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Show 1 1 DEAN'S FUM REVIEWS i Frank But Fair Criticisms of Latest Offerings byj Leading Film Producers i BY JAMES W. DEAN. I NEW YOKK, Nov. From now, ! on 1 expect to make good movies. In the past three years I have jijfU gathered together a staff of assist-1 assist-1 1 ants -who areli't afraid of me. They loll mo when they think I'm wron:." Thus I bcsln at the end of a chat v n i. wni-.u. v..: . in i frit h epitomized what ho had been t .;ltlng: me" In the xrovlous hour, i Eliminating direct quotations for JlIll 'he sake "t tr.lty 1 r.-p-at hero the l method by which DeMllle constructs, i I Ma photodramas as he told It to me. i .' 'H I' Clara Beranger selects plays. She H ' ' nv. s a rouph sketch, orally, of thr ' 'Frt i'lav t- ' e.ir:- is li.'-y d. eld- then OB '.' pr... I!. Mr !. :; r works ; I cut the play, situation by situation. Hn and tolls It to 1" Mi I'-. They fro ", '-! (he play until DeMllle isuallr.es tbs ' rj action und jrrowth of characterization, i Ehen Mrs Beranger writes the script. i ' DeMllle selects his cast. He calls the players together and tells thorn 'Iff the story of tin play. Ho dwells on fl HH !!;, pr 'am each character. Wh'ii ih- playon? 'III :,r" satisfied that they have grasped HI the slKiilflcanco of their parts Tv-HH Tv-HH MlUe is ready for rehearsal. EvdzB " fft ' Sets have been constructed in the H intanti-n.- i. Mllie works i camera angles with his photographer. A A One assistant follows through this Ijln preparation considering the picture !!t only from the audience viewpoint -J S That Is, she visualizes the comph ted A iff scene. Another assistant records the MB mechanh al prcparatl. '' ,j It Is in this part of the work that - p DeMllle uses th script. He never A aJlows his players to read a script lie doesn't read it himself until he af'jjl gx-ts to the purely mechanical details. ( ' Z When DeMllle Is set for action he i makes ns many as 20 scenes In a t day. No scene Is photographed until Kb each player feels" In- i u.ir.i :. r und K'll says he .; she Is ready. Thru llir. i cameras film the storv in the sc- I j Ojuence of action- The player ben - fits through tho progressive develop-(' develop-(' !t ' ment of characterization There ar I j fit do Interruptions for close-ups or HI i change of tempo. ; ! While DeMllle Is filming a picture, ' 1 Mrs. ,.emnfr r h preparing tho ae- '' tailed s r l ; r f. : 1 i.-t. When D -- Mllle completes the picture he i p ' to New York or Mrs. Heranger goes ! to Hollywood. They go over the loxl I picture until DeMlllo has tho details I In mind. After ho has chosen a t. r.-' r.-' tatlvo cast, tin y go over the c ,'' details of tho story Mrs Beranger ; lias selected for the following picture. J DeMllle seldom shows a playr Hfl (how to act the pait. He wants hlw V ' or her to do the character naturally IB loiter tho psychology of the role and , , i situation Is understood. "Once In a El while I show some young bonohead I what to do, but I always like pity I' kicking myself afterward." h told me. I ( 1 "The result is an imitation of the way 1 would imitate " A dog and nature have done more, .than the studied efforts of mun tp make "Brawn of the North" a worthwhile worth-while film. Indeed, the hand of man I i has been almost powerful enough to thwart the efforts of the dog and the vajrt outdoors M Too much of the action of the film depends on a not too strong cost. Strongheart, tho dog, Is not riven the same wide scope that was afforded afford-ed him in "The Silent Call." C. B. Dryr. en merman of "Brawn of the North." has caught ky and land in majestic mood. Thern is something some-thing thrilling in the sight of great white ClOUdS that sweep up out of some unknown depth to nice across the sky like spectral patrols. Sometimes Some-times the grouping of Oiouds and sky-lino sky-lino In so effective that If seems the cameraman must have entered into a conspiracy with natural forces to se-j se-j euro tho desired backgrounds. m The storv of "Brawn of the North" 'is similar to that of "The Silent Call" in that it places the heroine In the snow barrens With only her dog as pr. deetor. Tho dog fights with tho villain and In the second encounter kills him. The dog is lured away by Lady Silver, a v im ping wolf, after ; the heroine and hero have met and j married. Later he rushes hack to his human friends and rescues (heir baby from a wolf pack. 