Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1927 - Feb 1928)

66 Hollywood High Lights The cow wasn't included in the cast, and Chester Conldin had an the trail so he could go on with his scene in ''Tell It It can safely be said that these salaries are a good barometer for the general advances which have run almost twenty-five per cent in the past few years. And it is probable that, in many instances, the top has not yet been reached. Evidences of Moviemania. The present economy program was inspired, to a large extent, by the fact that films were reported to be paying less than two per cent on mone}^ invested. That isn't very much, to be sure, but the hazards of the show business are considerably greater than those of buttonmaking. Investors in film stocks and securities have had to suffer, and naturally the) deserve consideration. With this aim in view the films will probably do some economizing. But let there be a few outstanding successes, with a lot of returns coming in, and the producers will all be off again. As an old-timer in the game once remarked, "The movies aren't a business, they're a form of insanity." This Season's Prospects. Just to prove our contention that the movies are still spending money, we may mention that figures recently assembled show that one hundred and thirt}' million dollars will be invested in pictures this season. This is at least ten million dollars more than in any previous season. It is. understood, of course, that more care and discrimination will be used in the expenditure of this money than has heretofore been the case. That is naturally to be anticipated from all the turmoil about overexpenditure. Big features, especially, will be more economically made. Several of the companies splurged too heavily on these. Paramount, with "Old Ironsides" and "The Rough Riders" particularly, seems to have encountered financial disappointments. Both these pictures ran very high in expense and did not live up to expectations of their value, although they both will probably make some money. anjul time luring lier off to Sweeney." The chances are that Paramount will fully redeem their success with Emil Jannings' first and very artistic starring film, "The Way of All Flesh." Even though this is a tragedy, it promises to attract an unusually big audience. It is the finest picture that Paramount has produced since "Blood and Sand." Barthelmess Has Good Role. We recently saw First National's principal production of the year, "The Patent Leather Kid," at a preview, and we prophesy that it will mean a big return to popular favor for Dick Barthelmess. This is a war story, but the war, although done on the most ample scale imaginable, is really relegated to the background. The love story is outstanding, and there is a sequence where the girl is making an effort to save the life of the prize-fighter hero. Little Molly O'Day will make a sensational hit In this production. She is, you know, Sally O'Neil's sister, but has a much more sympathetic personality. Mathew Betz also is sure to attract attention in his characterization of a prize-fight promoter. Here is another heavy who turned comedian with high effect. Vidor's "Something New." Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will run strong again this season with King Vidor's "The Crowd," Clarence Brown's "The Trail of Ninety-eight," and Lubitsch's "Old Heidelberg." If "The Crowd" lives up to expectations it may be the most important, because it embodies a new note in pictures. Vidor is attempting to tell the story of a small-time clerical worker in this film, and is avoiding anything like a machine-made plot. Nearly the whole story is centered' around the two leading characters, played by James Murray and Eleanor Boardman. Just as the war was the menace in "The Big Parade," so the crowd will be the menace in the new picture, threatening the happiness of the two central characters. Laurence Stallings, who wrote "What Price Glory," told us that he felt the Vidor opus would compare very favorably with a novel by Gustave Flaubert, which is just another way of saying that it ought to be excellent. Love Scenes Too Caloric? Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer didn't get through with their work on "Old Heidelberg" quite as soon as they expected to. There w^ere some retakes on this picture after Ernst Lubitsch left for Europe. John Stahl directed these scenes, and it is our understanding that some of the love episodes were tempered. When Lubitsch recently visited Germany, the author of "Old Heidelberg" took occasion to make some unpleasant remarks about the filming of his play. His contention was that the picture had been made without his permission. It seems that this has necessitated a change in title, and' so "Old Heidelberg" will come to the screen as "The Student Prince," thus linking it up