The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

November 14, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 129 De Mille and Metropolitan Studios Merge; Extensive Program Planned As a preliminary step to a most extensive program for the 1926-27 season, official announcement has just been made of the consolidation of the Cecil De Mille Studio at Culver City and the Metropolitan Studio in Hollywood with the production activities and the officers of both studios unified under Cecil B. De Mille. Plans for this amalgamation which have been under discussion for some time, were perfected this week upon the arrival in Los Angeles of John C. Flinn, general manager of Producers Distributing Corporation, and president of Metropolitan Pictures Corporation. The consolidation brings under Cecil De Mille's general supervision a program of between forty and fifty features to be released during the 1926-27 season by Producers Distributing Corporation. William Sistrom, general manager of the Metropolitan Studios, will assume the general management of the consolidated organization. The appointment of Sistrom to this position will allovt De Mille greater freedom for concentration on his personally directed independent pictures, the second of which will be "The Volga Boatman" on which De Mille is . planning to start immediately. Fred Kley, heretofore general manager of the De Atille Studio, has been apointed personal representative of De Mille, in the field of distribution and will divide his time between Los Angeles and New York. Kley's wide acquaintance in all branches of the industry qualifies him exceptionally for this work. The executive committee of Metropolitan Pictures Corporation consisting of Messrs. Charles and Al Christie and John C. Flinn, will extend its business supervision to embrace all the activities of the combined studios. Under the plans of the consolidation, Cecil De Mille's name will be withdrawn from all productions excepting those which he personally directs, as soon as the 1925-26 schedule of pictures is completed. This arrangement will eliminate the confusion in the public mind caused by De Mille's name appearing on both productions made under his supervision and those made under his personal direction. De Mille's present plans call for three massive personally directed productions. These will carry his name exclusively and all other productions made at either studio will be known as Metropolitan Pictures. With between forty and fifty productions planned for production under the unification of the two studios, as compared with this year's total of twenty-nine pictures from Metropolitan and De Mille, an increase of approximately eighty per cent in output is in dicated for the 1926-27 season. Under the Dresent 1925-26 schedule, seventeen productions are listed to come from the Metropolitan Studios and twelve from the De Mille Studio, with contributions from Christie, Neilan, Stromberg and Sebastian bringing the total to thirty-seven productions on Producers Distributing Corporation program. The consolidation of the facilities and the executive control of the De Mille and the Metropolitan Studios marks another interesting development in the rapid and progressive affairs of Producers Distributing Corporation since its reorganization on January 1, 1924, In less than two years this organization has come from a standing start and a position in the background of the indusrty to a place among the foremost releasing companies. In January of this year, Cecil De Mille acquired a large interest in Producers Distributing Corporation and this resulted in producing affiliations that gave the company the highest grade of product. Only a few months ago, Metropolitan Pictures Corporation was formed and the Hollywood Studios acquired for the production of Metropolitan Pictures, George Melford and Frances Marion Productions for release through Producers Distributing Corporation. These productions augmenting the features from Al Christie, A. H. Sebastian, and Marshall Neilan, placed Producers Distributing Corporation in a powerful position in the independent field; and now under the consolidation of two great producing plants this position is made still more dominant. 1. E. Chadwick Returning from Busy Coast -to-Coast Trip WITH the current season having reached the halfway mark, Chadwick Pictures Corporation finds itself with nine of its scheduled features already released, two in production, almost completed, and the remainder following very closely, one after the other, within the final two months of the year. The distributed pictures have met with nation-wide success and the exhibitors are clamoring for more. I. E. Chadwick, president of the Chadwick Pictures Corporation, the Merit Film Exchange, and the Independent Producers Association, is returning this week from Hollywood and his coast to coast trip, during which he witnessed and supervised production activities of his producing units in Hollywood and thoroughly surveyed the field of independent distribution and exhibition has placed his successes in the independent market and is bringing the latest completed production, "The Count of Luxembourg,'' with an all-star cast making it one of the finest pictures made by the company George Walsh has the title role. The West Coast force at present are working on "The Transcontinental Limited," a railroad romance guaranteed by its prize cast to be one of the most interesting pictures in many years. Johnnie Walker, Mat) Carr, Eugenie Gilbert and Alec Francis have roles of importance, and the successful work of these stars in the past points to an unusually fine film. "The Bells," starring Lionel Barrymore: "Winning the Futurity," and the remainder of the George Walsh series, will close a year of hard work for Mr. Chadwick and his co-workers. in the key-cities of the country. Chadwick |IIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII^ I "Do Clothes Make the WomanZ" R B. O. i Picture Starring Mrs. Rudolph Valentino WILLIAM SISTRORM Who assumes the general managemcnt of consolidated P. D. C. units. DO CLOTHES MAKE THE WOMAN?" has been selected as the title of the picture which F. B. O. will produce in the East, starring Mr«. „ Rudolph Valentino, professionally known as Natacha Rambova. 1 Harry O. Hoyt, who will direct with Daniel Carson Goodman, under whose I personal supervision the film will be produced, is at work on the continuity. Mrs. | 1 Valentino sailed on Election Day from Cherbourg on the S. S. Leviathan, and f 1 expects to arrive in New York next Monday. Work will start as soon as the com1 plete cast has been assembled. 1 Mrs. Valentino has been affiliated with the motion picture industry for many I years. She recently produced a very beautiful picture called "What Price Beauty?" 1 Her decision to return to the screen as a star was more or less expected by g 1 the Hollywood and New York film colonies. Mrs. Valentino is regarded as an g I individualist of high talents and originality. liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, iiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII imwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiininiiiiii iiinii ii iii iiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiii mmm.^