The Moving picture world (November 1926-December 1926)

"T-OM WALLECL ^^^\ WErr COAJ^T REPREJ^EnTATIVE 318 TAFT. e,LD(^ TELEPWOhr GL ADJ^ TOhE Ob08 Reincarnate Limehouse for ^^Twinkletoes^^ First National Employs 200 Laborers for Task Marvelous Spectacle Starring Colleen Moore, Now in Makings Reveals London Slums Ajs Thomas Burke Knew Them ffoR seventeen da,3 200 ■abo.e.s. carpenter, p,as.e. srs, electricians, gasfitters, bricklayers, riveters, and road builders dug, laid and erected. They worked on an area of the First National lot large enough to accommodate the home owners of any village in the immediate environs of Hollywood. On the eighteenth day a tour of inspection brought one from the macademized roads and cultivated gardens surrounding the administrative buildings into narrow, winding streets of rough cobblestone, separating the fronts of one and two story buildings, delapidated, morose and cobwebbed. Smeared windows of grog shops, quaint signs and atmosphere, which, despite the California sunshine was dank and foul, made the job unmistakably a replica of London's old Bowery — the Limehouse District. Build Realistic Dock Even on this network of filthy thoroughfares, large enough to accommodate an automobile one way, was a wharf with barnacled piles standing high, and a theatre. When the men were paid off, General Manager of West Coast Productions John McCormick's books showed that there was yet to be expended $42,000 for the material represented in the five streets and building fronts and another sum of $7,500 for the theatre itself. During the eight weeks which have followed the completion of this reincarnation of what once was the capital of England's gamins, this set has been thronged with visitors. There are to be a few "shots" made and then the throngs will disperse, other workingmen will return and eventually all physical signs of the Limehouse sector in Burbank will have vanished. After that, however, is only the beginning for the public. Set Arouses Emotion If the cold set can imbue the warmth of realism in an unemotional and travel-worn visitor, what should it do to the audiences which will view it on the screen? The camera's eye caught First National's Limehouse neighborhood when it was aflame with gutter brawls ; when the "pubs" were wreaking with stale tobacco smoke and the tables were flecked with the overflow from steins; when the street lamps were dimmed by eery fog and the shadows of crooks loomed large on dripping walls. This set of a thousand uncanny nooks, gaping sewers, pauperistic hovels, constitutes the sole field of action in "Twinkletoes," and "Twinkletoes," judging from personal observations of her work and judging from "rushes" the writer has seen, should bring to the screen a new Colleen Moore. In the latter respect, the writer makes no prediction. The John McCormick production at this time is unfinished. Miss Moore's work up to date, however, evinces a steadier seriousness and sincerity of purpose than in any of her pictures which we have viewed. Miss Moore Excels In a melodrama of the depth of "Twinkletoes," from the pen of that famous English author, Thomas Burke, Miss Moore naturally finds herself cast in a role disassociated with her by the average fan. Her characteristic pertness and daintiness should immediately identify her, though, since she is retaining both of those traits to a pronounced degree. Her interpretation of "Twinkletoes" — the little Limehouse dancer, pretty, but rough and ready; naturally happy, but continuously encountering misfortune — calls into play a display of all emotions, particularly the serious side which should realize for this star even more friends. This picture is also recording a change of character for Kenneth Harlan. His followers have been more or less accustomed to witnessing him arrayed in smart clothes whether the attire be for the drawing room or out of doors. His garb in "Twinkletoes" consists of ill fitting clothes, topped off by a brown derby. Tully Marshall is at home in the part of "Dad Minasi," "Twinkletoe's" Father. But even Marshall has to shelve considerable of his usual comedy in order to essay the difficult role of a loving parent, whose desire to promote the stage ambitions of his daughter causes him to violate the law. Marshall had a difficult time balancing himself on a ladder in one scene. There were several hundred extras below, hurdling together in a street fight, when their enthusiasm reached the point where Director Charles Brabin had to call a halt until Marshall had time to catch hold of a second story coping. It was during this scene that Miss Moore was also badly shaken up when, in an attempt to stop the fight, she took a flying leap, landing on the heads of part of the mob. Littlefield Is Good As "Hank," a habitue of the barrooms, Lucien Littlefield is doing some great character work. His make-up, even before the camera recorded him for "Twinkletoes," was such as to make one stop and think most strenuously of pre-prohibition days. Character acting prevails throughout the entire production and every bit of it, based on this early slant, is excellent. Gladys Brockwell, who portrays "Cissy," Chuck's mischief-making wife, should score big on the screen. Warner Oland as "Roseleaf," the roue director of the Limehouse Theatre, is also prominently cast. John McCormick informs us that few scripts in the First National studio have been given the attention and time devoted to "Twinkletoes." "It took seven months to work this Burke story into an adap(Continued on page 145) First National's ''Twinkletoes" Radiates First Rate Art