Du Barry, Woman of Passion (United Artists) (1930)

Joseph M. Schenck presents The Supreme Romance of the Talking Picture NORMA TALMADGE in “DU BARRY, WOMAN OF PASSION” A SAM TAYLOR Production with WILLIAM FARNUM and CONRAD NAGEL UNITED ARTISTS PICTURE PUBLICITY SECTION FAMOUS DRAMA IS TALMADGE VEHICLE "Du Barry, Woman of Passion’ Gives Star Superb Role; Wm. Farnum in Cast Norma Talmadge will shortly be seen as one of the foremost heart adventuresses ever known when her new United Artists picture, “Du Barry, Woman of Passion” comes to the. theatre on. This marks her second appearance in talking pictures. Sam Taylor who has had such success directing Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, John Barry¬ more, and Douglas Fairbanks in some of their most popular vehicles made the picture and wrote the screen adaptation and dialogue. The rise to fame of the young milliner who later, as Madam Du Barry, ruled a king and the hearts of the aristocracy provided the ma¬ terial for one of David Belasco’s most successful plays. Mrs. Leslie Carter played the leading character when the piece was presented at the Criterion Theatre in New York, De¬ cember 25, 1901, after a tryout in Washington two weeks before. In the company was Claude Gilling- water, who has since risen to emi nence in the films. Pola Negri impersonated the famous siren Ernst Lubitsch’s directorial triumph “Passion” which was produced in Germany and shown here with great success. Unlike the new version, this silent film was not based on the Belasco hit. “Du Barry,” makes a bid for fame by marking the return to the screen of one of the silver sheet’s most glamorous figures—William Farnum. Forced into retirement five years ago because of injuries sustained while making a picture in Glacier National Park, Farnum has come back to play the part of the idol¬ izing monarch opposite Miss Tal¬ madge. This is Mr. Farnum’s first talking role on the screen. His many years on the speaking stage as a leading man make him a splen did exponent of the new cinema art. A brilliant cast appears in the picture with Miss Talmadge. Shar¬ ing honors with Mr. Farnum, in principal role is Conrad Nagel, the soldier lover for whose affection Du Barry defies the empire. Important roles are played by Ullrich Haupt, Hobart Bosworth, Allison Skipworth, Edgar Norton, Cissy Fitzgerald, Ed¬ win Maxwell, Tom Ricketts, Henry Kolker, E. Alyn Warren, Oscar Apfel, Tom Santschi and Maude Truex. Miss Talmadge plays a creature of love and flame, an alluring beauty whose charms make her the sov¬ ereign of millions. Put to the task of choosing Jjetween love and lux¬ ury, between the man of her choice and a life of folly, artificiality and power, she chooses the primrose path only to repent of her decision when the heart call of the man she has rejected overwhelms her with regrets. In the shadow of impend¬ ing tragedy she fights her way back to idealism and happiness. The world has never tired of this fasci¬ nating story of the young lovers who lived through torturous years of separation until a kind fate brought them together. Thousands of pop ular plays, books and pictures owe their theme to this world-famous romance of “Du Barry.” Told countless languages, written up by some of the greatest authors, “Du Barry, Woman of Passion” is the perfect motion picture story. Crit¬ ics who have seen the picture de clare it is the perfect talking film entertainment. “Du Barry, Woman of Passion' is a Sam Taylor production pre¬ sented by Joseph M. Schenck, Joseph M. Schenck presents NORMA TALMADGE in SAM TAYLOR’S Production “DU BARRY WOMAN OF PASSION” with Conrad Nagel and William Farnum United Artists Picture Adapted and Directed by SAM TAYLOR dTvJDBEI.aIco' WILIUMCAWSEOTMIMIIS Photographed by Assistant Dramatic Director OLIVER MARSH EARLE BROWNE Sound Recording Assistant Director FRANK GRENZBACH WALTER MAYO Production Manager Settings Executed by O. O. DULL PARK FRENCH THE CAST Jeannette Vaubernier (later “Madam Du Barry”).NORMA TALMADGE Louis XV, King of France.WILLIAM FARNUM (1a Hrissnc .. • CONRAD NAGEL Due de Brissac .HOBART BOSWORTH ?ean du Barry .ULLRICH HAUPT lI Gourd an .ALLISON SKIPWORTH . .EDWIN MAXAVELL SSL .. henry kolker THE STORY Jeannette Vaubernier, an attractive and impulsive shop girl in Labille’s MUlinery Shop in Paris, saunters through the woods, en route to deliver a hat to a marquise. She dreams of silks, jewels, carriages, luxury and position. A pool of water attracts her attention and she strips and plunges in. Her foot becomes caught in a twisted branch at the bottom of the pool. . . . .. _. Cosse de Brissac, a young and handsome private in the King s Guards, comes to