OCR Text |
Show I jlES W. DEflN'S FILM if EMS 1 Frank and Fair Comments on Latest Produc-J Produc-J tions From Moving Picture I Studios I By JAMES . DBAJN NEW YORK, Di-c. 9. Well, well So they say Charily Chaplin anil 1'ola e-gri e-gri are betrothed Charlie nrw has been reported engaged en-gaged as often as the Prince of Wales and to as many different pirla. The rumor uf Charlie's cngnfiement to NeffBl Is tho only one In which this I writer has taken any Stock. Since tho divorce of Chaplin and Mildred Harris tho comedian has been reported engaged to at least six girls. In almost, every case tho girl's name J thus was given a prominence that it I would not havo otherwise enjoyed, i Jdnklng of tholr names- with one Bo a renowned as ChapIJn'a was fat i?iuff for the press agents. Chaplin Is a gallant man. His popularity pop-ularity was not hurt by these an-1 an-1 nouncemonts and altbr.upb 1.' i ia, ; have resented the Intrusion of gosslp-lnonpcis gosslp-lnonpcis into his private affairs he wan too chivalrous to deny openly the reported re-ported engagements to the various j ounK ladles. With J?ola Negri the case It utt r'.y different. She Is famed on two continents. con-tinents. Her star Is already hung In the cinema heavens It will shine brightly enough for her without the i effected lustre of Chaplin's name. ; Chaplin holds her in great esteem. When he returned from Europe a year ago after ho had met Negri for the first time, 1 asked him what ho thought qf her. His face brlgbten-o: at the mention of her name and w ith- out a moment's hesitation he answered-"I think Pola Negri has the most , vivid striking personality of any wo-; man I met In all of Europe." ' Some peoplo are making much "-f the fact that when Negri met Chap-Iln Chap-Iln upon her arrival In Hollywood, Bhe extended both hands to him. Th last time I met Harold Lloyd i grabbed I )iim by both hands and l haven't heard e. bit of gossip about It as yet. the movli; ;i:.n n Gladys Walton "ill be starred I Bcreen version or" "Th Chicken That Came Home to Roo I lrederlc Arnold Kummei; p'pei ring in I . November magaln f Antonio .Moreno will bo Mary Miles Mlriicr's leading man In "Tho Trail i of tho Jyoncnonin Pine." AI lit -n Sills and Anna w N'Hsson will play the leads In Maurice Tournur's "Islo of Dead Ships." ' ' ' ' "The Plying Dutchman," a foreign film, has been revised to synchronise .with the score of Wagncr-s opera. RKHIND THE SCREEN Joseph DeGrassc Is a movie director despite himself. He was a paint boy In a Boston theatre. He look d down from the heights of that artistic position posi-tion In dl:;daln upon mere actors. As he grew older he developed a resemblance resem-blance to ESdWln Booth. He heard an actor remark on this resemblanee and two years later h. played Hamlet. Then ho toured the eonntry in Shakespearian Shakes-pearian i pi noire. Ho met Charles Ray when tho latter was chore boy around the opera house at Needles, Cal. Liater he gave- Charlie a chance to speak a line. Now he has directed Ray In four picture:, the most rocont of which Is "A Tailor-Mad- Man," IJul DeOrasso would rather act than direct. Saw John Darrymore in "Hamlet' t'hc finest performance I ever did se ' Saw "Anna Ascends" in I which Allee Brudy did nt ast nd to any great height as a screen actress. . .Saw "Virtue''" The question mark belongs there. It's probably the weakest stage play of the season. Saw "Tho Pride of Palomar." in whlcn Peter B. Kyne spreads anti-Jap propaganda prop-aganda . . Saw "Dr. Jack" In which film Harold Lloyd spreads th doctrine of happiness as a cure for physical illtf . . . Saw "Ebb Tide" in which lii. ii Raymond Hatton and George Fawc It carry off acting honors hon-ors . Saw Raymond Hatton In the flesh. "I've been a king In bo many films that I'd gladly tie a knave lor a while," he said. . . Saw Vfolet Hbmlng, Dennis King, Helen Westley and Percy Waram in "The Lucky One," n play by A. A. Milne which falls below his usual standard. Il Is hardly worth the sincere attention the Theatre Guild gives it . . . Saw Erno Rapee. musical director Pt the Capitol, conduct Richard Strauss' "E:n " ' 4 tS&tfcrt'i '' ' a Anna May Wong and Baby Morjn in "The Toll of the Sea." I Hcldenleben," for If'i firt presentation presenta-tion In uny American theatre. Yet somo people still talk about "low biow" movie theatres!'! Saw JobynO itowland in 'The 'IVxj.8 Mghtingule," I Zoe Aiken's play In which ft woman still seeks romance after her fourth marriage!'! Saw a cop stop a closed van on which rend a sifin "Works or Kino Art Removed." Tho an contained contain-ed beer kegs' !?$ --?.;:: ! George Walsh Is cast for an important import-ant role In Hugo Rallln's "Vanity Fair" This will be the first film in which Walsh bus ever played ft straight dramatic role. Having won considerable fame as an athlete at Georgetown and Fordham, ho is always al-ways called upon to do acrobatic stunts no matter what his role In a picture. W alsh was good enough as a ball player With th Brooklyn National league team. He was stroke on the , elght-oar rrew. He played basketball and footbull and was on the swimming I diving and track teams of Fordham rind Georgetown. Jt Is on record at Georgetown that he booted several drop kicks 75 yards. It seems that In Walsh the movies have the champion athlete of America. Amer-ica. " -Monte Blue will play Dr Kennl-cott Kennl-cott In the film version of "Main Street." Louise Fazendn has been cast as "Bee" the Swedish maid. V Marie Prevost, Harry Meyers. Helen Ferguson. Irene Rich, Fat 0Mal:e. Frank Keenan nnd Miss Dupont have been cast for the film version of "Braafl." BEHIND T1IF, SCKKFN Tom J. Goraghty was managing editor edi-tor of a paper In Rushville. Ind.. at 19, but with James Whitcomb Rll-y. Booth Tarklngton. Charles Major, Kin Hubbard and other Hoosler lights to fire him, he became ambitious to be an author. A weekly magazine published one of his stories and .Sam Blythe j wrote to ask him what he was doing Ion a small paper. Tom immediately jumped to Xi x York where ne worked ; as reported for several years. Then! he wrote comedies ror Mdney Drew ; 'and his wife. Famous Tlayers sent him to Hollywood. Later he became i freelance writer nnd did originals? and H'l.iptlons for many of the loading stars. Now he Is supervisor of the eastern studio of Famous Players, Mnny consider "The Toll of the Sea" a photoplay of unusual merit because It Is all In colors and the color Job lias been done a bit better than heretofore. To me the film possesses unusual merit because It has a real Chinese for heroine Instead of some Caucasian j girl with her eyes and imagination tretched out of shapt. Anna May Wong is a better Chinese actress than Mary l . kiord In "Madame Butterfl ". or Constance Talmadge in "East a West." Her parents must be given due er.-dlt for that. And another unusual feature of this film Is that it has the unhappy ending end-ing that It! plot predicates. Thi-r.' bus been no attempt by the produc4:rs to orter the eonventional happy ending end-ing u.t a sentimental sop to th- spiritual spirit-ual cowards who won't take their romance ro-mance unless it'i sugar coated "The Toll of the Sea," is much like 'Madame Butterfly.'' A Chinese girl m love a white man. He returns to Am- V erica Without h-i Then he goes back to China with :.ls white bride. The I 'Chinese girl vi4 renders his baby to 1 1 his new bride and then walka out Into the sea. She had found the white man cast upon the shore. A Chinese legend holdu that tho sea demands tribute lor ! 4-ac.h good or beautiful thing It yields. The girl pays the tribute according to the legend. . . . The moles need several things to make them better. I believe that they (do not reed tinted films or voice. The I photoplay right now contains all of D I the essential elements for tho development develop-ment of a distinctive form of expres-. expres-. slon. The evolution of tho photoplay must 'b nlong the linos of simplification. Tho things that detract from tho tell-1ns tell-1ns r tho story, the Idle wordo In subtitle:, sub-title:, f laehbiii-ks to show fantastic In- cldonts that have no bearing on the I plot, lnsncere rtuff designed to play Ion emotions not touched by the story Itself all these must bt eradicated. Fantoinlmo la the chief stock in 'trade, of the screen player. N. P. !gco Charlie Chaplin.) Color and volco lean bo expressed in black and whlto notion. No mechanical voice will ever bo k 'fulthful counterpart of the human volro No artificial color will over bo ; , oo beautiful as natural color. God E didn't plan tho universe that way. If man can reproduce natural color and I natural volro ho Is well on tho way to tho manufacture of robots. . m m Beatrice Bentley makes her film do-but do-but as the white bHde In "The Toll of tho Sea," Sho Is a beautiful girl. For j one unaccustomed to th ramera she ! seems quite at mise. Her cinema future fu-ture appeH rs vory promising. And speaking of simplicity I be- I llevo that William DeMlllo la the only 1 1 director of tho day who has a practi- K cal Idea of that word's meaning. Wll- g 11am DeMllle avoraK'os only 1000 feot I of excess film on the six and seven fl reel pictures be makes. Other dlroct- H ors waste 50 to 200 times that amount, I And getting back to "The Toll of I tho Sea." again criticism of lt color j? .yor.k naturally becomes comparLsou J (with "The Glorious Adventure." the 'Lady Diana Manners film produced In color. Tinting of "The Toll of the 'Sea." more nearly stimulates nature 1 1 is easier on the eyes that the British film. - Carter DeHaven Is directing himself In "The Waggln' Tail." "Long Skirts," Is Fatty Karr's next comedy. I ' Lou.s Wolhelm, the "Hairy Ape," is the featured player In "IjOVe'fl Old ; Sweet Song." Grace Darmond is to be featured in "Flesh." an original story' by Rupert Julian. The short subject films point the way to tho feature photoplays. The two-reel comic has always been In i advance of the multiple-reel photoplay photo-play In the development of a dlsrtlnc-. tlve form of expression. Nov,' other short films. 6uch as scenlcs. animated drawings and polite comedies, aro showing more originally In subject and treatment than the bigger films These remarks arise from several hours deoted to previewing oome new 6hort subjects - . Earl Hurd shows In u new series of one reelers what novel effects can be gained with a ombinatlon of anl-, mated drawings and photography. I) saw "Railroading." That is a whimsical whim-sical tale of a boy making a rnoi by using drawn flguros of a boy andi dog as his actors. These figures cut-1 up In a toy train and a real cat andd i little ttl( ken become Involved In Ihe plot. V.I first i his all semod utter non-sense, non-sense, but on reflection it appears that Hurd put himself in the attitude "I :i Utile child and WoVe a tale such im might be Sketched on the walls Of a nursery. It Is u beautiful bit of Imagery wh"n considered in that lil-'ht. I m ix Fleascher in hln "Out of tho) inkwii" aeries employes the same bi beme and is a bit mote adroit with his work than Hurd. However, ho doesn't Idok ut the picture he creates throegh the eyes of a child. e Robert Bruce also rasorta to the fancl.M of a fttory-twller In "A Nat-! ural Born Liar," the Litest of Ills sr-f-nles in this he Introduces beau-j ti f nl panoramas by having a nomad of the north tell about his various adventures. Thus tli4i eamera shows a mirage Of the desert, a lulce In which th smallest trout Is two feet nine inches long and an o. an in th-j mountain-1 The' last episode presents the upper surface of a mighty loud which breaks upon the mountain sldo like the ocean upon a rocky shore. Th-.so s enh s of nature in unusual clrcurnstam 4-.s appear Btrang-r than fiction, but Bruce introduces fiction to the story. The traveler visits a blind foot" In the woods. In this spot everything becomes Invisible in !road daylight Crlliet! in Binsland have acclaimed such Bruce pictures theso c.k the most ctrtiatie yet produced in A.mert-Ica A.mert-Ica Baby Peggy in being starred In a series of fairy-stories, the latest ot hi.ii la "Little K"d Ri.iing Hood." I have not seen this film, hut I have i' 1 1 y I'eggy and I've read "Little Red Riding Hood" several times. The film promises something far different differ-ent than hag yet been screened. It Should suR(,'.tt to sonic producer tho filming of "Alice In Wonderland" In :i very pretentious manner. That story could be better told on the screen than In a book. It would give tne screen ample opportunity to show to va.vt descriptive powers of the camera. It would make a more unique fi'm than "The Cabinet of ir Callgarl " Lyman Howe Is making a series he calls "hodge-podge " That is an apt name for the films. They consist In tho main 4f trick stuff In line drawings. draw-ings. In that thoy show little originality. origi-nality. The best part of the film la In the photographed section in which he shows such natural drama as the capture Of sea elephants. However. Howe seems to be evolving a plan of diversified entertainment In which a variety of things may be shown In one unity. He has not yet developed the Idea of Its fullest possibilities. Some progress, of course, has been shown In the bigger