'The Slknt Call" was an Impressive Impres-sive nim becauaa it seemed to be the natural story of a, dog hesitating between be-tween the call of the wild and the loyalty and protection of human frier ds, "Brawn of the North" la not so effective because the director lias concerned himself les,s with the drama In the dog's life. .SHORT REELS Herbert Hawllnson and Eileen Percy will be featured m a film version ver-sion of "Castle Craneycrow" to bo ealkd "Prisoners." t ' When Civilisation Railed." trtar-rlng trtar-rlng Leah BOlrd, has been completed. Laura Jean T.lbbev's "When Txivo ; Grows Cold" is to be filmed. David Powell will play one of the principal mnle roles In ' Glimpses of the Moon." BCbo Daniels and Nlta Naldi hne the leading feminine roles. j Tn eight yeans everything has changed chang-ed In the movies except Mary Pick-ford. Pick-ford. Her 1922 edition of "Tess of the Storm Country," proves that. The 1914 edition was made direct from the novel, the cameraman acting as the director. That picture lifted Mary to tho heights from Which She j has ever sin !fl shown as the one bright I star to all the nations of the e.irth. The personal significance wan neypr lost. Mary Pick ford loved Tess. In her heart Mary and Toss are i.iuch the same person. .s the v.o.id went on it left Teas behind like some poor .little cousin in rags. Mary has gon i back to present Toss again in new raV Iment, this time in imperishable fabric. I Tess, the girl of tho films, will Ilvi i after the camera has quit Its focus on I Mary- I The new "Tess of the Storm Coun-jtry," Coun-jtry," is the greatest work of the world's most popular figure. Mary's getting too old to play little lit-tle girl parts any more you've heard that said time and again. Well, it Isn't no'. If you saw her eight yearn ago as Tess and see her today as tho !new Tess, you'll know that It Isn't so. I Mary seems to have found the foun-;tuln foun-;tuln that Ponce pp lon sought In 'vain ... Thousand- doubted that Liut.o Itulh ! would hit 20 homers last year anc that Exterminator would win another race and that Wilson would si et get well and that the radio would ever be practicable These same doubters ten years hence will try to make the world believe Mary Plckford Is through as an actress. . . . Stories in the Woman's Home Com-I Com-I panlon will servo as tho basts of a , two-reel picture to be sponsored each month by the publishers of the magazine. maga-zine. Gertrude 1J. Iane, editor, will choose the stories. The first two will be "This Wife business," und Disposing Dispos-ing of Mother." I "Tho Bright Shawl," Joseph Her-i Her-i geshclmer's latest novel, is to be film ed by Richard Barthelmess, John S. Robertson v direct. Another burlesque on "Robin Hood" Bull Montana Is to bo starred In "Rob 'Em Good." . Photoplay Mogmsine has selected Tol'able David," as the best photoplay photo-play of 1922. . BEHIND THE SCREEN Hunt Btromberg Is handsome i noufgh to bo a leading man, but he's a director, direct-or, making films starring thi UgllSSl man in the movks. Tho latter is Bull 'Montana. Three Of these comedies !are ' A Ladles' Man," "The Punctured Prince," and "Glad Rags." The fun In them lies In ihe contrast of Hull's l'nco and tho fine clothes he weurs Stromberg produced the Doris May pictures, He Is also an autnot amon;r tho original stories written for trie screen by him are. ' The Foolish Age " ;"The Girl From the Went." and "Heroes Three" Eoulsvlllo claims him as a native son. Saw Harold Lloyd, Gaylord Lloyd. 'his brother, and Joe Heddy. his major ma-jor domo They're planning now f-r :i comedy that will not be released until un-til a year hence. They're disciples of preparedness . . . .Saw "The '4 9ers" a stage review sponsored by various recognized humorists In a smart alecky mood. This play brings May Irwin back to Rroadway niter :.n absence ab-sence of seven years .Saw p.ebo Daniels. She WOS igaln wearing black . . . Saw Ntta Naldi. She almost always wears black, too . . .Saw "The educator." "Crash," and "Pltter Fatter," film comics that drive dull 'care away, but only for tho time watching them . . . Saw Ruddy Valentino In "The Young Rajah." if li- were allowed to show his acting ability more and his posing leas his popularity would be more enduring . . . Suw Achmed Abdullah's new book. "Alt n Souls." He paints won? i pictures In ibl hues. I like best the chapter, "The youi of a Turk." . . . Saw Tp She Goes,'" which contain.' more of a story than most musical comedies. That, because Frank Cra ven WlOte me tlOOK Ol It B i Betty Compson and Pert Lytell In "To j Have and to Told," better than the' average film, but not so good as "Rob- J In 'Hood" and "When Knighthood Was I in Flower," pictures of similar char-j actor . . Saw Arthur Maude who devises photodramas from famous paintings. He lets the spectator see behind tho canvass, na It were, what i Inspired the geniuses of the brush. Maude believes the average person is a lover of beauty. Amen, say I . . !Saw Jeanne Eagles In "Rain." Stormy ; drama. It puts Jeanne right In her