20th Century-Fox Dynamo (August 5, 1939)

4A STUDIO SPECIAL FOUR MORE SUPER SPECIALS BEING READIED FOR CAMERA WORKi'CAVALCADE’CUTTING Tl/rOVIETONE CITY—Preparations were being rushed to start production late this month or early in September on five important Zanuck super specials: (1) “Little Old New York,” (2) “Swanee River,” (3) Maeterlinck’s “The Blue Bird” and (4) “Johnny Apollo.” Two of these four specials are fairly well set insofar as the casting end is concerned. Zanuck is now lining up the players who will constitute the important cast that Shirley Temple will head in the Technicolored “The Blue Bird.” • yANUCK will spend most of the next weeks to the personal edit- " ing of important productions that will have been completed. This task will take in “The Rains Came,” “Hollywood Cavalcade,” “Here I Am A Stranger” and “Drums Along the Mohawk.” The last mentioned special and “Hollywood Cavalcade” are technicolor- ized. “Drums Along the Mohawk” is in its second months of “shooting” with John Ford di- recting. “TTOLLYWOOD Cavalcade,” -BA patterned to be the indus- try’s feature of the celebration of its golden jubilee, is in the cutting department. A “rough” completed cut of the full pro- duction was shown to studio ex- ecutives and Charles E. Mc- Carthy, publicity director from New York who was brought on here by Zanuck for advertising campaign conferences on forth- coming specials. This screen- ing was held Thursday night and the picture was enthusiastically received. Zanuck is now hopeful of having it in completed shape for a “sneak” preview at some nearby town within the next sev- eral weeks. Irving Cummings directed “Hollywood Cavalcade” wihich features Don Ameche, Alice Faye, J. Edward Brom- berg, Mack Senneitt, Buster Kea- ton, George Givot, Lynn Bari and numerous others. “TTERE I Am A Stranger” has AA about another week of “shooting” before it will have been completed. Production was held up on this father-mother- son drama because of a painful injury sustained by Richard Greene. The latter, however, has thoroughly recovered and is now appearing in what should prove the most important pic- ture of his career. In “Here I Am A Stranger” Greene will be embarked on his career as a full- fledged star and will get star billing. F EW pictures have boasted the superb cast that “Here I Am A Stranger” can boast. Brenda Joyce, who scores a personal hit in the all-star cast in “The Rains Came,” plays the roman- tic feminine lead opposite Greene. Richard Dix is the father, a characterization that is scheduled to put him back among the topnotchers. Gladys George, who is shuttling be- tween this studio and Warner where she is appearing in an- other production, plays the part of the mother. Another major and featured role is played by Roland Young. Russell Gleason, too, is in the cast. Roy Del Ruth is directing. • “CWANEE River” will be in ^ production simultaneously with “The Blue Bird,” according to the present “shooting” sched- ule. Sidney Lanfield, who has directed some of this company’s outstanding musical hits, will megaphone this dramatization of the lives of Stephen Foster and the famous minstrel man, Christie. The former role will be played by Don Ameche. A1 Jolson will play the dynamic minstrel-showman who first in- troduced the Foster melodies to the people. In the life of the famous composer two loves played an important part—and one of these will be personalized by Nancy Kelly. At least five of Foster’s most famous melo- dies will be introduced in “Swanee River” which will be done entirely in Technicolor. j Louis Bromfield I j The author of the best I S seller of last year, “The j j Rains Came,” has just = J completed the screen treat- j j ment for “Brigham j ' Young,” which ranks | ! among Zanuck’s major ef- t j forts for the 1939-40 sea- | | son. Incidentally, no one j j on the Coast is prouder of j j the picturization of “The j j Rains Came” than its fa- j j mous author. “The Rains J ( Came” is the greatest mo- j j tion picture in history. J OHNNY Apollo” is one of the four specials in which Tyrone Power will head all-star casts during the 1939-40 sea- son, according to Zanuck. He is also slated to play in the Tech- nicolor special, “Mark of Zorro.” But “Johnny Apollo” will be sent before the cameras first. This will be done when Power, who is honeymooning with Annabella in Europe, returns to the studio later this month. Edward Ar- nold has been borrowed for one of the featured roles in this timely drama of today, written by Rowland Brown. The title character that Power will play differs radically from any he has portrayed so far in his ca- reer. • W ILLIAM ANTHONY Mc- GUIRE furnished the orig- inal story for “The Simple Life,” one of Wurtzel’s K-7 specials. McGuire himself is now busy working on a story concerning the colorful life of Lillian Rus- sell. This story is on Zanuck’s reserve list, for his 24 specials for the current season have been all lined up and are announced in this edition. However, in the event that Zanuck is not satis- fied with the treatment on any of his scheduled stories he can draw on his reserve list. In any case, “Lillian Russell” will be made for 1940-41 release, star- ring Alice Faye in the title role. [ j FIRE OVER THE MOHAWK! I An entire village, built by artisans from the studio, at the | Cedar City, Utah, location was burned to the ground for an I exciting scene in “Drums Along the Mohawk,” a Technicolor j super special co-starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, j Director John Ford and his company worked at Cedar City j for three weeks on outdoor sequences. “Brigham Young” j also will be filmed in the vicinity of that Utah location. V i i i ! i j TEAM AL JOLSON WITH TEMPLE IN HER SECOND PIX M ovietone city — That Darryl F. Zanuck intends to follow up personal characteri- zation triumphs assured by roles already assigned various box office personalities was again emphasized in an announcement made this week. A1 Jolson, who will play the role of the colorful minstrel Christie in the Techni- color super special “Swanee River,” co-starring with Don Ameche and Nancy Kelly, has been given another significantly important assignment. He will be featured in the all-star cast in Shirley Temple’s second pro- duction for the 1939-40 season. • M R. ZANUCK’S plans con- cerning the 1939-40 Shirley Temple vehicles are