ.1 WEEK/,Y,March29,1935 P 1-CT U R E S Francis lister as Goston in the film.
  • 15. FILM WBEKLY, March 29, 1936 OF N E.W The leading feminine part is played by M!]ureen O'Sullivan. Here she is seen in a moving scene with Guy Bellis. Dramatic lighting gives power to this scene of the Cardinal's death. George Arliss and Guy. Bel/ls in "Richelieu." A .R L I S S FI ·L M • 15 LAST week FILM WEEKLY published an exclusive - picture of George A .rliss in make~up as the Cardinal in his new 20th Century picture, Richelieu. This week we are able to present the first pictures of actual scenes from the film. They show the principal characters in their screen roles, and give· an excellent impression of the atmosphere of the picture. For many years before his death Richelieu was the secret director of French policy and .dominated Louis · ·XIII.
  • 16. Just a flash of " The Mexicano," the new dance which Dolores Del Rio performs the film. 16 FILM WEEKLY,March29, 1935 Dolores Del Rio and Pot O'Brien In" Cali- ente." Leo Carillo ploys a leading port in the film with Dolores Del Rio. INTRODUCING "THE MEXICANA" FILMS have already intropuced us to several new dances. " The Carioca :· and " The Continental" were two of them. Now, ih her new picture, Caliente, Dolores Del Rio introduces "The Mexicana." In this film Dolores plays the part of a beautiful dancer in Agua Caliente, the Mexican town which is a favourite pleasure resort of many Hollywood stars.
  • 17. FILM WEEKLY,March29, 1935 EVELYN VENABLE IN SHIRLEY TEMPLE'S NEW FILM JN her new film, 'The Little Colonel, Shirley Temple plays opposite Lionel Barrymore. The story is set in the days of the Civil War. Lionet Barrymore is a die-hard rebel, who cuts off his daughter (Evelyn Venable) for marrying a Yankee (John Lodge). However, their little daughter (Shirley Temple) is made honorary colonel of a cavalry regiment. Her sweet parade. ground manner (or perhaps it was her horse) melts the old die-hard heart, and tiny hands weave loving bonds of union round the separated family! ~~T'."""7 17 EYelyn Venable, cast out by the Southern rebel for maJrylng a Yankee. Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore In " The Little Colonel." -
  • 18. Paul Robeson as ~ 8osambo, the ex- convict who becomes a chief, and Nina Mae tMcKinney as Lilongo, the girl whom he rescues from slaveItraders. ------ PAUL 18 ' ' The , natives are held back with gun and spear. Left to right, Robert Cochran as Bones, Paul Robeson, Leslie a·anks, Nina Mae McKinney, and John Thomas as Abi- boo. FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935 SANDERS THE famous " Sanders " books by I in Sanders of the River, the nev Zoltan Korda, which will have its we Paul Robeson will be se<:;n for i magnificent singing will be a feature o plays opposite him. The part of I: by Leslie Banks. For this film a production unit tra'i Africa to secure material. A comple1 banks of the Thames at Teddington together, chiefly from the ·shippin1 act as extras.
  • 19. r Wallace.are brought to the screen Jndon Films production directed by s premiere in London on April 2. first time in a British film and his e production. Nina Mae McKinney ict Commissioner Sanders is played d thousands of miles through Central .ative village was constructed on the i hundreds of natives were gathered uarters of London and Cardiff, to King Mofloba (Toto Ware), Sanders' sworn enemy, bar- gains· with the slave traders, Smith (Eric Maturin) and Ferrini (Marquis de Portago). 19 While Sanders is ab- /eave in 'England, 8osambo and his wife ·are captured by the hostile tribe of King Mofloba.
  • 20. II BRITISH · ARTISTS FROM HOLLYWOOD AN attractive portrait of Frank Lawton and Diana Wynyard, the two British artists who are star- ring in Over The River, the Hollywood film adaptation of John Galsworthy's novel, which can be seen at the cinemas next week. . The two ·are both in England at present. Diana Wynyard has unfortunately had to leaye her West End play, "Sweet Aloes," owing to an operation for appendicitis. Frank Lawton's next film, Delay In the Sun with Binnie Barnes, has been postponed so that he can appear on the London stage in "Worse Things Happen at Sea." 20 FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1936
  • 21. FILM WEEKLY, Jfauh29, 1935 Also in 1929 came Joan's marriage to Douglas Fairbanks Junr. /,ovely, glamorous Joan Crawford as we know her to-day. SELF MADE STAR J OAN CRAWFORD is an- outstanding example of a self-made star. She began unknown, unnoticed, as an extra player. Gradually, by hard work, by con- stant!y training herself for better things, by concentrating on her ambitions, she climbed the ladder of success rung by rung. Now she stands at the top among the loveliest and most popular actresses on the screen. These picture;; show steps in her career. It is a far cry from the unsophisticated, untrained actress-of those early days to the glamorous star of to-day. Joan's latest picture, forsaking All Others, in which she leaves heavy drama to play a vivacious, fun-loving girl, can be seen at the cinemas next week. 21 Joan became blonde for "Laughing Sinners," but this· style of hairdressing shows us a new Joan as the dancer in "Dancing Lady."
  • 22. FAMILY VISITOR. You would recognise Bill Cagney anywhere as James Cagney's brother. Bill visited the studio recently to see how Brother Jim looked In his costume for "A Midsummer Night's Dream." F/Lltl. WEEKLY, March29, 1935 ,..............................., I NEWS ! I IN ; I PICTURES i!...............................! CELEBRITIES AT NO HIGH- HA TT ING HERE. Jean Parker has her own dressing table with her name over the ·top, but if any of the other girls on the production want a dab of powder, they're welcome to borrow Jean's. ACTRESSES AT SCHOOL. A school has been opened in Berlin to train young actresses for the screen under almost the same conditions as they will find in a studio: Here is a- pupil speaking into a · microphone so that faults In her voice can be corrected. 22 ·-- F 0 R T WINKS "The Man Who Tried to Buy Razor Blades After EightO'clock" or "So This is How a Film is Directed." The man is Alfred Hitch- cock, caught sheltering from the wind in a doorway in the open-air village set built for the Gaumont- British film, " Thirty - nine Steps."
  • 23. l'ILM WBBKLY, M11rrll29, l935 DINNER SITTING OUT. Many o( the most famous stars wrned up recently to a dinner party given by Director Harry Lachman. Here are Anna Sten, Warner Baxter and Marlene Dietrich. NEWSBOY ACTOR. Waverley Station, Edinburgh, has been reconstructed in the studio(or "Thirty-Nine Steps" and just to make the thing complete, James Cairns, the real station newsboy, was brought 400 miles to ploy in the (ilm. Robert Donat is buying a paper (rom him. PARTY 11ue1berg, , ·onic, got his ......,1a manager several st he &xed on a nice, .~g little cinema, and )d a dress suit from a won it at strip pGker. * * was to send the mana- ""lema a telegram call- y to the North of >n as he had gone, ormed the staff that 1anager and sacked 1en the real manager l his attendants re- of thugs, and was ~t by the commis- * the police be- , Ike decided · stop being a llfortunately, he .t of the deal. e box-office just >found that the tmorency (better , as " Hot Liz"), 25 " Even i( you offered us a contract we wouldn't play in your rotten pictures, so there !" ( Posed by W illiam Powell) tune out of it. For instance, it include:- Shots of the first mother to eat cus- tard apples and play three simul- taneous games of chess while hanging upside down from a fire-escape in Battersea Park. * * * A SCREEN interview with Jabez Vhackerboot, the nonagenarian who for over seventy years has worked in a pocket-knife factory manufacturincr things - for-taking-stones-out-of-horses!". hoofs. Shots of a special tray for holding trousers. Shots showing the manufacture of special magnifying glasses for deter- mining average rainfall or looking at threepenny-bits on which the Lord's Prayer js written thirty-seven times.
  • 24. Oli, the Jootlii"'l 11li!uule 1 6LYMIEL JELLY/ I No other preparation can do what Gly• miel Jelly does. It contains specialsoft• ening and beautifying ingredientsandis madeby a processthatcannot be copied. NO MORE CHAPPED or CRACKED HANDS. Tubes 3d, 6d, I/- In Decorative Glass Jars 2/6 Just as Glymiel Jelly gives your hands charm an:! beauty, so G LY M l EL FACE CREAM gives charm and ~ea11ty to vo•Jr romolexion. 6d. a t1Jbe $'~du ri n 8 Spo rt s Don't ri'k vour Wfl~:... hei1:~ ruinetl durini J{a1nt-... A u 774 ·· Net-lig-ht a11d 111v1!;ible-will pre· /J _ vent 'v;i.es l>e ng- hlown ab''" or '/,,,~ c.:ru111µlt!cl. 'car it at ni;:ht too. Yo11r hair will 110t need S• tt111g so ofien. Solcl i11 a~I l~a1r a~ld 6 pastel shades :tt B >0 r::,, IJ;nrdrcS!-,t'fS, Drar!er'i and Stores, etc. ll;_tlo ~.,,,,; , Nm ~ quahtie., fro1n 2d. ea...h, or with ~ _... • ail - La.,.tex yarn me'ih edg-e, which S =~~~ edJ{e doe~ not mark the forehead, from 1<!. ,.·•ch. 11.,,f, '" !·11.(• ""d HAIR NETS /oi· ·-·The Byard Mannfactnring Co., Ltd., CasUo Boulevard. Nottingham. SOLD EVERYWHERE Sciml1fic Of.,I/ Chemists ctnd Stores' - YOUU KNOW WHY/TRIAL SIZE 6d • .. " Fil m Weekly" Com petitions Let Us Hove Y·our "Title" "T ITLIXG" is the new craze .among filmgoers. ~:ach v.. eek of these contes:s bnngs hun- dreds of clever entries. In fact, the number of titles sent in for the ninth contest (resu:ts of wh'.ch are published below) set up a record. These contests are simple to do, yet they demand a certain amount of film knowledge. However, any . regular filmgoer should find them quite easy. On this page you see a picture of James Cagney, Mrs. Cagney a~d Joan Blondell. To complete it the pic- ture needs a title. Perhaps you have some suggestions. All you haYe to do to stand a cha.nee of winning one of the money prizes offered is to give the picture a title, hut it must be tlze title of a film. There are no restrictions as to the· date when the film was macte-you may t:se the title of any fifm, old or new, .except " shorts." Two fxomples For instance, you might ti tie it Si11i; As ·we Go, or you might even be ~ude and call it Tlze Case of tlze H 01<li11g Dog. The picture should be viewed on its own merits, and, of course, the titles will not be intended to refer to James Cagney and the others as real people. A few minutes' thought should giYe you plenty of ideas. Your aim should be to find an Winners of THE entries for the ninth contest beat all others in number. In- evitablv, with such a large entry, several- titles were duplicated. How Am I Doin'? was suggested by seYeral reatj.ers, so was !'./aster and JI!an. One reader suggested Behold, My Wife! The First Prize of One Guinea has been awarded to Miss V. Hammond, ai:nusmg and apt title that fits the picture. The first one that comes into your head may be good, but it may be too hackneyed. A second thought will probably produce a wit- tier and more subtle titie. Prizes Offered for what is, in the opinion of the Editor, .the most appropriate .and original application of a film title to the picture, a: First Prize of One Guinea will be awarded. In addition, there will be two Consolation l'rizes of 10s. 6d. each for what are con- sidered to be the two next best titles. In the event of more than one reader sending the same winning entry, the prizes will he awarded to those entries strictly in the order in which they are scrutinised. Entries should be made on post- cards. Entrants may make as many attempts as they wish, but not more than two titles must appear on one poslcard. Remember th.at your titie must be that of a film-recently entries have been received bearing titles of songs, plays or other titles not connected with . films. Postcards should be addressed to "Titles (11)," fILM YEEKD.', 10-13, Iled- ford Street, Strand, London, V.C. 2, and must reach this office before mid- day on Thursday, April 4. "Ti ti es" (9)II Port-Rouge, Torpoint, Cornwall, v. ho struck a topical note with No Speed Limit. 26 The two Consolation Prizes of 10s. 6d. each have been awarded to Miss V. A. Morris, 89; Mill Hill Road, Norwich, Norfolk, for T lze " Last" Gentleman; and to Miss M. Snoddy, 59, Kevern Square, S.V., for Up /or the Derby. FJL.ll WEEKLY, March 29, 19~5. jTheCHARM OF [NATURAL LIPS!I I Giva your lips alluring n.atural colour •• . without a t race of paint To keep your lips most alluring, y.)u 1nust use lipstick as other wJmen do. So the thing to do is·to u ie the lipstick especially made t) colour lips beautifully' . without causing a painted look in the slightest! There is a lipstick that does this ; it's called Tangee. Un-like ordinary lipsticks, Tan- gee . isn't paint. , Instead, it contains a colour-change principle that. enables it to intensify your natural colouring and become a very part of your lips! LOOKS ORANGE - ACTS ROSE In the stick Tangee looks orange. On your lips it changes to rose! Not a pale rose. Not a jarring red. But the one shade of blush- rose most becoming to your type! Thus Tangee keeps your lips youthful-looking with natural colour instead of ageing your appearance . with that painted look that men detest. Tangee lasts all day, toq ... without smearing or rubbing away. And its special cream base is soothing to dry lips: Get Tangee to-day .. . 2/ 6 and 4/ 6 sizes. Also in Theatrical, a deeper shade for evening use. From all hairdressers, chemists and stores. UNTOUCHED - Lips left untouched arc apt to have a faded look ... make the face seem older. PAINTED-Don't ri~k that pamtcd look. It'> coar.;cn ing ancl men don't like it. TA N G E E - lntensifie> natural colour, restorc·s youthtul appeal, ends that paint"d look Cheeks mustn't look raintl'cl, eith~r. So use Tangee Rouge. Chang-es. to natural colotirini:( ! Permanent too! Colour stays natural all day long! Trial sizes of Tang-ee Lipstick ancl Tangce Rouge o b ta i na b Ie c very w be re at 6d. each. LUFT·TANGCE LTD., 88, REGENT STREET, W .I. Works: Johnson's Place, Pimlico, S.W . I. I
  • 25. FILM WEEK L Y , March 29, 1935. WHAT-AND WHAT NOT-TO 'SEE "Film Weekly's" Complete Guide to C/a;k Gable enc: Constance Bennett AFTER OFFICE HOURS rf'iff, Clark Gable as Jim Branch, Co11st1mre Beiml'lt .as Sharo11 Norwood , St11a1t E ru•i11 as H ell/A' Parr, Billie Burke as Mrs.. Norwood , - Ha'r1•er Stephens as Tommy Ba1111ister,_I{atlza- ri11e Alexander as Mrs. Patterso11, Hale Hamil- ton as !lfr. Patterson, . Henry Travers as Cap, HnuJ 'rmetta as I talian. 111.G.M. picture, directed by Robert Z. Leonard. At the Empire from to-day. Amusing and, at times,exci~ir.g news- paper _- comedy - murder - m~lodrama. The conflicting elements do not mix.as well as they might, and there is rather too much horse-play, but the g~neral effect is entertaining enough. B ECAUSE we laughed at Clark Gable in It Happened One Night and Forsaki11g - All Others, the idea now seems to be that he should clown as m uch as he possibly can. Which is really a pity. This 'ould have been a better picture if Gable had been allowed to do some more " straight" acting. As it is, he is compelled a lmost to burlesque his part of a "tough" !'<e11· ·y ork newspaper editor. The newspaper is one of those queer journals, onlv to be found in fi lms, 11·hich are staffed bv CQ.!llic Press photographers, halfcbaked Society co lumnists, and half-asleep reporters, the whole O'ned by a political " grafter " 11·ho kno11·s nothing at all apout newspapers, any- wa1" 'hat happens is this: Gable is fed up with hi" society chatterer (Constance Bennett) and "fires" her. T hen he di,covcrs that she kno11·s .all the people intimately connected 11 ith a big sc<.rndal which is threatening to "break" at any moment. So he makes up to her-just for the sake of getting a scoop. The scandal doesn't "break" a:, anticipated, but there is a murder instead. Constance Bennett 11·as present when it happened..-:but doesn't kno'w it. Gable is convinced that the police have got the wrong man and, with the aid of Miss Bennett, does some spare-time detecti1·e work. It is then onlv a matter of time before the real mur_clerer is rounded up and Gable and Miss Bennett kiss and make up ·al I their past misunderst andings. The dialogue is peppered with wisecracks, and there are one or tYO unexpected tl·ists in the unra,·elling of the murder mystery. But bouts of h011seplay, apparently introduced to liven up tl-e picture, have the unfortunate effec.t of robbing some of its more hectic pas- sages of credibility. Constance Bennett is overshado1Yed bv the indomitable Gable. That she has to do she does quite nicely, and that's about all. Billie Burke, as Miss Bennett's "ritzy" mother, por- trays another of those feather-brained and kittenish Society mamas for which she is now celebrated. Stuart Er1Yin is amusing as the kind of P ress photographer one never finds in rea l life, and the rest of the " support" are quite equal to the demands of the story. Clark and Conn ie match wits and lips in the gayest romantic comedy;--made in the new style-1935 model (!faM., GABLE~ BENNEllw ith Stuart Erwin, Billie Burke, Katharine Alex• ander, Harvey Stephens Also LAUREL and HARDY'S latest laughter-piece "TIT FOR TAT " 27 the New Films .......... Edit-ed by .....................:.., JOHN GAMV11E MUSIC IN THE AI R TFith .Gloria Swanson as Frieda, f ohn Boles as Bruno, Douglass ll1011tr;o1i1ery as Karl, June Lang as Siegliiide, Al Slzean as Dr. L essing, Negiuald Owen as J;Veber, J oseph Cawthorn as Upp111an11, Hobart Bosworth as Cornelius, Sam Haden as Martha, Marjorie Main as Anna, Roger I mhof as BurJ;om{zster, f ed Prouty as Kirschner, Christian Rub as Zipfel- huber, F uzzy Kniglzt as Nick. Fox picture, produced by E rich Pommer, directed by f oe May. Coming to tlze Capitol. A m:>derately attractive adaptqtion of. the musical play. The production is artistic, ·but slow; .the music very g?od; the comedy a little heavy. T HI? Holly'ood picture actually has .a strong German :flavour. Not merely· m its background (it is set in the Bavarian moun- tains), but also in .the treatment it has received at the hands of the producer, Erich Pommer, and the director, J oe May. The touch of Pomm er, 'ho 'as the man behind Congress Dances, is easily discernible in the fine, rhythmic cro'd scenes that dis- tinguish the beginning and the end of the fi lm. Action, camera-'ork and cutting fit perfectly to the s1Ying of the m usic. But in the ponderous treatment of farcical situations and the heavy-handed labouring of jokes, there is a touch that is equally German, and' not nearly so pra_iseYorthv. It is this heaviness that causes some dull patches, and makes . the picture seem longer than it is. < The story (1Yhich sticks closely to the
  • 26. I ."'1~1tD BRITISH ft. I~t,~ co•" uo. rl<:rtJflf ~~ I S-uceess at tAe ~at, q,wii/;(eatcli FRITZ KORTNE~ John Betjeman "Evening Standard" "I ADVISE EVERYONE TO SEE T H I S REALLY INTEREST- ING BRITISH FILM" Harris Deans "-Sunday .Graphic., "THE FIN- EST FILM 0 F ITS TYPE l'VE E V E R SEEN" ADtlt; D-~"1011·JIll lhe amn;,ilt'l panw ff urentonLfofIlle Oritffl #ow TRANSFERREP to IJ.1~1!,!J FIL.11 WEEK.(.¥. March 29. 11135. "An excellent Clive '.' : Ronald Ca/man in " Clive of India " origin~! - stage version) is none too strong to start VIth. It tells how country boy and girl Douglass Montgomery and June Lang go to the great big city, get caught up in the whirl of theatrical life, and eventually return t() find real happiness in their o'rn little village. Gloria Swanson and John Boles, both play- ing comedy roles that verge on farce, come into the plot as two highly temperamental light-operatic stars who philander with the young bucolic pair. A scene in which Boles and Miss Swanson run through a rehearsal of the first act of their show in their agent's office is uproari- ously funny. But the stodginess of the direc- tion tends to make it drag a little. The treat- ment should ha ,.e been a little more flippant; a lot less paimtakingly conscientious in point- ing the jokes. The four principals all de well and the sup- port is good. Al Shean is very funny as a village composer and Joseph Cawthorn con- tributes a sound piece of character-acting as an orchestra conductor. See this, if it attracts you, for its crowd scenes, music and spectacle, and for the per- formances of the principal players. But don't expect too much of it, or you may be disap- pointed. CLIVE OF INDIA Tritlz f,on,ild <ofi,1<1,1 as Robert Clive, l.orrtta Y 01111g llS Jlargaret Jiaskelyue, !- rami.< L~ster as Edmund Maskelyne, Colin I 'livt· <1 <·,1p1t1m Johnstone, C. Aubrey Smith as tlze Prime Minister, Cesar Romero ns Mir j,1f! 1r, Ferdi111111,l ,Vunie1 as Admiral iVatso11, :ll u11{11gue Lo«i: ,i, Govenwr Pi1;ot, Lumsden llare as Sergeant Clark, Mischa Auer as Suraj Ud Dow/ah. Twentieth Ce11tury picture, directed by Richard Bolesla7JSkV. Adapted by TV. P. Lipscomb and R. /. Mi1111ey from their. own play of the same title. At the Tivoli now. Very good romantic drama built around a stirring subject. Colman is, on the whole, an excellent Clive, and the film makes a strong piece ofenter- tainment in spite of episodic develop- ment and occasionally sketchy treat- ment. rr may be ,that both the historians and the cinema "purists" will find fault with 28 Clive of India, but it is impossible to deny this picture the possession of powerful popular qualities, beside which its defects must seem comparatively unimportant. It bas emotional and roman.tic appeal, idealism and spectacle in no mean degree. ' There has been no inore effective dramatisa- tion of history than Messrs. Lipscomb and Minney's story of Robert Clive. The only point upon which tit is fair to quarrel with them is that they have seen fit to try to tell the whole story 'in the film, as well as in the play, and have had to leave out so much that the effect is sometimes scrappy and disjointed. Important events are skimped, or side-stepped by explanatory subtitles, and the last two reels are weakened by the abrupt passage