element. Her attack is swift, sure and furious. One might call her tho wel-ieiv. wel-ieiv. . tght champ of the dramatic ar-H ar-H i . Saw "Tho Village black smith." a celluloid drama based on Longfellow's poem. It's one of those movies calculated to make the spee-tator spee-tator happy by making him. or her, cry Saw a sign on Times Square which reads 'Coronado City, the Paradise of California. Whero Mountains and Ocean Meet." Broadway Broad-way seems a mighty small. Insignificant Insignifi-cant place after turning that phrase over several times CI TS P Fh tSlll J Gladys Walton will be starred In "The Madonna Of Avenue 'A'," Brnd- i y Kin;; wrote It. . Phillip E. Rosen will direct Mary j Miles Minter in "Bacchanal." j Agnes Ayres' next picture will be "Havo a Heart," an original auto story j I by Byron Morgan. . .. . Stuart Holrnen will be the heavy In j "The Scarlet Lily," starring Katharine i MacPonald, Orvlllo Caldwell is lead-ling lead-ling man. I Bebe Daniels and Wallace Reld won (a movie popularity contest conducted among officers and enlisted men of the navy. BEHIND THJ SCREEN Allan Dwan turned to electrical en-gineering en-gineering after he had won a place on the All-America eleven as quarterback quarter-back of the Notre Dume team. He went to the Essanay studio to Install! lights, went home that night, dashed off a scenario and sold It the next day for 525. He sold three mure and be-c be-c am n sot narlo editor Then he be-come be-come a director., Ho directed Douglas Fairl auks' first picture "The Habit of Happiness " He directed several morn Fairbanks' pictures und two for Nor-mu Nor-mu Talmadgc and then became an Independent In-dependent producer. Dwan says he is now convinced the Independent producer produ-cer has no place In fllrndom His latest picture Is "Robin Hood." Thar r.'-jnlted him In a business way with Doug:. They havo boon pcrsoml friends ilnrf their first meeting. Dwan was born In Toronto 35 years ago. a Tho bellboy knocked "Come!" commanded my handsome hand-some host. In came tho hoy. bearing a tray. I l?row restive. My host had Just arrived ar-rived fro lb France. "Would you like a drop or two of jlomon In yours?" my host asked I "No. mercl, I'll take mine plain." inwardly tih uddorlnR at the thought of tho vile stuff. J To my surprise my host poured me a drink of TEA' . . i M. i"h. d'Authlor Ic Itochefort Iquaffrd his tea and f-lt refreshed enough to go on with the Interview. iiar.t work, mat Interview. Be speaks hrok-n KnRllsh excellently. My knowledge of French Is not so tres j taueoup. ! "I drink ze tea very much," he said. ."Liqueur, nevolre!" And. mind you, b't's a Frenchman and a rnovlo star. Oh, yes, I almost forgo! to mention that M Ch. d'Au-thler d'Au-thler do Rochefort hoe como to Amer-. lea to t&ke R-Uddy Valentino's placo j or try to. He'a to star in "The Spanish Cavalier' that was orlglnully Intended for Valentino. First he will !play opposite Dorothy DaltOB In "The Law of the Lawless" just to got the bang of the American studio system. Bui 6n with the Interview I "How tall are you?" I ask. I "unc meter. 82 centimeters " j instantly, remembering that a me-ter me-ter is :iW ZV Inches and being a shark at mental arithmetic, i deduced that ho In 71.6G3 Inches tall, or 3466 ten-thousandths ten-thousandths of an inch less than six feet How much do you weigh?" "Klghty-two kilos." Of cours, he :u-;,nt kilograms and ;i kilogram Is i 046 pounds. Easy problem! He welghe 180.7773 pounds. Th-n he volunteered that he is 10! centimeters around the "stomach." but he Indicate! hi rh.-st. ond that Is five U entimeters Ics-m th.m he measured bc-ifore bc-ifore the war. Do Kochefort looks like Carpentlcr. j has shoulders like liempsey and B I waist like a corset model. Charles deRoche will be the name under which this new star of the jumping flickers Will be presented to the public. Ho doesn't like the Idea of amputating his rar handle, but some would pronounce the "ch" hard und thn smart par.tgraphers like Tom Sims would be making snappy remarks about "Roquefort." De Ttoohe came to America directly from Italy where- he appeared in several sev-eral 6rlal8. "In Naples .ind Rome I saw the Fish 1st " "Tho FiLsclstl?" "Oul, tho Fashlst. The revoluzeeon. Dead all around. Seven, hult. nine dead. Guns, you comprcn'.' They go "Ta-ta!" Man drops. Awful! Z Fashlst rcqulslzeon an ze auto. 1 must go to studio by steps you call It thot, by steps?" "You walked?" "Oul. 1 walked by stps five kilometers kilo-meters to the studio and return si b day. It was awful!" Paul Verando, a film agent, was driving on the Champs Elysees when M. do Rochefort collided with him. They know each other by namo only.j Three weeks later Verando located d Rochefort and told him he