Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1922)

January 2 1, 1922 637 r Scene from “ Watch Your Step,” a forthcoming Goldwyn picture in which Cullen Landis has a leading role “Sailor-Made Man” Set Box-Office Records ) Harold Lloyd’s “A Sailor-Made Man” is proving to be his greatest box-office comedy, according to rej ports from various first-run theatres throughout the country, declares a statement received from the offices of Associated Exhibitors, which is releasing this production. John Hamrick of The Blue Mouse theatre, Portland, Ore., wired: “It is by far the best audience picture I have yet seen and predict it will establish a new boxoffice record for this town as each day tops preceding day.” Mr. Hamrick also stated it to be his plan to hold the comedy at the Blue Mouse for an indefinite run. “Harold Lloyd in ‘A SailorMade Man’ playing at the Pantages, Salt Lake, for the week of December 21st, broke all house records, and Pantages has had jsome mighty big weeks,” reads a wire from Salt Lake City, which also describes how the same piclure did more business for the Ogden theatre, Ogden, Utah, on Sunday and Monday, January 1st and 2nd, than any picture ever shown at the house in its career jof seven years. The Allen theatre and the Circle theatre in Cleveland played the comedy day and date during the week of January 1st, and both houses reported capacity business |at every performance, according to the Associated Exhibitors’ statement. The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the News were lavish in their praise of the attraction. English Royalty View Educational Film A cable was received from London a few days ago by E. W. Hammons, president of Educational Film Exchanges, Inc., stating that Lyman PI. Howe’s “ Famous Ride on a Runaway Train,” the singlereel thriller that has proved so popular in this country, was shown before the King and Queen and all the Royal Family. The showing took place in Buckingham Palace, London. Five hundred guests and servants of the Royal Family attended the entertainment. The picture, according to the cable, was “ immensely enjoyed.” To Confer on “U” Productions Following the opening of “ Foolish Wives ” at the Central theatre, New York, this week, Carl Laemmle, president of Universal Film, accompanied by Julius Stern, president of Century Film Corporation and second vicepresident of Universal Film, will leave the East for the Coast where both executives will confer on the 1922 campaign of big productions for Universal. These plans, says a statement from Century Film headquarters, will be quite apart from the expansion that Mr. Stern has in mind for the Century comedies. The Century Film statement describing Mr. Stern’s activities and policies follows : “ Julius Stern who is well known in the film business as an efficiency expert of keen ability was summoned East from his duties as Laemmle’s personal representative at Universal City to superintend the speedy preparation of “ Foolish Wives ” for the screen. During the two months when he was in command of the West Coast Universal studios Stern not only economized on the spending of money but also on the spending of time. There was no detail he omitted to bring under his personal attention. He kept an ‘ open office ’ so that any one who wished might come in and tell him the difficulties he was laboring under or the increase of speed and efficiency that particular man might show if conditions were a little different. If the conditions warranted it, Stern saw to it that they became ‘ a little different.’ Meantime he was sizing up the whole situation and making schedule which went toward increasing Laemmle and Stern to Plan 1922 Campaign of Big Pictures speed in production and decreasing expense. “ After he had put in ten hours or more a day listening, advising and observing he would sit in the projection room looking at the day^s ‘ rushes ’ of the different directors. Stern claims, and rightly so, that by looking at the day’s ‘ rushes,’ defects may be corrected in time which if carried through a picture would perhaps entirely jeopardize its success. The next morning there would be a series of notes for directors and camera men — and before Stern left for New York there were quite a few new camera men, by the way. “ One of his theories is that while beautiful photography alone will not make a good picture, and the director and camera man who let themselves be carried away by a craving to take beautiful shots are certainly wasting both the time and the money of the firm which employs them yet a picture which has a good plot and poor photography is even more certain of failure. Well balanced work between director and camera man is an absolute necessity and to make sure of this co-operation and to save loss due to poorly balanced pictures the inspection of the daily ‘ rushes ’ by some one who has the time to criticize and to offer suggestions is a vital necessity. “ Stern engaged House Peters and Virginia Valli for Universal and as an example of how he utilizes every moment of his time may be mentioned that the ten minutes he had left while waiting for his train East in the station, he employed in laying the foundations and practically arranging the engagement of Matt Moore for one of the principal parts in ‘ The Storm ’ which Universal is about to produce shortly in screen form. “ While he was on the train coming to New York to supervise ‘ Foolish Wives,’ he telegraphed ahead to every town where there was a Universal exchange manager to meet him, whether the train stopped for one minute or longer, and let him speak to him or give him some notes about ‘ Foolish Wives.’ At Kansas City he stopped for half an hour, and one of the men who came to meet the train had to drive nine miles from his home, but was glad to do it at Stem’s request. At Chicago he spent two hours at the exchange with I. R. Lesserman the manager, in conference. “ Stern, beside being tireless and having a passion for efficiency also believes in turning back into the production end a large percentage of profits for mechanical improvements. His own Century studios at Hollywood are admitted to be the most elaborately equipped in the way of comedy trick scenery, flies, specially designed runways for animals, cycloramas, traps, disappearing walls and doors of any in the country. He is expected to introduce some radical improvements and is a valuable addition to the Universal forces.” “White Hands” Opens in ’Frisco “w HITE FIANDS,” the Max Graf Production of C. Gardner Sullivan’s story, a Wid Gunning release starring Hobart Bosworth, was given a pre-release showing at the opening of the new Granada theatre, in San Francisco, on Monday, January 9, before a distinguished audience, which included city officials and leading citizens. A wire received at the Wid Gunning home offices, immediately after the opening, told briefly of the tremendous reception which was given the latest of Bosworth’s appearances on the screen. The occasion, according to this information from a special representative of the Gunning organization, took on a triple significance. First, it marked the opening of the Granada theatre, a beautiful new three-thousand seat first-run house, said to be on a par with the finest motion-picture theatre in the country. Second, it marked the first public showing of a picture which had aroused the greatest stir because of its plot and production. But the greatest interest for the San Francisco audience which cheered the picture at its close was the fact that it is the first picture ever made at the mignificent new studios at San Mateo, near San Francisco, which were erected by business men of that city anxious to induce producers to settle permanently there. Mr. Graf was the Wid Gunning Feature Crowds Granada at Premiere first producer invited to take advantage of the elaborate and upto-date equipment installed there. The Granada was jammed at the opening, according to the report received. Every one of the 3,000 seats was taken, and standing room was at a premium. Prominent business men, office-holders, well-known society members were present among the thousands of San Francisco movie fans who attended the opening. “ ‘White Hands’ opened to tremendous business and big audience success,” read the wire from the Gunning representative in San Francisco. The San Francisco newspapers, according to the brief excerpts available, were unanimous in hailing “White Hands” as a powerful picture of adventure and romance, one of the best vehicles Hobart Bosworth has ever had. “Throbbing intensity. Dynamic and powerful,” said the San Francisco Call. “Strikingly effective picture. Is a thriller,” was the comment of the San Francisco Journal. “Thrills in plenty. Excellent picture.”— San Francisco Chronicle. “Dramatic power. Strong, direct story,” said the Examiner. Bosworth’s work as “Hurricane” Hardy, a two-fisted sea-captain, won especially high praise from all those who attended the opening. It was said that “White Hands” gave the star the most dramatic opportunity he has ever had. The thrills which the critics all commented on include the killing of a man by sharks and an amazing fight in which Bosworth bests an entire band of Arabs. The settings of the picture astonished the audience by their Oriental beauty, as it was known that the whole production had been made in a suburb of San Francisco. Much of the action of the story takes place on the edge of the Sahara, and the desert scenes were effective and realistic. An entire Algerian village, including native dance-halls, cafes and homes, was constructed and served as a colorful background for a swift-moving story. Campaign Books Issued on Hodkinson Film Advance copies of the exhibitors’ campaign book on “Cameron of the Royal Mounted” were mailed to first-run accounts during the past week. The book is in twelve pages and is issued with two broadside supplements, a four-page advertising layout and a single broadside news service sheet.