The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

346 The Theatrical Field The Educational Screen Silence for a space of minutes, while the actors looked sheepish, and the director recovered his good humor. Then they did it all over again, this time without mistakes. But that was not the end; it was not until they did it for perhaps the dozenth time that the director set on it his seal of partial approval with, "All right. Lunch!" In a second every electrician had slid down from his perch and disappeared. Assistants, technical directors, musicians, actors were gone; Brennon was gone; the place was suddenly dead. I wandered slowly off the set, stumbling over workmen who were munching in dark corners, and getting mixed up in the line that was forming in front of the hot-dog wagon. I was wondering whether, after all, we really appreciate the amount of labor involved in a motion picture when we sit comfortably m the theatre and watch it. Here was a whole morning gone, and not a foot of film to show for it; perhaps it would be all afternoon, too, before the scene was finally shot. Yet I had seen only a very few parts of the big puzzle that is a picture in the making, put together in logical form. Production Notes Costume pictures are promised in full measure for the coming season. Mary Pickford's Spanish "Rosita," directed by Ernst Lubitsch, opens in New York this month. In addition there are Norma Talmadge's elaborate French drama, "Ashes of Vengeance," Constance Talmadge's "The Dangerous Maid," Goldwyn's production of "In the Palace of the King," Rex Ingram's "Scaramouche," Paramount's "The Spanish Dancer," Charles Ray's "Courtship of Miles Standish," Universal's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and even other important ones to follow later. The comedians, too, have fallen victims to the costume epidemic. Buster Keaton is following his "Three Ages" with "Hospitality," a parody on the days of the first railroad train; and Lloyd Hamilton burlesques the Pilgrim fathers in "The Optimist." Associated First National productions now being edited include "The Bad man," with Holbrook Blinn, "Thundergate," a Chinese story with Owen Moore and an all-star cast, and Cynthia Stockley's "Ponjola," with Anna Q. Nilsson and James Kirkwood. In the making for the same company are Maurice Tourneur's "Jealous Fools," "Flaming Youth" by Warner Fabian, "Her Temporary Husband," and "The Swamp Angel." Frank Lloyd is to direct Gertrude Atherton's famous "Black Oxen," with Corinne Griffith in the part of Madame Zattiany. Charles Chaplin has made his first picture for United Artists, "A Woman of Paris," starring Edna Purviance. This is the comedian's first serious drama, and it is said by those who have seen it to mark a distinct departure from old methods of directing. Mr. Chaplin does not appear in the picture himself. Fox pictures in prospect include "The Lone Star Ranger," and "A Flyin' Fool," with Tom Mix, "The Best Man Wins," with William Russell, "A Man," with Dustin Farnum, "Second Hand Love," "You Can't Get Away With It," and "The Temple of Venus." King Vidor is to make "Gulliver's Travels" for Goldwyn, according to a recent announcement. It will be produced on an elaborate scale. "Greed," the von Stroheim picture, will be released in October, Joseph Hergesheimer's "Wild Oranges" is just starting under King Vidor, and Rupert Hughes is at work on "Law Against Law," his own story dealing with the divorce evil. Other Goldwyn pictures now finished are Marshall Neilan's "The Rendezvous," and his original story, "The Eternal Three," "Red Lights," directed by Clarence Badger, "Six Days," an Elinor Glyn story directed by Charles Brabin, and Hall Caine's "The Master of Man," by the Swedish director, Victor Seastrom. "Anna Christie," the famous play by Eugene O'Neill, is being filmed by Thomas H. Ince under direction of John Griffith Wray, with Blanche Sweet in the title part. George Marion plays the part he originated on the stage, and William Russell plays Matt Burke. Metro pictures in production are "Held to Answer," "In Search of a Thrill," starring Viola Dana, and an Allen Holubar production, "The Human Mill;" Jackie Coogan's production of Mary Roberts Rinehart's "Long Live the King" has been finished and is being edited for release in October. Victor Schertzinger, who directed it, is to make an original story, "The Man Whom Life Passed By." George Ade has written "Woman Proof" for Thomas Meighan, and will assist in the making. It will be directed by Alfred Green.