the most ambitious attached to the mak- ing of her pictures. There can be no doubt about that. Not only did the studio pay a huge price for the screen rights to Mateterlinck’s “The Blue Bird,” but the decision to make it an all-star Technicolor super spe- cial furnishes a comprehensive hint to the magnitude of the Zanuck plans for Temple pic- tures. “The Blue Bird,” in cost, will be on a par with “The Little Princess.” However, the latter picture is relegated to the deep background compared with the lavish scale on which “The Blue Bird” will be made. • “ITVHE BLUE BIRD,” which will A go into production within the next several weeks, has been in careful preparation for sev- eral months. The screen treat- ment is a masterpiece and Mr. Zanuck is rightly very proud of the screenplay that has been written from Maeterlinck’s world-famous story. That it is the most important picture in which Shirley Temple has ap- peared is common knowledge. But what makes significantly important news is the manner in which “The Blue Bird” will be finally offered to the public. Shirley will have the assistance of carefully selected stars. The settings will be the most lavish ever built on the lot. Techni- color tests of these and other factors promise a picture that already is bringing superlative praise from the color experts and from the Technicolor corpo- ration itself. • C ONFIDENT that “The Blue Bird” will be the biggest vehicle in which Shirley Tem- ple will have appeared and equally certain that it will de- velop into one of the universally major box office hits of the new season, Mr. Zanuck is prepared to follow up with an equally strong attraction for the little actress who still is in a class by herself for individual box office drawing strength. This second 1939-40 vehicle will be produced immediately after Shirley has completed “The Blue Bird,” which, by the way, will be be- fore the cameras simultaneously with that other Technicolor spe- cial, “Swanee River.” Thus, both Shirley and Jolson will be ready for their next co-starring picture. For reasons that can- not be explained here, further details regarding the second Temple production can not be divulged until later. • B UT, the world-wide sales or- ganization and its customers may be certain of one thing: the second 1939-40 Temple vehicle will be every bit as attractive in box office strength as “The Blue Bird” is being patterned to be. j EXTRA! FIRST REPORT ON THE ] | WITHERS-RITZ BROS. COMEDY!' j I : From Publicity and Advertising Director Charles E. j ! McCarthy, who was at the studio, on Friday, Mr. Wobber ! [ received the following report, the first, on Jane Withers’ sec- | ond K-7 comedy, “Roughneck,” with the Ritz Brothers: f “Jane Withers picture, ‘Roughneck’ with Ritz Brothers is j | infinitely better than any recent Jane Withers subjects. Com- J jj bining action, thrills and humor in fast moving story, Sol j ! Wurtzel, by casting the Ritz Brothers and an excellent sup- | I porting cast in a story of important production values, has hit j | on a happy formula for Withers vehicles. And a formula that | j is bound to increase the box office value of these Withers j I subjects.” “DRUMS” CAST IS BACK AT STUDIO; READYING “WRATH” M ovietone city —Direc- tor John Ford has launched the second month of camera work on the Technicolor special, “Drums Along the Mohawk” at the studio. After three full weeks of “shooting” at the Cedar City, Utah, location, the entire company of stars, prin- cipals, players and technicians returned here Sunday. There is some six more weeks of “shoot- ing” to be done on this picturi- zation of a best-selling novel. • W HILE the Cedar City, Utah, location is now deserted, within a few days artisans will be dispatched there to make changes in settings, for the same site will be used in the filming of the Zanuck super spe- cial, “Brigham Young.” Louis Bromfield, author of “The Rains Came,” has completed the treat- ment of the “Brigham Young” story and returned East this week. “Brigham Young” will rank among the more expensive specials to be made for 1939-40 Domestic release. • R USHES” of the Cedar City sequences for “Drums Along the Mohawk” were screened daily and the entire outdoor scenes have been officially okayed by Zanuck. In the final few days of “shooting” Ford directed Dorris Bowden in se- quences in which Linda Darnell had been previously used. Miss Darnell was taken out of the cast of this picture, owing to her sensational personal tri- umph in “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel For Women” and Zanuck’s deci- sion to co-star her in her next vehicle. Miss Bowden will be remembered for her fine per- formance in “Young Mr. Lin- coln.” • U P at Cedar City, Ford pro- duced some of the exciting outdoor sequences, including the skirmishes between the Mo- hawks and the white men. These are reputed to be the most ex- citing and realistic battles be- tween red and white men that the screen has ever recorded. The technicolorization of “Drums Along the Mohawk” has proved of tremendous value and the contrast between the natives re- pulsing the white man’s inva- sion is vividly pictured. Those who have seen the “rushes” in- sist that Technicolor never was used to greater advantage than it has so far on this production which co-stars Claudette Col- bert and Henry Fonda. '• “TYRUMS ALONG THE MO- AA HAWK” will be ready for the cutting and editing depart- ment early in September. How- ever, while some three months will have lapsed before it has been completed, preparations for its filming had been under way for several years. It was a best-selling novel in 1936 and attained such popularity that it was printed in several foreign languages, according to the publishers. A full month was devoted to the erection of the outdoor sets at Cedar City. • U PON the completion of “Drums Along the Mo- hawk,” Ford will settle down to preparing for this next assign- ment, the production of the screen version of John Stein- beck’s current best-seller, “The Grapes of Wrath.” Indications are that one of the starring roles in this sensational story will be played by Henry Fonda. Walter Brennan is set for an- other major role as is Beulah Bondi, one of the screen’s out- standing character actresses. Zanuck is negotiating for the services of other able players who will appear in this widely- discussed venture.