Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Jun 1921-Apr 1922)

Vitagraph Announces Nine Pictures Scheduled September-October Releases INE Vitagraph pictures are N announced for September October release, setting a new record for that company for the number and size of pictures released during a period of that length. The biggest release of all these, and, in fact, the biggest picture ever made by Vitagraph, is ‘‘The Son of Wallingford,’’ the feature made by Mr. and Mrs. George Randolph Chester at the West Coast studio and now being edited and titled at the Brooklyn studio. Mr. and Mrs. Chester returned from the Coast this past week after spending several months there making the picture. The story reeently was published in abridged form in Collier’s Weekly. It also will be brought out as a book about the same time that the film production is released. In addition to the many months required for the filming of ‘‘The Son of Wallingford,’’ nearly two years of preparation for it was required, thousands of persons took part in some of the scenes, and a good-sized fortune was spent on the sets, which inelude an artificial lake with dams and sluice-ways; oil derricks, a complete city with modern appointments and a pageant which includes about all the circus animals to be found in the West, with the notorious J. Rufus Wallingord leading on an elephant and Wallingford’s son, Jimmy; the well known side-kick, ‘‘Blackie’’ Daw, and the other chief characters in the van of the procession. Mr. Chester, having written the story, knew just what he wanted and secured novel effects. Among the principals in the cast are Tom Gallery in the title role of Jimmy Wallingford; Wilfrid North as the notorious J. Rufus; George Webb as the almost equally well known ‘‘Blackie’’ Daw; Antrim Short as ‘‘Toad’’ Jessup, Priscilla Bonner as Jimmy’s sweetheart, Mary Curtis, VanDyke Brooke as Henry Beegoode, Sydney D’Albrook as Bertram Beegoode, Andrew Arbuckle as Talbot Curtis and Bobbie Mack as ‘‘Onion.’’ ‘“Where Men Are Men,’’ a special production starring William Duncan, with Fdith Johnson as co-star, is elso on the September-Oeteber release list of Vitageaph. This js an adaptation of ‘‘The Princess of the Desert Dream,’’ by Ralph Cummins. It is a story of the Death Valley seetion of California when gold prospectors were sturdy men. It is the Page Four perfect type of story for Mr. Dun-. can, who directed his own production. The Alice Joyce release for the new season is ‘‘The Inner Chamber,’’ based on a widely read novel by Charles Caldwell Dobie, and filmed under the direction of Edward Jose. This is a society drama in which the star has the support of two well known leading men, Holmes E, Herbert and Pedro De Cordova. ‘‘The Bell Hop”’ is the title of the Larry Semon comedy for the first Fall release. An airplane figures prominently in the new comedy, which would indicate that Larry is not worrying about taking risks to get unusual effects, even though he was confined to the hospital in Los Angeles as the result of injuries sustained in making his previous comedy, ‘‘The Fall Guy.’’ The all-metal, practical, full-sized airplane, capable of sustained flights, was built entirely at Vitagraph’s Western studio. Earle Williams’ release is ‘‘Bring Him In,’’ a strong play of the Canadian Northwest by H. H. Van Loan. Williams has a role somewhat like the one he portrayed with sueh suecess in Eugene Walter’s ‘‘The Wolf.”?) The picture was directed by the star himself and Bert Ensminger. Corinne Griffith and Catherine Calvert appear in ‘‘ Moral Fibre,’’ which was directed by Webster Campbell. This melodramatic society play, based on a novel by William Harrison Goadby, provides exceptional opportunities for both stars. Their roles are entirely dissimilar in character. Alice Calhoun’s early Autumn release in ‘‘Peggy Puts It Over,’’ a clean, brisk comedy-drama well suited to this star. The exteriors were screened mostly at Saugerties, N.Y., under the direction of G. V. Seyffertitz, The interiors were made at Vitagraph’s Brooklyn studio. Her next production, which will be directed by Edward Jose, is to be ‘‘The Matrimonial Web.”’ Antonio Moreno’s release is ‘‘The Secret of the Hills,’’ a visualization of the successful novel by William Garrett, published by Jarrold’s of London. This picture proved to be a large undertaking and while Mr. Moreno spent several trying wecks in the mountains of California making the outdoor sequence a new Moreno picture was placed in the pre Google liminary stages. ‘‘The Secret of the Hills’”’ is a story of a search for hidden treasure in the hills of Scotland. Lillian Hall plays opposite Moreno. Completing the September-October list of Vitagraph is Jimmy Aubrey in a new comedy ealled ‘‘The Riot.’’ Aubrey spent more than four weeks looking for what he regarded as the sure-fire type of comedy. He found it finally in ‘‘The Riot,"* the interiors of which were made at the HolIywood studio. Supplementing Vitagraph’s announcement of its release, that eompany states that arrangements have been completed for a special feature with Jean Paige as the star and Edward Jose as the director. The Eastern studio will be used for this production, which is an adaptation of a well known literary work. At the same time the West Coast studio will be used tor filming another speeial in charge cf David Sraith, who directed ‘Black Beauty." UNUSUAL TRIBUTE PAID “BLACK BEAUTY” ASTED on the inside of a shipP ping case containing the prints of ‘‘Black Boauty,”’ the Vitagraph special production, and found when the case was opened at the Omaha branch offiee of that company recently, was a slip of paper. Written on it, in’ pencil, was the following comment : ‘The show is absolutely a knockout. Compared to ‘The Birth of a Nation” by some. Scenes impossible to beat."" (Signed) S. MILLER Asst. Mer, Lakeview Theatre. “Black Beauty’’ has been shown at the Lakeview Theatre in the town of that name in [owa, where it broke the house records. * _* * The engagement of ‘Lying Lips” at the Lyceum Theatre, Winnipeg, recently eclipsed anything in box office receipts, it is said, at this house. Business was phenomenal the entire week and the feature was said to be the best seen at this theatre in many months. eee The street sets for the Chinese New Year celebration in the Gouverneur Morris photoplay, ‘(A Tale of Two Worlds,’’ were prepared by Edward Willis of the Goldwyn art department, who has been a student of Orental art for many years,