The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Nov-Dec 1922)

December 16, 1922. THREE NEW FILMS FROM SWEDEN. HREE of the big Swedish Biograph films produced this i have now arrived in this country and being edited for British tastes. They include Victor Seastrom’s production, ‘‘ Honour,’’ with Meggie Albanesi and Seastrom himself in the cast, and Mauritz Stiller’s Lapland picture, “ Snowbound,’? which contains one of the biggest physical thrills ever seen in a film, The third film has not yet been titled. * Honour’? is an English story from the pen of Picrre Frondai, and Seastrom is said to have reproduced the English atmosphere and characterisation with wonderful fidelity—a fine achievement for a foreign producer, ““ Snowbound "’ has some wonderful pictures of a stampede of three thousand reindcer, as a result of which one of the actors was dragged by the leader of the herd for a tremendous distance and badly injured. These pictures will show us an entirely new type of Swedish film in which, although the fine technical quality and acting— for which Swedish Biograph productions have deservedly achieved a wonderful reputation—are preserved, the tempo of the story has been speeded up to make a greater appeal to British audiences. Seastrom’s other summer production, in which Matheson Lang played lead, has not yet arrived here, for the reason that Seastrom exposed over 100,000 feet of negative, and the final work of assembling is not yet completed. Owing to the brevity of the Swedish summer and the impossibility of filming ‘‘ exteriors "’ in Scandinavia at any other ‘season of the year, the Swedish Biograph producers have to work to a close schedule of actual production in the summer months which does not allow any time for them to cut and assemble their films till the autumn. That they are able to do ‘so, and still present finished works of art and story-telling, is a remarkable tribute to the pe~fection of the continuity of the scenarios from which they work. If the scenarios were not perfect, they might subsequently find an important and implacable link in the. story missing. Both Seastrom and Stiller prepare their own continuities. summer are COLONIAL CRITIC’S PRAISE OF AN “IDEAL” FILM. «Drama as a Relief to Drivel.” 66 N sober, and sincere reflection, I do not think I have even scen a much finer film in Cape Town—or anywhere clse for that matter—than ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ the British Film adapted from the play of Oscar Wilde which was shown at the Alhambra during the first three nights of this week. I had not been watching this picture ten minutes before I realised, in a flash, that here, before me, was a superb example of ‘drama as a_relief to drivel "—to coin a phrase from the article of a well-known kinema critic I had And when I say that, I mean it—from every point of view. For not only was there real tragedy, real beauty, or, in a word, real life in the story of this film, but the people who acted; in it acted as if they knew something of real tragedy, real beauty, and real life. And whoever produced it (Mr. Denison Clift, if I remember rightly) artist enough, human enough to be content with He made no attempt to polish things up by latest whim = in He concerned just been reading. was wise enough, these things. showing us the latest in motor-ears, the fashionable feasting, or anything of that kind. himself only with—life.”’ —From the ‘Cape Argus.” Digitized by Go gle THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. 49 FAMOUS YORKSHIRE HISTORICAL PLACES FILMED. Lord Mayor of Leeds Speaks of the Importance of Such Pictures as ‘‘ The Virgin Queen.”’ STUART BLACKTON was given a hearty personal J. reception last week when he went to Leeds and York to film historical landmarks in those places for scenes in ‘‘ The Virgin Queen,’’ which in the film story of Elizabethan days were laid in those ancient centres. Some of the crucial incidents of the film drama take place in and around Temple Newsam at Leeds and near the old Roman wall at York. Mr. H. W. Thompson, of the Rose Film Company, who lives at Leeds, gave a luncheon in honour of Mr. Blackton at Temple Newsam, which was attended by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress and a number of prominent members of the Leeds City Council, including Alderman Charles H. Wilson, J.P. The Lord Mayor made a speech weleoming Mr. Blackton, and laying stress on the importance of such films as ‘‘ The Virgin Queen,’’ which have a large educational as well as entertainment value. He dwelt on the historical fact that Temple Newsam was the home of the Countess of Lennox, that her son, Lord Darnley, was born there, and that there was hatched the plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and place Lord Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots, after their marriage, on the throne of the united England and Scotland. This plot stands out prominently in the film story. During the day Mr. Blackton’s cameraman took a film of the party, which will.be shown in Leeds and surrounding territory at the time of the presentation of ‘‘ The Virgin Queen,”’ and will be of special interest to Yorkshire audiences. The Yorkshire scenes taken by Mr. Blackton for *‘ The Virgin Queen ”’ were the final ones made for this big production. The film is now being edited, assembled and titled, and will be shown early in the New Year. On the steps of the historic Temple Newsam, at Leeds : The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Leeds (front centre), Ald. Charles H. Wilson, J.P. (left front), J. Stuart Blackton (rear centre), on his right Mr. H. W. Thompson, of the Rose Film Company. Original from NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY