Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 8, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 111 “The Fire Brigade” Sets New Precedent in Filins Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Has Cooperation Of Los Angeles Fire Department And Spectacle Is Tremendous A HALF a hundred cinematographers crouched in trees, stood erect on roofs of buildings, lay close to the ground and focused their cameras at various angles all on a huge five story building set, standing out like a city library on a large portion of the Culver City Studios of MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. Then as a flame darted from one of the windows, these cameras began to crank as if one great recording machine. In all they exposed hundreds of reels of film. From this vast amount of celluloid was selected in the cutting room, enough footage to make critics agree with Hollywood authorities that the conflagration scene in “The Fire Brigade,” is the most stupendous from the standpoint of realism and proportion, that has ever been incorporated in a feature production. Cummings Is No Longer Fox Director Irving Cumming’s sudden absence from the Fox directorial ranks has caused all kinds of conjecture in Hollywood. The World learned officially at the Fox Studios that everything is happy so far as Cummings and Foxites are concerned, but that Cummings is no longer in the Fox fold. It was gleaned in this respect that Cummings’ contract had been brought to a somewhat abrupt termination with the mutual consent of both parties. In this respect a Fox executive stated that Cummings had long felt the need of a rest and that it was probably his object now to realize this ambition. However, reports from creditable sources off the Fox lot describes Cummings’ ambitions as being more for a larger check rather than a vacation. It was definitely learned by Moving Picture World that First National and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, particularly the first company, are now offering Cummings megaphones. Five Big Roles In “The Trail of ’98” There are five big roles in “The Trail of ’98,” which Director Clarence Brown hopes to produce as an epic of the North for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At the time of this writing none of the cast had been selected and reports that John Gilbert had been selected for stellar honors were officially denied. The production will not get under way until about February 1. In the meantime, Brown is away from the studio on a tour through the suburbs of San Francisco, looking for suitable locations upon which “shooting” will commence. Waller’s Personality Stories to Be Regular AN additional feature in Tom Waller’s Hollywood pages in Moving Picture World appears today in a striking personality story about Victor MeLaglen. Each week Mr. Waller will select some outstanding figure in pictuves and de/ote to him or her a close-up study. Waller knows Hollywood. He knows human nature, too, and as a newspaper man he goes straight into the heart of his subject in clear, concisive strokes. We believe that you will enjoy this series which institutes a new step in trade paper progress. Zanuck Is Promoted Daryle Francis Zanuck has just been made assistant to Jack Warner at the Warner Brothers Studios. He will now supervise productions in addition to writing scenarios which have been his regular job. Zanuck is just twenty-five years of age. He has to his credit as a scenarist such Warner attractions as “The Limited Mail,” “Hogan’s Alley,” “Across the Pacific,” and “Wolf’s Clothing.” Holt Is Satisfied Although Jack Holt’s contract with Paramount expires next week he denies rumors about any disagreements with that company. He describes his five years’ relations with Paramount as being “One of the finest association I have ever had in my life.” He says that he hopes to have his future plans arranged within the next two weeks. What now appears on the screen as so colossal an undertaking, so real in its vividness and enormity as to be almost weird in the fact that one can sit in a theatre and yet be within the fire lines of a burning edifice in the center of a big city, was equally stupendous to produce. Moving Picture World, after delving into facts and figures right on the ground where this tribute to the fire fighters of •America was made, can unqualifiedly assure its 6,492 exhibitor readers that they can double some of the figures published in “The Fire Brigade” press sheet. The latter is a fine piece of work, but in some respects it goes in for just the opposite of what tradition has been accused of branding many tip-off papers. Instead of the superlative rh's particular sheet modestl/ cringes in a corner when it describes the number of pieces of fire apparatus that drew up before the fifty cameras one night last. Summer. When “The Fire Brigade” comes to your town, you, Mr. Exhibitor Reader, can quote Moving Picture World’s interview with Chief Ralph Scott who personally told us that Los Angeles has sixty-five fire companies and that of this total forty units with 300 firemen transported by forty-five pieces of apparatus, representing every known type of vehicle in the fire fighting world, tore through the film capital until they reached Culver City. Here they cluttered up the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acreage so that no production in any studio in the country can wisely boast further about its importance crowding out everything else. Furthermore Chief Scott, who has lived in Los Angeles most of his life and who knows how pictures are made has this for the record : “ ‘The Fire Brigade’ is the greatest picture that was ever produced.” Large Camera Stuff Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s entire cinematographic department was on the job all during the shooting of the four alarm fire. With (Continued on page 116) Charles Ray Is Realistic “S m o k e E a t e r”