Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1916)

September 30, 1916 MOTION PICTURE NEWS 2043 Lasky ^^Joan of Arc'' Will Be Seen on Broadway (ieraldine Farrar Will Be the Star in Elaborate Production Directed by Cecil DeMille from a Scenario by Jeanie MacPherson — Picture to Be Released in Fall — Cast Includes Tully Marshall, Hobart Bosworth, Theodore Roberts, Charles Clary and James Neil A FILMED version of the story of " Joan of Arc," it was announced last week, has been completed under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, with Geraldine Farrar in the title-role. This production, which has held Miss Farrar's exclusive services for three months this summer, will be presented by Jesse L. Lasky this autumn. Tanned by the California sun and looking the picture of good health and vivacity. Miss Farrar returned to New York from Hollywood enthusiastic about " Joan " and of the belief that as a motion picture drama and spectacle, Mr. DeMille's latest production will rival or surpass anything that has heretofore been seen on the screen. Probably no theme of which a woman is the central figure in all the world's history is so well known or universally loved as the story of " Joan of Arc," the French peasant girl who aroused a sleeping nation to a frenzy of patriotism and won lasting freedom for France from the yoke of English rule. The scenario was written by Jeanie MacPherson. Miss Farrar was asked how she happened to select "Joan" as a character for the motion picture, never having played the role in grand opera. Miss Farrar said : " I believe the spirit and personality of Joan of Arc are more alive to-day than at any time during the past three centuries. She was the very symbol of freedom and the incarnation of hatred against political slavery and bigotry. For years I have had an ambition to sing Joan in some great opera based on the story of her life. When Mr. Lasky asked me last winter how I would like to do a picture production of Joan, I was delighted with the idea and enthusiastic for the opportunity. " There is something so very different about creating a role for the camera and creating a part for the opera. The two arts are not so closely allied as one would think. With the opera there are weeks of preparation to be sure, and then comes the premiere. It is true that great latitude is allowed on the operatic stage for the development of character and to the broadening of effects. " But after all the fundamentals of the performance continue the same in its various repetitions. The past summer has been a revelation to me. For nearly three months many hours every day and sometimes far into the night I have been living this role. Watch Story Develop into Big Production " We have all watched the story develop from an idea into a massive production. I think Mr. DeMille has done wonderful things, and I believe the scenario by Miss MacPherson to be a revelation to those who doubt that a long picture must rely on its spectacular features to the exclusion of its heart interest. " It is true that throughout this picture there are various extraordinary spectacles, such as the battle scenes in the siege of Or leans, but one never loses sight of the central figure, her hopes, her ambitions, her disappointments and her failures." The picture based on " Joan of Arc "' is Cecil B. DeMille Cecil B. DeMille's first attempt at a production of some length. As director-general of the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, he directed a number of five-reel fea ture plays for the Paramount Program, including the three photodramas in which Miss Farrar appeared at the Lasky studios a year ago. These were " Carmen," " Temptation " and " Maria Rosa." Mr. DeMille for months has been preparing the story of " Joan of Arc." Knowing the reverence in which " Joan " is held by the thousands who have studied and admire her character, Mr. DeMille has been particularly careful to adhere closely to history. It happens that the present day is particularly fortunate in having access to details of the life of Joan of Arc, as it is the only story, according to Mark Twain, of the human life which comes to us under oath, the only one which comes to us from the witness stand. The official records of the great trial of 1431, and the process of rehabilitation of a quarter of a century later, are still preserved in the national archives of France, and they furnish with remarkable fulness the facts of Joan of Arc. The cast which supports Miss Farrar was selected by Mr. DeMille and includes many well-known players of the screen, some of whom have starred on the screen in their own right. Prominent among these are Hobart Bosworth, who appears as the hero ; Theodore Roberts, Tully Marshall, Wallace Reid, Charles Clary, Horace B. Carpenter, James Neil, Mrs. Lewis McCord and others. Private Showing of " Common Law " on Sept. 22 at St. Regis Invitations Sent Out by Selznick for View of Clara Kimball Young Pictures in Ballroom of Famous N. Y. Hotel — Governor Whitman Guest of Honor WITH Governor Whitman and Mrs. Whitman as guests of honor, a private showing of Clara Kimball Young's production of " The Common Law " will be given Friday evening, September 22, in the ballroom of the Hotel St. Regis, Fifth avenue and Fifty-fifth street, New York. Only two hundred and twenty-five invitations have been issued by Miss Young and Lewis J. Selznick for this function. Those invited include the dramatic editors of all the New York daily papers, the editors and reviewers of the trade press and personal friends of the heads of the company. The picture will be shown in seven parts and afterwards a buffet supper will be served and Miss Young will receive the guests. Mr. Selznick has spared no effort or expense to put the production on the highest possible plane, even calling in Herbert Kaufman, to assist in the preparation of sub-titles. " At an all night session at the Solax studio last week the picture was found to be so perfect in continuity and pantomine as to require fewer sub-titles than any seven-reel production ever marketed," said Mr. Selznick. As every one knows, this is the highest possible compliment that could be paid the director." Doris Grey (Thanhouser) "AUTOMATIC" BULLDOG IS MASCOT OF OMAHA SCREEN CLUB The Omaha Screen Club, since the opening of the Movie Inn, holds almost daily meetings. Recently the exhibitors and exchangemen have been discussing another Screen Club dance. They have a mascot — a bull dog that growls, barks, wags its tail, but doesn't bite. It is automatic.