Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 22, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 267 DE MILLE BARS PREVIEW OF HIS PICTURE “King of Kings” to Reach the Public at New Coast Theatre Director Refuses to Permit Newspapermen or Others to See Great Production “Cold” — Lacking Proper Atmosphere — He’ll Sail for Europe After Opening CECIL B. DE MILLE violates another Hollywood tradition by refusing to submit “The King of Kings” to a preview audience. We learned at his Culver City Studios this week that no one in the profession or the newspaper world will be able to view his biblical screen story until it is projected on the screen of Grauman’s new Chinese Theatre on St. Patrick’s Day. De Mille firmly believes that so spectacular a picture should not be flashed cold upon an audience preceded or proceeded by the regular theatre program of comedies and news reels. It is the ambition of Mr. De Mille to have “The King of Kings” be the only attraction in the theatre where it is shown. Thus this picture will be one of the first made in the studios out here not to have been previewed by a local audience. Hal Roach Is Still Searching for Theatre Site While Hal Roach is spending this week-end in San Francisco, ostensibly to play polo, we learned at his studios that the purpose of this visit is also to look over another site for a short subject theatre. Inquiry develops the fact that should Roach select a San Francisco site, it would mean the commencement of a chain of short subject theatres. As we recorded last week, Roach has abandoned, one of two sites he had in mind for a theatre of this kind in Los Angeles. He has practically made up his mind, we are assured, to accept the second site here. Dorothy Mackaill with First National An impression out here that Dorothy Mackaill was about to sever her relations with First National was corrected this week when it became known at the studios that Miss Mackaill will probably start work on a production within two weeks. It was admitted at the studios that Miss Mackaill did not consider “The Ball and Chain” a story suitable for her type and that she would be given another vehicle, the title of which could not be learned. World Office in Ar buckle Picture Roscoe Arbuckle and Eddie Cantor attracted a crowd of several hundreds in front of Moving Picture World’s West Coast headquarters the other day. Arbuckle is directing Cantor in his Paramount release “Special Delivery.” The gathering of the crowd was occasioned by using the front of this building in a sequence in this picture. Estelle's Not in “Too Many Crooks ” A change in plans it is said results in Estelle Taylor not playing in Mildred Dayis’s Paramount picture “Too Many Crooks,” as was previously announced. According to word from John Considine at the United Artists, with which company she is under contract, Miss Taylor will play a featured role in a picture in a United Artists production based upon an original story. Look-A Here Sally Phipps, Fox prodigy, is a 1927 W ampas star and much is expected from her. Irving Cummings with Warner Bros. Instead of going with MetroGoldwyn-Mayer or First National as was reported possible after his sudden leavetaking from the Fox lot, Irving Cummings has become allied with the Warner Studio. He will direct Monte Blue’s next vehicle “The Brute.” This goes into production within the next two weeks. Sam Wood Called “The Busiest Man 99 Between associate producing at Film Booking Offices and directing “Red, White and Blue” on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot, Sam Wood is the busiest man in Hollywood these days. It seems that Wood had contracted to direct this picture before gaining his executive position at the Film Booking Offices Studios. “ Poodles ” Now with Educational Poodles Hanneford, clown comedian, starts next week at the Educational Studios in the first comedy which he has made for that corporation lor twfa years. Hanneford's contract calls for his making two pictures for the Mermaid unit of Educational. Immediately upon the close of this World's Premiere, Mr. De Mille plans to sail for Europe for a much needed rest of several months. Actual “shooting” on this picture will not be completed, according to present indications, until January 24. This will record actual camera work on “The King of Kings” for a period of five months, since grinding started on August 24. The next two weeks will be devoted to a few final shots in photographic work when the hundreds of reels of film exposed to beautiful sets and effects during the past five months will be submitted to the film, editor who will then have the task of reducing it to what is now planned to be a maximum of fifteen reels — the longest picture ever produced. The difficult task of titling the picture will also take place at this time so that “The King of Kings” has yet to undergo one of its busiest periods before it will be ready for presentation before the Hollywood public. It Took a Year Five months, however, was not the time it took to. make “The King of Kings.” Fully a year prior to the commencement of camera work was devoted by Jeanie MacPherson to preparing the script and by De Mille’s research department. It is now learned that it was the intention of De Mille at the outset before actual production work was started to spend $2,000,000 on this picture. With this work drawing to its close, we are assured that the budget in this respect has been exhausted but that every dollar has gone into the production, since production work progressed with unusual smoothness and no money was lost by unforseen delays or accidents which so often add considerably to the production cost of pictures of such magnitude. An, Indefinite Run “The King of Kings” will have an indefinite run at the Chinese Theatre here. In fact it is known to be the ambition of Sid Grauman to keep this super-attraction as his box office headline for no less than two years. A run of this duration might be possible if Grauman is able to attract motorists throughout entire Southern California. His ability as a showman proved to Grauman the fact that he could bring fans within a radius of fifty miles to his Egyptian Theatre. Thus there is little circumspection out here that he will not be able to retain this biblical spectacle as a box office success for at least a year. Shortly after the World’s Premiere of “The King of Kings,” the picture is now scheduled to open up in a dozen key cities. Not until the Fall of 1927 is it planned to roadshow this super-special. Exploiting a theme of this kind, it was pointed out to us this week, is especially difficult and necessitates more than an ordinary understanding of the picture and the Bible. It (Continued on page 268) ‘‘King Of Kings 99 Sets New Precedent