pictures of the past few months. "Rabin Hood." "Manslaughter" and Nazlmova's Salome" Sa-lome" are technically the best films yet made. Kugenrt Walter and Charles Mortimer Morti-mer Peck havo effected an alliance to rrea'f original screen stories John S Robertson will direct Rich-, ard Barthelmess in "The Bright Shawl." - Frank Mayo, Richard LMx. Claire Windsor and Lew Cody have been! cast for Rupert Hughes' film version of his "Souls for Sale." Margaret Leahy comes from Lon-on Lon-on to became a film actress. Select- ' d by Norma Talmadgo from amonKl sa.ooo contestants sho la looked uponl by the British as their first represen-tatlv represen-tatlv In American fllma. Margaret Lahy Is 20. She 1b five feet, five inches tail. Bhe has dark blue eyes and light, wavy hair. She Is tho only c hild of o. London couple who f all her "Bubbles. 1 Norma Talmadgo says she h.-LH a perfect film face. 'I'm Irish and proud of It," sayrj Mlos Leahy Sho talk with her hands' and eyes, as we'll as with her 11 pa "My first rooollectlon is of a pretty! dross." the now film actress says. "By the tlmo I was eight I was cjuito a tomboy. At that age I would rather cllmh a tree than play with dolls. I used to box with daddy until both our faces smarted "When I was 18 I set up a COStumS shop and designed gowns and then acted as tho model for thorn. However. How-ever. T havo always been very romantic. ro-mantic. I like beat tho old, dreamy music even though I do like to dance to tho 'go?y' music of today. My pet play Is 'The Maid of tho Mountains' and no story ran qulto compare with Daddy Longlege.' On the screen I like - ornedles best." Nflas Leahyr's mother h.vs accompanied accom-panied her to America. Sho has relatives rela-tives here whom ,ho will visit before beginning her work In "Within the Law" which will star Norma Talmadgo. Tal-madgo. And. fellows, here was her answer to the last question, "No, I'm not en-gaged. en-gaged. I haven't even thought of anyone any-one as yet " ' ' Boggy O Neiii id a now American screen artross. That may not be her real name it sounds llko the name -,: a popular song. A native of Iowa, she was educated nt Stanford and Northwestern universities and then took up Chautauqua work. Then she appeared in Shakespeare with the Avon Players three seasons. And then she married and quit ao;.lng. Her husband hus-band moved to Los Angeles and sli played character bits In feature p' -tures until Jack White saw her and east her In the Mermaid comedies She I will be seen In "Casey Jones. Jr." Victor Seastrom. director. and George Ekman, star, are coming to America to mako three picture. Sea-Strom Sea-Strom directed and starred in "The Stroke, of Midnight," one of tho most artistic pictures ever made I ' I Joseph "SohlldkraUt and his lather. i Rudolph Schtldkraut, called by many the world's leading character actor, are to appear In a film called Tho Dance of Life," written by Eve L'nsell and I Joseph Rothman. Miss l'nsell will supervise tho production of the plc- jture. Joseph Bchlldkraut gained fame on the American stage In "Lll- jlom" and on the "rrcen In "Orphans i of the Storrn." til! CUT! dr IjOuis J. Gasnler Is making a sequel 'to "Rich Men's Wives" called "Poor Men's Wives. Barbara LaMarr, Da H Butler. Richard Tucker and Zazn Pitts have the leading roles. I ... I "Money. Love and the Woman" is the title of a new John M. Stahl picture. pic-ture. Sounds like ' Wine. Woman and Song." t Fay Tin her has returned to the screen after an absence of two years. She plays opposite Lewis Sargent In a Universal comedy. Bryant Washburn bus supplanted Antonio Moreno in the title role of "Rupert of Hentzau." Mq.-ti Moom and .hnr-d UM aro to play tho lends In "Thss! Commandmen," a Fnnle Hurstl being filmed bv Frank Borsl "Tho Sheriff of Sunshin Vssl to bo filmed at Laredo, TexJ the auaplces of the Klwanls 51 "Mam'eelle Midnight," by hJ Gouldlng. Will b Mae MurraS after "Jazzmanla." BF.HTND TTIi: SCREES Rupert Hughe writes adal rects. cuts and tltley his own i as you probably knoV.- Born 1 caster, Mo., in 1872. he nj from Western Reserve In 18 took a master's decree at Yale 2 year. Then ho went to New in succession bo amo a rcpoH sistant editor of soveral rnsi short stor-. wilter. novelist erittc and eornporr and dM His most famous movQ Is j "The Old Nest." Hughes doe of hl- work in the wee small! It would bo unusual for youl him at any time without a blsl |