Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

Every Tuesday sailors were leaning over the starboard rail. Quietly Thorg moved over the crest of the reef, and with stealthy tread he crept down the eastern slope of the rock ridge and glided into the water. An instant later he had commenced to swim out In the direction of the patrol boat, and using the breast stroke, he reached the vicinity of its port bow. There he paused to drink deep of the air and fill his lungs to capacity, and then he ducked his head and dived under the bosom of the sea. Arms and legs working, he propelled himself downward through murky, liciuid realms that abounded in shoals of flsh, his descent carrying him deep beneath the keel of the Government cutter from whose deck Terry Kent's life-line was suspended. Thorg discovered that life-line soon enough, and following it with a murder- ous glint in his eyes, he made out the dim shadow of the sunken Carfax in the space of a few seconds. The life-line guided him to the after- deck of the wrecked steamer—and to the gaping aperture that was the hatchway of its after-hold. Thi'ough this hatchway he swam, and as he penetrated the opening he described the figure of Terry Kent a tew feet below him. The lieutenant had won his way to the floor of the compartment—was crouching there with his arms around one of the boxes which bestrewed it and which .sup- posedly contained cans of kerosene. His head, encompassed by the diving-helmet, was bowed over the receptacle with which he was grappling, and he might well have remained oblivious of his peril until it was too late to make any effort to defend himself. But Thorg's intrusion created a disturbance in the water that flooded the hold and caused the revenue officer to direct a glance upward, and as he saw the giant he straightened abruptly. He had scarcely risen to his full height when Thorg was upon him, and, closing with him, locking his left arm around the lieutenant's shoulders, Borofl's emissary snatched the knife from between his teeth with his I'ight hand and stabbed at Terry viciously. The blow was aimed at the younger man's heart, and the weapon must have buried itself to the hilt in his body save for a swift paiTy that he contrived to execute. As it was, he brought one elbow into play; and knocking up Thorg's hand, diverted the blade. Yet though the gesture delivered him from an instantaneous death, the knife fouled the life-line of his helmet as Thorg's hand was deflected, and in wrenching the weapon back, the hulking scoundrel slashed the pipe clean through. In a moment water began to find its way into the helmet Terry was wearing, and a stream of brine was running down the inside of the glass face-piece as Thorg made another lunge with the knife. This time Terry managed to seize the would-be assassin's right wrist and stem the death-thrust and, exerting all his strength, he fought to resist his hulking antagonist's efforts to drive the blade home. But the revenue officer's air supply was gone, and while he fought the first pangs of suffocation caught at his lungs, and the water that was entering his helmet gathered about his neck, where the headgear was fastened tightly— gathered there and rose slowly to the level of his chin, his lips (Is Terry Kent doomed to perish in the; hold of the Carfax? Can he beat off; Thorg's deadly onset and extricate himself '• from the desperate plight in which he: stands? On no account must you miss; "The Crash.' next week's terrific episode■ of this thrill-jjacked serial, published by^ kind permission of British Lion Film: Corporation, Limited. If you haven't: already filled in your Order Form and' taken it round to your Newsagent, do it: NOW, otherwise you won't be able to read: next week's grand issue of BOY'S CINEMA.) BOY'S CINEMA WILLIAM POWELL'S STAND-IN PLAYS SCENE WITH MYRNA LOY "Doc" W. W. Dearborn celebrated his ninth anniversary as William Powell's stand-in by playing a scene with Myrna Loy. It was Powell's idea. About to play a scene with Miss Loy for Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer's "Another Thin Man," Powell made the suggestion. "You have stood on the Sidelines long enough for me, ' Doc,' " he said. " You play the scene." Dearborn's imitation of Powell, while the cameras turned, got a hand from the company. Director W. S. Van Dyke II ordered the "take" printed and given to Dearborn as a souvenir. PARACHUTE JUMP THRILL FOR FILM AUDIENCES Film audiences seeing Walter Wanger's forthcoming "Eternally Yours," co-star- ring Loretta Young and David Niven, are to be treated to the distinct thrill of diving headlong towards the New York World's Fair from an aeroplane 15,000 feet up. Then a parachute will open and the "audience" will float earthwards. Pro- ducer Walter Wanger has sent a camera crew and two aeroplanes from Hollywood to New York to film a spectacular delayed- opening parachute leap from a plane into a bay near the Fair site. To give the jump realism and natural thrills, a special camera has been constructed and encased, with its motor and a time-clock, inside a cork and rubber box. The camera equip- ment will be fastened to the parachute harness and will record the wild gyrations normally made by a man's body on a de- layed-opening jump, the shock of the opening, and the swinging that occurs until gravity steadies him down and he floats to safety. Since the camera always represents the audience in the filming of a picture, this unique parachute jump will give audiences the illusion of a thrill only about one in a million is likely to experience in real life. The Wanger camera and its odd con- tainer are rather ingenious devices. The time-clock pulls the rip cord of the pai^a- chute twenty-five seconds after the drop is made from the plane. When the box strikes the water, it automatically closes a heavy glass window over the camera lens and becomes a floating. wateiTjroof pro- tector for the camera and its exposed film. The camera is so rigged that when the parachute opens the lens records a panorama of the earth, and the Fair, and the water where the jump will end. ANY SUGGESTIONS ? The Samuel Goldwyn production depart- >ment is considering the possibility of cut- Sting Gary Cooper up into three pieces: |the reason being that they need him in I three diffei*ent places at the same time. In order to expedite production of " The I Real Glory," in which Gary is starring. I Goldwyn nas divided his production com- jpany into three sections. The first imit, under the direction of CHem-y Hathaway, is filming scenes at the ; studio on the six-and-a-half-acre reproduc- [tion of a Philippine army post, with fCooper, David Niven. Broderick Crawford. [Andrea Leeds and Reginald Owen. A second unit under the direction of tStuart Heisler is on location at Point fMugu shooting fighting scenes around {Cooper, whom they need badly for close- -ups. The third unit is filming other action ^sequences in the mountain fastnesses of [California, under the direction of Richard [Talmadge. the former serial and stunt I king. Talmadge is telephoning the studio 5 daily asking for the immediate services of j Cooper and Andrea Leeds for certain key 'scenes. 23 The dividing of "The Real Glory" com- pany into three imits is to expedite shoot- mg and to take advantage of a period of unusually good weather. Cooper is needed in all three places which is a physical puzzle that the studio magicians, u.scd to problems, arc still try- ing to solve. GLAMOUR BY CAMERA Some of the names that flicker obscurely on the screen credits shine brightly in the studios. Consider the case of Mr. Gregg Toland, A.S.C., who has been filming Goldwyn productions for more than fifteen years, and is almost as famous for his beauty treatments as he is for his ace camera work. There are more than a few stars in Hollywood who owe their reputa- tions to the genius and ingenuity of this young cincmatographer. Toland's most recent job for Samuel Goldwyn has been "Melody of Youth," in which the problem was somewhat dif- ferent. His job was to glamorise an entire symphony orchestra. This is not so un- reasonable a demand as it might seem. Audiences that would sit contentedly through a two-hour recital at the Albert Hall, would grow restless after five minutes of watching the same orchestra from the screen. And, to the unprofes* sional eye, the movements of a symphony orchestra might seem monotonous in a motion picture. As some of the climatic scenes of "Melody of Youth" are built round such symphonic interludes, with Jascha Heifetz playing his famous viohn, Toland's camera skill was directed towards making these scenes as di-amatic and arresting as any in the picture. How he managed this remains one of the classics in the historv of cinemato- graphic art. By unusual lighting and spectacular camera angles, Toland was able to create as much pictorial interesv. and even .suspense in the musical sequences as in the straight dramatic scenes in the picture. And when the camera swung to Heifetz for his solos, attention was centred on him as much as if he were a great screen idol, which, of course, in another field, he is. VAN DYKE'S FAVOURITE " PROP ' MAN BaiTel-chested Harry Albiez. star of Hollywood " prop " men. has a job for life because Director W. S. Van Dyke II never FXrlTlnlhe HOME! Vm I denes Introduces all the Favourite Characters from the Walt Disney Films—Donald Duck, Goofy, Snow White, Horace Horsecollar, the Three Little Pigs, and many more. " Mickey's Fun Fair" is a grand game, novel and endlessly fascinating. Published by CasUll Bros., Ltd., By permission nf Walt Disney Mickey Mouse, Lid. All slationers and startf stll " Mickey's Fun Fair." Two packs for the price of one 2'6 MICKEY'S Fun Fair (:>:t^v).vii:ijin«^.n»iii:n Octoiber 28t»» »'J39.