The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

44 MOVING PICTURE WORLD November 7, 1925 Paramount Ahead of Winter Schedule; Start New Plays PARAMOUNT today has finished, or in the final stage, all of the 23 attractions which it will release during October, November, December and January. So far in advance of its schedule is the production staff that work is well under way on several pictures for the new season. "The complete co-ordination of our production forces," says Jesse L. Lasky, first vicepresident in charge of production, "has made possible this wonderful progress on our winter program. With practically every picture on this schedule completed, the production department is devoting its energies to the spring attractions, several of which are now in the early stages of work." Productions already finished and the months of release follow : October : "A Regular Fellow," Raymond Griffith's hilarious comedy which has just had its premiere at the Rivoli Theatre on Broadway; "The Golden Princess," with Betty Bronson; "New Brooms," the William de Mille picture featuring Neil Hamilton, Bessie Love and Phyllis Haver; "Lovers in Quarantine," with Bebe Daniels, Harrison Ford and Alfred Lunt, and directed by Frank Tuttle; "The Pony Express," the new James Cruze masterpiece which has had record runs in San Francisco and New York, with Betty Compson, Ernest Torrence, Ricardo Cortez and Wallace Beery in the cast, and "Seven Keys to Baldpate," an adaptation of the George M. Cohan stage success starring Douglas MacLean. November: "Flower of Night," Joseph Hergesheimer's original story starring Pola Negri; "The Best People," directed by Sidney Olcott, with Margaret Morris, Warner Baxter, Esther Ralston and Kathlyn Williams; "The King on Main Street," directed by Monta Bell, with Adolph Menjou and William Collier, Jr., in the featured roles; "The Ancient Highway," directed by Irvin Willat and featuring Jack Holt, Billie Dove and Montagu Love; "Stage Struck," starring Gloria Swanson and directed by Allan Dwan, and "Cobra," with Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi and directed by Joseph Henabery. December : "That Royle Girl," a D. W. Griffith attraction with Carol Dempster, W. C. Fields, James Kirkwood, Bobby Watson, and George Rigas in the cast; and "A Kiss for Cinderella," Paramount's production for Christmas featuring Betty Bronson and Tom Moore. Herbert Brenon directed. Completing the winter schedule are these productions on which production is well advanced : December: "Irish Luck," starring Thomas Meighan and directed by Victor Heerman ; "Lord Jim," directed by Victor Fleming and featuring Percy Marmont, Noah Beery, Shirley Mason and Raymond Hatton ; "Womanhandled," a Richard Dix vehicle directed by Gregory La Cava, and a new Pola Negri production as yet untitled. January: A new William de Mille attraction tentatively titled "Magpie"; "Mannequin," the Fannie Hurst prize story with ZaSu Pitts, Alice Joyce and Warner Baxter, and James Cruze handling the megaphone; "Hands Up," another Raymond Griffith comedy, with Marion Nixon; "The Enchanted Hill," directed by Irvin Willat, with Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, Noah Beery Made Production Manager Maurice E. Sebastian, son of the producer has been installed as production manager of the A. H. Sebastian producing organization, which is now engaged in the making of "Fifth Avenue," at the Metropolitan Studios in Hollywood. Mr. Sebastian has just completed an engagement as production manager of the Howard Estabrook Company. Prior to this, he was associated with the Orpheum Circuit. and Mary Brian, and "The American Venus," which Frank Tuttle is directing with Esther Ralston, Ford Sterling and Lawrence Gray in the cast. On the advance program the cameras are clicking on "Behind the Front," with Mildred Davis, Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton; "The Song and Dance Man," with Bessie Love in the cast and Herbert Brenon directing, "Aloma of the South Seas," which will star Gilda Gray and will be directed by Maurice Tourneur, "The Lucl<y Lady," with Greta Nissen, Lionel Barrymore, William Collier, Jr., and Marc MacDermitt. Close-ups of Greater Importance Than Big Ensembles, Says De Mille c ECIL B. De MILLE comes forward with the statement that "big, lavish scenes are easy" and that "the difficult scenes to make and the most important sequences in motion pictures, confine the protagonists within a maximum of sixteen square feet." In an interview given to the press, De Mille illustrates his argument with specific instances. "Great as was the ride of the Klansmen in "The Birth of a Nation," says Mr. De Mille, "it has been outlasted in the public memory by that small, condensed but unutterably poignant and beautiful death farewell of the 'Little Colonel' and his sister. " 'The Little American' which Mary Pickford did for me had scores of striking, vivid war scenes using hundreds of people. Yet the scene which brought most comment occurred with the characters locked together — Jack Holt, a German officer, discovering the woman he had seized in the dark of a French chateau to be his American sweetheart. "In 'Scaramouche' are used some of the largest crowds we have known. It would be difficult, however, for anyone to accurately state just what these people did — and why — whereas I will gamble that nine people out of ten could describe in minutest detail every motion of Ramon Novarro and Lewis Stone as these bitter enemies are discovered to be father and son. "People have been kind in their comments as to 'The Ten Commandments' scene wherein Richard Dix plays a reversed John AldenMiles Standish scene with Leatrice Joy and Rod La Rocque. And yet a yardstick would have encompassed the three leads. If we directors can make one such scene in each picture we are satisfied. It takes hard digging to uncover the human heart but, once done, the action yields rich entertainment dividends. "In 'The Road to Yesterday' the production I have just completed is an illustration of condensed moments. I have reflected in Joseph Schildkraut's face in a semi-close-up, the reaction of emotion at the death of his secret wife in a burning at the stake. Then terror and agony are registered in the same manner as he is stabbed from the rear by the man whose sweetheart he had stolen. I am confident that this sequence will be accepted as one of the really great scenes of the production." HOW CLARA REACHEDTHE PLASTIC AGE The lead in Percy Marks' Famous Novel wasClara Bow's Reward for Two Years of Remarkable Screen Achievement I • DOWH TO THE ^'.'1 '''CAPlTAl,> ' ■'^ !i n jn SEA IN SMI PI' MAYTIME 'BlACK.C.^:N PU N l S M M t N T 'kISS ME AO A1n"tmESCARL£I WEST 'MY L*DYS LIPS' PARISIAN lOVE' 'THE LAWFULCHtATW' "fRtE lO lOVS. 'TIIE PlAinC ACt' A"Sideways" Movie of Clara traveiina upward to the top in the B. F. Schulberg production mentioned at top.