Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

50 T T m m m t # 1 i^V x^ i m m i m mm mm Well, if here isn't Louise Fazenda out for an airing with her dogs, even as you and I! ALL protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, the foreigners are headed homeward. Filmdom's colorful and. fascinating European colony is a shambles, and six glorious years of cosmopolitan dialects have culminated in the dominance of the pure Hollywoodian. There are, to be sure, some actors who insist upon speaking with Anglicized accents, but even they are in the minority. No more will be heard the rich Hungarian gutturals, the German diapason tones, the French and Italian inflections. The ravages of the talking pictures are both complete and far-reaching, and the movies are fast losing their international aspect. The Procession Moves On. The major departures to date include Pola Negri, who went more than a year ago ; Conrad Veidt, Lya de Putti, Victor Varconi, Charles Puffy, Maria Corda, Camilla Horn, and finally Emil Jannings. Yes, Emil — most picturesque of all invaders ! It has been said that Jannings will return in two or three months, but we doubt it. The glamorous procession has passed. It is a new and different era. Concerning Greta's Accent. Even the future of the lovely Greta Garbo might seem uncertain. It depends, perhaps, upon the sway exerted over the public by the audible feature, to which she may or may not be attuned. Greta was announced to play in a dialogue film of "Anna Christie" upon her return from Sweden, but a switch in plans occurred, with the result that she will be seen in a silent picture, "The Single Standard," based upon the Adela Rogers St. Johns story. Reflecting impressions and vibrations from the ever-interesting and never-inactive studio world. "Anna Christie" is scheduled as her next film, but will it be made? People are asking. "Anna Christie" was proposed, because its heroine is supposed to speak with a Swedish accent. It was thought that Miss Garbo might match the demands of the role with her own natural inflection. However, the inquiry has lately been raised as to whether or not an accent is as good when it is the actual inheritance of a player, as when it is assumed by one who ordinarily speaks clear English. The stage precedent would seem to favor the latter belief. Then, too, there is the axiom that the illusion of reality is much better than the reality itself. Perhaps this also applies to screen dialects. Footlight Invasion Grows. While the Europeans depart, the advance of footlight celebrities assumes constantly greater proportions. Ina Claire, Marilyn Miller, Peggy Wood, Mary Eaton, Nancy Wilford, Ann Pennington, Helen Chandler, Ann Harding, and Willie Collier, Sr., are names newly added to the studio roster. Will they supplant long-established favorites ? In any event, their debuts will be interesting, whether they be praised or criticized. Miss Claire's arrival was celebrated with a party at which the stage star appeared most gracious and charming. She remarked, among other things, that she had brought all her voices with her to Hollywood, and she hoped that at least one of them would register for the microphone. Comedy Pie Passe. The modest two-reeler is no longer disdained by the more prominent actresses. We found Lois Wilson engaged in a short talking-comedy that Christie was making not long ago, and Mae Busch busy on a Stan LaurelOliver Hardy film. Harrison Ford was also cast in the Christie picture. Lois told us that short comedies are receiving so much more attention from the picture makers that it is really quite an fait to be identified with one. She assured us that the volplaning pie has absolutely no part in them any more, and that therefore one is safely assured of not having to put up with the old, slapstick type of messiness. More Film Revenants. Everywhere we go we seem to be renewing acquaintances with stars who have been missing. On the set of "Twin Beds" not long ago we encountered Alice Lake doing a talkie role — her first. Wanda Hawley we observed one day at the Metropolitan studio. She, too, has been speaking her initial lines for the screen and also appearing in a stage production. Lila Lee played the lead in Richard Barthelmess' film, "Drag," and Edith Roberts was in "The Wagonmaster," with Ken Maynard, while Helene Chadwick was cast in "The Greene Murder Case," another of the S. S. van Dine mystery thrillers. Eleanor Boardman, who remained absent from the screen for all of a year and a half when her little girl was born, is doing her first talking role, in 'Redemption,"