wanted' him to go to th- police commissioner j with him Verande took him to the Paramount offices in Paris. Ten mln-l utes later John Robertson had signed de Rochefort for a part irti "Spanish Jade." Then Valentino split with Para-mount Para-mount following a disagreement over provisions of his contract He had! been cast for "The Spanish Cavalier.' Valentino and the producers are atlll on the "outs." Jesse Lasky signed de Rochefort and cast him for Valentino's Valen-tino's role. De Rochefort Is blond. He bears no resemblance to Valentino. His appearance ap-pearance is Norman, not Latin. fte may some day establish a wide following fol-lowing He will never supplant Valentino Val-entino Girls who (all In lovo with dark mn will not be won over by a blond THE MOVIE CXTATTEfRBOI Jackie Coogan now owns a gushing oil well. Dorothy DaKon's "Black Fury" ha3 been changed to "Dark Secrets." Well, what's the dif? Mabel Normand's n-.t film will be Mary Ann." Baby Peggy Is Just four years old and has appeared in 36 Century comedies com-edies and two Marshall Neilan fea-t fea-t urea. "Adam's Rib." Cecil DcMllle's next. Bettv Compson and the company making "The White Flower" have returned re-turned from Honolulu. DeMlllo at rest Is like j. sailor on furlough "pacing tho deck" in the kitchen after dinner. He is continuously continu-ously In motion- If ho isn't walking he has stopped only to tamp tobacco in his pipe or to point the pipe Btei I at you In emphasis of some point. HO is tremendously In earnest. He is sln-cero sln-cero and lrank. "Sincerity is th sister of truth and truth Is art" was one of the things he said as he paced b -fore me. Usually the man who talk-; about sincerity Is really net sincere. j but I'll leave it to anyone who has seen William DcMllle's pictures to de- I clde whether he is ancere. - Those who havo been campaigning fur more attention to story u"rth films and less to the stars will have an opportunity to see if their idea is I practicable. Universal is now making 16 non sUr pictures. Sb: now in production pro-duction are "Tho Power of a Lie." The Ghost Patrol." 'Forsaking All Others." "The Attic of Fell! Bavu," "The Abysmal Brute" and "Merrj Go 1 Round." i . . 1 .ul lilcnli.il ad to i - don I take hubby to see "Brothers Under the Skin!" It will set a bad example for him. He will probably refuse to do the dlsheB when he comes home or ho may make you return that fur coat you bought on the Installment plan. Peter L'.. Kyno is a mean old thlmr for getting up such a movie. Ho cornea right out and shown tho men Just what rummloa they are for be-lnc be-lnc so easy with their wives. The Idea of tho play is that women have their way with their husbanas too much, whether they are rich or poor. In the matter of wives all men are brothers under tho skin- i Vwt Craddock, S shipping clerk and Milllo can't get along on ISO a week. Newt's boss and hla wife can-f get along.on $30,000 a year. I Througli a peculiar and highlv amusing set of circumstances Newt is witness to the domestic revolt or his bow. Ho goes home and surprises his wifo with a similar revolt. -t Kyne's story and K. Mason Hop-! Hop-! por's direction have resulted In abouL as entertaining a mixture of comedv and drama as the screen has seen in I several months. They were blessed with a ' :ss1 that Included Pat l ' Mallei land Helens Chodwlck as the poor 'couple, Norman Kerry anil Claire Windsor as tho rich coupi" and .Mao Busch as a divorcee who helped to keep up the turmoil In the poor man s household. This Is Kyno's first venture at title writing and this writer for one 1 In favor of ils continuing. Hore are some samples: "She bought at sight and repented in installments." "You've been a cat I've been a mouse now I'm a bulldog " "If you were to shako Millie 'n' her pup up In a bag you wouldn't care which one you drew." "The tyranny of tears." j Certainly many men wash dishes. When Newt decreed that Millie was to do the dishes In "Brothers Under tho Skin" scores of men at the Capitol Cap-itol theatre in New York applauded. Then they looked sheepish- Their applause ap-plause was a give-away. Tho film presented another situation situa-tion that seemed to strike home In many cases. Millie had barricaded ii,,. bedroom ng.ilnr.t Newt when he returned late at night. He went to sleep on the couch. She slipped out after he had fallen asleep and cov-. cov-. r sd htm with the comfort off her bed and kissed him As Kyne said In a subtitle, "Nobody has ever been able to discover why women do theae things." Tom Santschl and William Far-num. Far-num. who staged tho sensational fight in "The Spoilers," aro pitted against each other again In "Brass Commandments." Wanda Hawlcy and Claire Adams arc also In tho film. on |