of long stretches of time. Clive is whisked out to India and back again within a few minutes, after Ve have been carefully informed that the voyage, in those days, took a whole year. The latter part of 1he picture, moreover, is a little too preoccupied with Clive's domestic affairs. The great issues of his career some- how become subordinate to the comparatively trivial question of his obvious inadequacy as a husband. The naughty boy wants to go away and play with his soldiers in India again, imtead of staying at home with his poor little wife. That sort of thing is an anti-climax to drama on the grand scale. But, in the main, the incidents which make up the story are well' chosen and sufficiently important, as well as dramatic, to justify them;eh·es. Clive's -rise, by a mixture of im- pudence and ability, ·from humble clerk to military commander is cleverly and amusingly accomplished. His desperate "strategy," in- volving even the forging of a British Admiral's signature to a secret treaty, makes good melo- drama. And there is a spectacular "high light" in a confused but thrilling reconstruc- tion of the battle of Plassey, with armour-clad elephants lumoering towards the British forces like prehistoric tanks. The acting gives these episodes all the force and fire they need. Colman, sans moustache, but not without his usual charm, manages to suggest the flair for leadership and adventurous spirit of Clive as well as the man's arrogance and humour. It is a highly coloured, but never an irresponsible or an impossible, por- trait. The entire supporting cast, largely male, performs so efficiently that it would be invi- dious to single out any one member for special
  • 27. I . FI Llf I! EEKLY, March 29, 1935. commendation. They are all as good as their parts. On the other hand, it was surely a mistake to cast Loretta Young as Margaret Maskelyne (afterwards Lady Clive). She is just not toe type, although her performance is remarkably good when one takes into consideration the irritating sentimentalities of the part. LOTTERY LOVER rr·itlz Lew Ayres as Cadet Frank Harringto11, Pat" Paterson as Patty, Peggy Fears as Gaby Aimee. Sterling Ii olloway as Cadet Harold Slump, Reginald De11ny as Captain Pay11e, Alan Di11elzart as Tank, I.Vatter Ki11g as Pri11ce /l.fida11of/, Eddie N11ge11t as Gibbs, Nick Form1 as Cadet Allen Taylor, Rafaela Ottia110 as Gaby's maid. Fox picture, directed by n·ilZia111 Tliielt'. Seen at the Regal. Average comedy with music. New- comer Peggy Fears makes a promising appearance in a none too happy part, but the story is inane and much too long-drawn-out. BELIEVE it or not, this is actually another cilmedy about the boys of the U.S. Navy. The fleet visits France-which is simply asking for trouble-and a bunch of young cadets is let loose in Paris. One of them (Lew Ayres) is more serious than the rest. He goes to bed and reads a book 1·hile the others make '' hoopee. His friends "fall" hea,·ily for Gaby Aimee . (Pegg~· fears), star of a naughty French revue. The1· all vant to woo and 1·in her, but as that is obl"iomly impossible, they draw lots for the honour, 11·hich falls, as an astute ' audience 11·i1l easily have anticipated, on booklover Lew Avre,. 1 .Doubtful of his qualification;, for the role of Romeo, the boys hire a chorus girl (Pat Paterson) for him to practice on. And no one wil 1 be surprised to learn that he falls in love with the chorus girl instead of the star. In fact, the less said about the plot the better. The picture's appeal is based almost entirely on high-spirited but obvious comedy, plus a few quasi-French re1·ue numbers in the theatre scenes. Lew Ayres and Pat Paten:on make an en- gaging pair of young lovers, but both are worthy of something stronger in the ,,·ay of parts. Peggy Fears seems out of her element as a French re'ue queen, but displays a captivating personality which suggests that she only needs the right role in order to make a real hit. The film as a whole is much too long. It real]· ends some time before the final fade-out. Cutti'ng rnuld effect a considerable improve. ment and probably result in an acceptable come(ll' of " second feature" standard. Douglass Montgomery ar:d June Lang in " Music in the Air " •WILLIAM OAROANond emf o/! llwus<mds 1t BRITISH ')J Less.: HYDE PARK CINEMAS LTD. Props.: REGAL CINEMAS LTD. Gov. Dir.: A. E. ABRA HAMS 29
