The Canadian Independent (Mar 15, 1938)

Century Bh artisans began D> Tats ans, Dutch producer. has secured the backing of a group of important screen and stage people -in | the United States for the making of a Chinese picture depicting her fight for free dom. Mr. Ivens is now in Hankow. “Happy Landing’ with Sonja Henie made record grosses at the Roxy theatre and is being held over in all houses of the RKO Metro politan circuit. A group of U.S. Indies are proceeding with plans _ for an independent production and distribution unit to service independents. Bertram Mayers, member of a large New York law firm is in Hollywood to make_ the proper production tie-in. James Dunn is in Winnipeg, to begin a personal appearance tour. Ferdinand Schum an Heink, son of the_ late Madame Schuman Heink, concert singer, has been hired to play a part in Paramount’s ‘Stolen Heaven.”’ Simone Simon has recovered from a serious attack of pneumonia and has left the cedar of Lebanon hospital. She will spend two weeks recuperating before returning to the 20th lot to continue work on the suspended picture, ‘‘Josette.”’ Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope, who scored heavily as the romantic team in Paramount’s “Big Broadcast of 1938” are again to appear as screen lovers in the forthcoming “Rainbows In the Night.” Popeye, the famous comic strip and motion picture character, is going to make a personal appearance tour around the world. This became known as Paramount “bringing him: to life” in a form which ED FOR THE BENEFIT OF DEPENDENT THEATRE OWNERS ! SRE A TE YFTTITTIO PEPE iY b yy “iy, cw bh ym y will permit him to do every thing but talk. Popeye, when completed, will act as an ambassador of good will, visiting every civilized country in connection with the “Paramount On _ Parade Around the World’? cam paign. Edward G. Robinson tackled the produce racket on a recent broadcast and _was startled when somebody tossed a cabbage into his car as he was leaving the radio station. He thinks it was a gag now, but at the moment he was sure it was a bomb. One of Hollywood’s most famous floor pacers is Director Ernst Lubitsch. A statistically-minded member of Paramount’s ‘“Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife’ company estimated that the _ director walked a total of 1220 miles during filming of the _ picture. Isa Miranda, first lady of Italian films, soon to make her American debut in Paramount’s ‘Lady of the Tropics,” was first ‘‘discovered”’ by a group of painters and sculptors in Milan. Agostino Borgato, once a leading man for Eleanor Duse, is portraying a speechless role in Paramount’s “Daughter of Shanghai,” which features Anna May Wong in the leading roles. A drama of Arctic. heroism, “‘Angel in Furs,” has been purchased by Paramount for Gail Patrick and Randolph Scott. The story by W. B. Courtney concerns a missionary nurse stationed among the Eskimos in a far-northern outpost. Scott’s character will be that of a trapperaviator famed for his exploits in emergency relief. Paramount’s often-delayed artic sea epic, “Spawn of the North,” moved one more PATRONIZE THE ADVERTISERS WHO MAINTAIN IT. “COLOR POEM” ODDITY PARAPHRASES MUSIC Metro Goldwyn Mayer has just completed a motion picture without a living object—man, beast nor growing plant. It is called ‘‘Color Poem” and is an animated picture of moving objects in color, paraphrasing Franz Lizst’s famous ‘Hungarian Rhapsody.’ The picture required six months to make and was done by Oscar Frischinger, a Continental artist. David Snell conducted a fifty-piece sympnonrm orchestra to svxchronize Lizst’s masterpiece. step nearer production recently when Georges Rigaud, -new Argentine importation, was cast for a major featured role in the George Raft starring picture under the direction of Henry Hathaway. Albert Lewin is producing. Use of Batavia, N.Y., in the 1840’s, as the locale of the opening sequence of “Wells Fargo” brought telegraphed congratulations to Paramount producer-director Frank Lloyd, from the present mayor of Batavia, James J. Mahaney. According to the mayor’s wire the Batavia theatre, opening one hour earlier and closing one hour later than usual still could not accommodate the crowds anxious to see the picture, which features Joel McCrea, Bob Burns and Frances Dee. pointed out, _crowds than the last. -edies, ican frontiers. More Comedies ia Forecast F rom Cast Studios i L Movie audiences of the : world have just begun to i laugh, according to Barney Balaban, president of Para-. mount Pictures, who broke his rule against inter. views to forecast more and funnier comedies on Hollywood’s production schedule for 1938. The coming year, as Balaban sees it, will be featured by a speeding up of the current trend toward the dizzy, slap-stick type of screen. play, exemplified by such pictures as “True Confession”’ and ‘The — i ruth: x The end of this cycle was Wa predicted more than a year. Me ago, the film executive yet each new picture of the “screwy” iene seems to draw bigger an more. enthusiastic _ All other types of com| Fe _many of them_musi-. | Pe cals, also will continue strong through 1938, according to Balaban, who, in addition to holding a big producing company also is the proprietor of a big midwestern theatre chain and is therefore in a position to maintain a close check on public taste in movies. Also of prime importance on Hollywood’s 1938 program, according to the film executive, will be stories of early American history of the outdoor spectacle sort typified by ‘Wells Fargo,” Paramount’s epic of Amer-. 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