Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1937)

September 25, 19 3 7 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 27 THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE Retakes Second only to the problem of womanless pictures, Hollywood's most fearsome bugaboo is "retakes." As a matter of fact, the retake is a menace. Retakes have done more to ruin pictures than all other contributory causes together. Poor photography, bad recording, and any number of other causes make them imperative. Some time ago Greta Garbo made a picture in which she repeated a sequence 62 times. The shooting of a sequence in "Under Two Flags," where Ronald Colman handed Rosalind Russell a small statue of a horse, required more than 30 takes before Director Frank Lloyd was satisfied. The other day we watched Cecil B. DeMille shoot a sequence in "Buccaneer" at least 10 or 12 times. All of these, however, were made when the actors were in the mood of the characters they were playing. The troublesome ones are those that are made after the picture is completed and, as is often the case, weeks have elapsed before the players are recalled to repeat their dialogue and action. Expert opinion desired, we sought out Edward H. Griffith, who has a reputation for holding post-completion retakes to a minimum. Explaining that sometimes producers, in order to keep within the budget or shooting schedules, permit scenes to be made which they know full well will have to be remade after the picture has been completed, Mr. Griffith said, "If, when retakes are necessary, the entire sequence in which the remade scene appears could be retaken, then the evil of retakes would be eliminated. While a picture is being filmed, actors, guided by their director, attain characterization and tempo and build to a high point in the succeeding sequences. If they are good actors and directors, they know the story and have a feeling for the particular situation which causes them actually to live it. By the time they have reached the high point of any given sequence, the actors are actually the characters, and not so many 'Joe Somebodys making $7,000 a week.' " But the protection shots are made, the picture is finished and the actors go about their ways, probably into other pictures, in which the characterizations are utterly different. Then it is discovered, and quite often it would have been preventable, that some detached incident has' to be retaken. "Then," says Mr. Griffith, "the actors are called back. No matter how competent they may be, they are not able to reach that high point they once before had attained as they repeat the required bit. Were the practice of shooting the entire sequence followed, things might be better. For then it might be possible for the people to regain the spirit they possessed during the original filming." Studios Normal For several years it has been Hollywood's custom to have approximately 45 pictures in production each week in September. That pace was maintained in the period ended September 17th. Eleven new films started, a figure close to that of the September 3rd period when 12 started, and that of September 10th when 15 went into work. As of the same date, seven productions were finished. Three films started at MGM. All promise to TONS OF KANAB FOR HOLLYWOOD Hollywood, which is more Chinese than China, Italian than Italy, Dutch than Holland, and so on ad infinitum, isn't as Kanab as Kanab, Utah. But the discrepancy is being rectified. On lot 2 of MGM is a heaping pile of dirt that looks like any other kind of dirt. Now there are all sorts of reasons for any kind of a pile of dirt being on any particular spot. But there's a particular reason for this pile. It's there so there will be authentic realism in "Bad Man of Brimstone". Bent on authenticity, also to preclude the possibility of anyone claiming a "boner" in the film, producer Harry Rapf discovered a difference in color of the soil on the lot and that of the soil in Kanab, where the company had been on a three weeks location. The difference in tinting, according to Mr. Rapf, was very noticeable when photographed. Thus, to preserve unity in color, he ordered 250 tons of Kanab dirt to be spread and hardened as ground for the local shots. be in the big feature classification. "Bad Man of Brimstone," which J. Walter Ruben is directing, features Wallace Beery, Noah Beery, Virginia Bruce and Guinn Williams, along with Lewis Stone, Bruce Cabot, Dennis O'Keefe, Joseph Calleia, Guy Kibbe, Charley Grapewin and Cliff Edwards. Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy are the stars of "Mannequin." The support includes Alan Curtis, Leo Gorcey, Oscar O'Shea, Mary Phillips and Ralph Morgan. Frank Borzage is directing. "The Four Marys" will present Myrna Loy, Franchot Tone, Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson, Ruth Hussy, Leonard Penn and John Miljan. Richard Thorpe was assigned to direct. "Big Broadcast" Started Under its own sponsorship Paramount started "The Big Broadcast of 1938." The annual feature will mark W. C. Fields' return to the screen after an 18-months absence. Listed among the artists also scheduled to appear are Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, Ben Blue, Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, Leif Ericson, Kersten Flagstad, Tito Guizar, Stanley Fields and Rufe Davis. Mitchell Leisen is directing. "Every Day's a Holiday," Major production, also went before the cameras. It is a Mae West feature. Other players are Edmund Lowe, Charles Winniger, Charles Butterworth, Walter Catlett and Rqger Imhof. More will be added. Edward Sutherland is the director. Republic started two. With Joseph Kane directing, "Springtime in the Rockies" will feature Gene Autry, Smiley Buraette, Polly Rowles, Alan Bridge, George Chesebro, Ruth Bacon, Jane Hunt and Ula Love. The cast for "Zorro Rides Again" includes John Carroll, Richard Alexander, Jack Morgan, Bob Kortmann, Roger Williams and Yakima Canutt. Jack English and William Whitney are sharing directorial responsibilities. Columbia's contribution to the new work is "College Follies of 1938." The lengthy cast includes Walter Connolly, Jimmy Durante, Gertrude Neissen, Johnny Green and band, the Three Stooges, Jeni LeGon and Four Blackbirds, Raymond Walburn, Ernest Truex. At 20th Century-Fox, "Love and Hisses," successor to "Wake Up and Live," started. Walter Winchell and Ben Bernie again are teamed. Other principals are Simone Simon, Joan Davis, Dick Baldwin, Wally Veron, the Peters Sisters and Chilton & Vernon. Sidney Lanfield is the director. "Highway to Hell" is RKO-Radio's new activity. It will offer John Beal, Sally Eilers, Harry Carey, Lee Patrick, Frank M. Thomas, Ed Gargan, Paul Guilfoyle and Herman Brix as the leading names. Lew Landers is directing. Mauch Twins Return The Mauch twins, Billy and Bobby, return to the screen for Warner in "Penrod and His Twin Brother." Spring Byington, Frank Craven, little Don Hurlbert, Phillip Hurlick, Rodney Bitts and Jack Morrow also will be seen. William McGann is directing. Two of the completed pictures are credited to Grand National. The David Diamond production, "He Wanted to Marry," which Raymond Cannon directed, features Wallace Ford, Ray Mayer, Isabel Jewell, Mary Treen, Tully Richards and Max Hoffman, Jr. Principal players in "Mr. Boggs Buys a Barrel," produced by Ben Pivar and directed by Gordon Wiles, are Stuart Erwin, Helen Chandler, Toby Wing, Walter Byron, Spencer Charters and Milburn Stone. Paramount also marked two productions off its shooting schedule. Important names in "Thrill of a Lifetime" are the Yacht Club Boys, Judy Canova, Ben Blue, Betty Grable, Eleanore Whitney, Johnny Downs, Leif Erikson, Larry Crabbe and Dorothy Lamour. George Archainbaud directed the Fanchon production. "Men Must Fight," a Harry Sherman "Hopalong Cassidy" production, lists William Boyd, George Hayes, Russell Hayden, Gwen Gaze, Hilda Plowright, John Warburton, Al Bridge, Al Hill, Earl Hodgin and John Beach. Les Selander directed. Finally deciding to retain the original title, Warner Bros, finished "Tovarich." Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer are starred. The support lists Basil Rathbone, Melville Cooper, Isabelle Jeans, Anita Louise, Maurice Murphy, Morris Carnovsky, Gregory Gaye, Fritz Feld, Vladimir Sokoloff, Kurt Bois, Christian Rub, Reine Riano, Montagu Love, George Davis, May Boley, Alphonse Martel and Heather Thatcher. Anatole Litvak directed. One picture, Jane Withers' "45 Fathers," was finished at Twentieth Century-Fox. Its supporting principals are Shirley Deane, Thomas Beck, Louise Henry, Richard Carle, Joe and Flo McCoy and Nella Walker. James Tingling directed. Universal wound up "Renegade Wranglers." The cast includes Bob Baker, Joan Barclay, Fuzzy Knight, Carl Slockdale, Harry Woods. Leroy Mason, Ralph L^wis, Glenn Strange and Jack Montgomery. Joe Lewis directed.