  • 28. At the Cinemas Next Week Three Fronr-Rank St-aFORSAKING ALL OTHERS , M.Gl11. A. American 6'Jmin> GMary.. . . . . Joan C1awford dJeff . . . . . Clark Gable r~~p:: .. .. ~~~:i~~ ~~~::r~~~~h ronPaula ll1lhe Durke Eleanor Rosa1md Rus~c1l Connie . . FrancC's Drak1• Wiffens Tom Rickets Johnson . . Arthur Treachf-'C Com~dyBena. . . . . Greta Meyer Directed by W. S. Van Dykr QNE of the most hilarious comeuies yet made. Crawford, Gable and Montgomery fooling at the top of their form under the expert guidance of director W. S. Van Dyke. First-rate light entertainment. It must be admitted at the outset that this picture relies as much on dialogue as on action for its humour- but what dialogue! The.re is a laugh in every line of this brilliantly funny tale of a girl and the two men in her life. Joan Crawford, as the girl, makes a howling success of a harum-scarum characterisation which carries her right back to her Dancing Daughter days. Robert Montgomery has a" bounder- ish " type of part frequently putting him in an unfavoµrable light, but one just cannot help chucICling over his escapades and the air of injured inno- cence with which he leaves other people flat or forlorn. Clark Gable forgets all that he-man stuff and clowns and wis'ecracks his way through the picture with an unbridled sense of humour. What the story is about, in detail, simply does not matter. It is sheer nonsense balanced with just enough sophistication and plot to keep it from being completely idiotic. It has some immensely amusing, cleverly contrived situations, of the type at which you can chuckle in advance, and some stretches of pure slapstick, when the characters fool around and fall off things and get into absurd scrapes. The sparkle of Van Dyke's direction hardly lets up for a moment, and the performances of the three stars could not be bettered. There is·the added • advantage that you never can b~ quite sure into whose arms Miss Crawford will finally fall. Just in case the three principals tire, Charles Butterworth and Billie Burke, both at the top of their form, are on hand to chip in at intervals with their well-known inanities. *** Nobody was more surprised at the success of this film than the three stars, who thought little of the story before it was made. It is the first time they have all appeared r····;~~···~·:~~···~~~:~:~~····~·~·~~···~~~·..···1 officially " released " to the cinemas next week. This means that the majority of cinemas will be showing them from Monday onwards, although it is possible that they may already have ap- peared in your district, or may be a week or two late in reaching it. The information given below the title of each picture reviewed consists of name of producer, Censor's certificate (Adult or Universal), Country of origin, and running time. Items of general interest are appended in the form of footnotes. ~••••oa•o•o•o••••••••••••••••••H•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• " The performances of the three stars could not be 'bettered '' Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable together, though both Gable and Montgomery have Played separately with Miss Crawford. Note the "modernised Victorian" i11- t.eriors-a new M.G.M. style of decoration, inspired by " The Barretts of Wimpole Street." Joan Crawford's hoop-skirted wedding gown-one of twenty different .costumes worn by her· in the film-will interest the dress-minded. It is Adrian's idea of a 1936 fashion. OVER THE RIVER Universal. ·A. American. 86 mins. CJare.. . . Diana Wyoyard Tony. . . . . . Frank Lawton Lady Mont . . . . Mrs. Pat Campbell Dinny . . • . Jane Wyatt Sir Gerald Corven . . Colin Clive David Dornford . . Heginald Denny Gen. CharwelJ . . C. Aubrey Smith Sir Law. Mont . . Henry Stephenson Brough LioncI Atwill Forsyte . . Alan Mowbray Lady Charwell Kathleen Howard Judge Gilbert Emery Chayne E. E. Clive Blore. • Rob<'rt Greig Benjy . . Gunnis Davis Mrs. ~urdy . . . . Tempe Piggott Directed by James Whalf'. From tbe novel by John Galsworthy. DIANA WYNYARD and Frank Law- ton in an ·exposure of divorce- court injustice. Good dramatic enter- tainment. Though it is heavy at times and has numerous minor faults, the strong central theme makes it interest- ing. Quite the best part of this picture consists of a long, detailed reproduction of the hearing of an English Society divorce case, done with all the fidelity to fact, and lack of embellishment, of a verbatim report. The result is in- herently dramatic. It is just a pity t?at the rest of the picture, leading up 30 to this big s~ene, is neither as strong nor as convincing. A great deal of time and patience is wasted at the beginning in showing off a collection of authentic English back- grounds. Practically all that is con- veyed by the first reel or two is that Lady Corven (Diana Wynyard) has left her sadistic husband (Colin Clive) and has met a nice young man (Frank Lawton) on the way home from abroad. The husband pleads with her to return to him, but she defies him and indiscreetly continues seeing her per- sistent young man, while private detectives snoop in the background, making notes. Then, in court, the whule messy business of divorce is gone through. The blameless wife and co-respondent suffer intensely. The husband is publicly white-washed. There is an unfortunate anti-climax after that, but the tense drama of the courtroom ·is not easily forgotten. With one regrettable exception- Colin Clive's absurdly melodramatic husband-the acting touches a high level. Diana Wynyard gives a per- formance of Cavalcade quality as Lady Corven. Frank Lawton is a good, if rather boyish, Jover, and Mrs. Patrick Campbell sweeps her way irresistibly through a garrulous · part such as she had in Rip Tide. . *** ] ohn Galsworthy completed the novel -the last of his stories about the Forsyte family-shortly before his death. A stickler for accuracy, he disliked having his works altered for screen purposes, though several of them have been filmed, including " The White Monkey," "Loyalties" and" Escape." In adaptinrJ the novel for the screen, R. C._ Sherri![ red'uced 10,950 lines of FILM WEEKLY, March 29, 1935. rs dialogue and prose to 3,373 lines of dialogue and "continuity," including 417 lines of new dialogue. He made Clare the heroine inst.ead of Dinny, changed Dornford's christian name from Eustace (disliked in America) to David and abolished the moustache h6 wears in the novel ; invented the restaurant scene and greatly expanded the election and trial episodes. The. players in the picture, •ch.ich 'if•as nade m Holly•f'ood last summer, are British •cith one exception, Jane Wyatt, who comes from the New York stage and is t1centy-two. 'J;he film is Frank La7£ton's second Holly1coodl picture and Mrs. Patrick Carnpbell's third. Mrs. Campbell's own maid and her pet Pekinesc appear 'iJ.·ith her 011 the screen. The child is Reginald Denny's daughter, Barbara. THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP ' R. l.P. U. British. 95 min.,;;. The Grandfather . . Ben Webc;ter ?ell . . Elaine Benson Quilp Hay Petrie His Wife . . fif!atrix Thomson Sampson Brass Gibb McLaughlin Sally Brass . . Lily Lo~g Dick Swivcllc.r Reginald Purdell The :'Iarchioncss . . Polly Ward Thf' Single Gentleman James Harcourt The Schoolmaster J. Fisher-White Codlin Dick Tubb Short . . . . Roddy Hughes ~frs. Jarley . . Amy Veness Rit . . . . Petcr•Penrose Tom Scott . . . . Vic Filmer Directed by Thomas Bentlf'y. A REMARKABLY faithful recon- struction of the spirit and letter of the book. Hay Petrie stands out with a broad and vivid performance as Quilp. Good entertainment for Dickens-lovers. Director Thomas Bentley, acknow- ledged Dickens expert, has stuck closely to the letter of the book, and does not attempt to disguise the fact that several of the characters, literally rendered, are really semi-caricatures. Every important situation and scene in the original narrative is painstakingly portrayed with an astonishing wealth of detail which, though inclined to be cumbersome, is eloquent of the pro- ducers' desire to maintain absolute fidelity to a classic of fiction. The concluding scenes showing the death of Little Nell are carried to an incredible length, but exert an un- mistakable emotional appeal. The .acting is dominated Q.y Hay Petrie's portrayal of Quilp-a master- piece of comic nastiness which must be seen to be believed. It is a frankly popular characterisation, done with immense gusto. Ben Vebster is rather negative as the Grandfather,· but he ·certainly creates a lovable character. Elaine Benson, the new child "discovery," makes a suitable Little Nell, although she acts, rather than feels, the emo- tions she is called upon to register. ••* " I am breaking my heart over this story," wrote Charles Dickens. " I am nearly dead with grief for the loss of my child (Little Nell)." His readers were equally moved and, when the final chapters of the novel appeared (it was published, 1840-41, in serial form), they charged him indignantly with. being "cruel." Originally, Dickens had no intention of "killing" Nell, but was persuaded reluctantly that it was the right thing to do " after taking so mere a child through such a tragedy of sorrow." It was his third novel. The story was adapted by novelist Margaret Kennedy, of" Constant Nymph" .fame. El~ne Benson is the daughter of a Lo11don bank manager · She applied for a test, with no previous film experience, and.was engaged to play Little Nell on her fourteenth birth- day. She is a schoolfriend of Nova Pi/beam. Ben Webster, a pioneer British film star, played for the pre-War London Film