Moving Picture World (Sep-Oct 1925)

September 5, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 75 Two of First National’s floats in the parade which ushered in the Greater Movie Season in Los Angeles, Fox Has Nineteen Pictures Ready for Next Season WITH the new season just getting under way, William Fox has already completed nineteen supreme attractions and has several more in the course of production at the West Coast Studios. Five of the nineteen — -“The Iron Horse,” “As No Man Has Loved,” “The Fool,” “Lightnin’,” and “The Lucky Horseshoe”— have already had successful advance presentations on Broadway and other places. John Ford heads the list of directors, with five completed productions. “The Iron Horse” is the romantic story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad: "Lightnin”’ is the first of the John Golden plays brought to the screen. Warners to Produce Stage Plays Warner Brothers are planning to invade the play producing field and with that object in view are buying the dramatic rights to many of the novels and plays now being purchased for next season’s schedule. In fact H. M. Warner is quoted this week as stating that his company’s plans for invading Broadway were so far advanced that within the next few weeks he will have engaged a stage director of national prominence, who will begin casting for two plays that will be produced before the holidays. The first two stories being considered for stage production are “The Woman Tamer” by Stanley Shaw and “The Florentine Dagger,” a mystery story by Ben Hecht. “Bitter Apples,” a recent novel by Harold McGrath, which has just been bought by the Warners, is another novel being considered for stage purposes. In addition Mr. Ford has completed “Kentucky Pride,” a racing drama of the Blue Grass country with Henry B. Walthall, Gertrude Astor and J. Farrell MacDonald ; “Thank You,” another Golden success, with Alec Francis, George O’Brien and Jacqueline Logan in the principal roles, and “The Fighting Heart,” with George O’Brien as the fighting Main Street youth and Billie Dove as his country sweetheart. Victor Schertzinger has completed “The Wheel,” with Harrison Ford, Claire Adams and Mahlon Hamilton. It has more punch and drama than the original John Golden play. Schertzinger has done even better with “Thunder Mountain,” taken from another Golden success, “Howdy Folks.” Alec Francis, Madge Bellamy and Leslie Fenton are in the cast. Frank Borzage’s first Fox picture, “Lazybones” is a corker, according to reports from the Fox lot. Charles (Buck) Jones does the finest acting of his career in this one. Madge Bellamy, Leslie Fenton, Zasu Pitts and Jane Novak are in the cast. Borzage is getting ready to do “The First Year,” one of John Golden’s greatest stage hits. Rowland V. Lee, with “Havoc” and “As No Man Has Loved” to his credit, is at Catalina Island doing location stuff for “The Silver Treasure.” George O’Brien, Lou Tellengen and Hedda Hopper are in the cast. This one is adapted from Joseph Conrad’s great novel, “Nostromo.” It is a colorful, redblooded South American story. O’Brien is a romantic two-fisted cargodore, and Tellegen is the villain. John Griffith Wray is cutting “The Winding Stair,” from A. E. W. Mason’s novel. It is a turbulent, colorful tale of Morocco with Edmund Lowe, Alma Rubens and Mahlon Hamilton doing the honors. It is the consensus of studio opinion that Emmett Flynn’s version of “East Lynne” is the greatest melodrama ever put on the screen. And it should be. Look at this cast — Alma Rubens, Edmund Lowe, Lou Tellegen, Frank Keenan, Belle Bennett, Marjorie Daw and Leslie Fenton. Reginald Barker has just finished his in itial picture for William Fox. It is “When the Door Opened,” a thrilling story of the north by James Oliver Curwood. Barker got his reputation making these outdoor pictures. The cast includes Jacqueline Logan, Walter McGrail, Margaret Livingston, Frank Keenan and Robert Cain. Scenes of startling beauty and remarkable sympolism are being filmed by Henry Otto for the sea fantasy, “The Ancient Mariner,” based on Coleridge’s poem. With “The Lucky Horseshoe,” his , first picture of the season, already on Broadway, Tom Mix has gone to work on the screen version of Katharine Fullerton Gerould’s novel, “The Conquistador,” in Yellowstone Park. He has also completed “The Everlasting Whisper,” based on Jackson Gregory’s novel of that name. Buck Jones has just completed his work in “A Man Four Square,” based on William MacLeod Raine’s novel. He had previously completed “The Timber Wolf” by Jackson Gregory and “Durand of the Band Lands” by Maibelle Heikes Justice. HAIL 18 THEY’RE MAKIN Q MONEY FOR EVERYBODY