her rescue. Attracted to each other, they talk of love and the future. They become sweethearts. . . , Jean Du Barry, a shrewd, dissipated man of forty is looking for a fresh face to lure the men of nobility to Mme. La Gourdan’s notorious gambling salon. At Labille’s Millinery Shop a few days later he sees Jeannette and is struck by her beauty. Cosse is in the shop making an appointment with Jeannette for that night. After he leaves, Du Barry buys a hat with the understand¬ ing that Jeannette deliver it at La Gourdan’s at nine o clock that niB At La Gourdan’s, she is tricked into staying and becomes famous overnight. Young princes and old dukes clamor for her favors. Cosse, wretched, does not come near her. She too, despite her popularity, Is unhappy. But it is too late. At the opera one night, she is seen and admired by the King. He decides he must have her for himself. He sends his confidential secre¬ tary, Lebel, to arrange a meeting. Cosse, unable to tolerate the separation from Jeannette any longer, confronts her at La Gourdan’s one night, and after upbraiding her bitterly for her faithlessness, forgives her and begs her to marry him. They will go away to some far off place and live quietly, happily. l6 Her things packed, she is leaving when the King, in disguise, arrives with Lebel. Du Barry delays her to tell of how she has aroused the King’s admiration. Vexed at being retarded, she cries that the King can go to the devil. His Royal Highness, unable to contain himself, kneels at her feet, and professes his love. He promises to give her everything her heart desires. The offer, the thought of royalty kneeling before her is too much. Jeannette relents as the monarch places his royal ring on her finger and tells Lebel to arrange a midnight supper—for two. Cosse has observed everything. Bitingly, Cosse snaps he didn t know her love was for sale and that he would not share her love even with the King. In high dudgeon he leaves. She runs after him but he is gone. Jeannette’s eyes well up with tears. The King has arranged a marriage with the Comte Du Barry, and Jeannette, now Comtesse Du Barry, lias been formally admitted at court. But she is not happy. She loves her Cosse. She can see him from her window as he marches by in the King’s Guards. King Louis, more in love with her than ever, realizes as the weeks roll by that Jeannette loves another. He is wild with jealousy. One day Cosse is missing from the ranks. Jeannette notices it and her heart grows heavy. The King storms at her for mnking a fool of lnm, upbraids her for her ingratitude, when the Due de Cheverny arrives with news that conditions in France have become serious. The Pacte de Famine, through which the throne has bought up the grain in the country and is forcing the people to pay high prices for it or starve, has incited a revolutionary spirit. Before the King leaves with the Duke, he tells Jeannette she will never see her lover again. From Cosse’s father, Captain de Brissac, Jeannette finds out that Cosse has mysteriously disappeared. The old man intimates that the boy has been done away with and blames her for his son|s_ fate. He accuses her of being responsible also for the terrible condition of the Pe °The King, against the advice of the Minister of State, plans a lavish Fete in Jeannette’s honor, to help her forget Cosse. The news of the Fete has reached the starving people and has goaded them to desperation. There are mobs howling at the palace gates. Shots are heard in the courtyard. The leader of the revolutionists is in the garden of the palace, and soldiers wound him as he dashes through the shrubbery. Captain de Brissac is stunned when he discovers the leader to be his own son. He tells the King as soldiers enter with news that Cosse was last seen climbing through the window of Jeannette’s boudoir. Through a secret entrance, Cosse enters Jeannette’s bed-cliamber. Weak from the loss of blood, but anxious to avenge himself on the King, he waits, revolver in hand. Jeannette is overwhelmed to see the man she loves and whom she thought dead. She locks and bolts the doors. Ignoring her pleas to hide, Cosse awaits the King. There comes a knock at the door. The King is asking for admittance. Unable to reason with him, Jeannette strikes Cosse unconscious and hides him in her.bed. All. traces of his presence are removed. The blood on the chair in which he sat is cleared away, after which she opens the door. The search proves futile, until the King, leaving by the private passage-way. sees the bloodstains on the knob. He orders De Brissac to search the bed, which discloses Cosse’s hiding place. . , That night, the King orders the plans for the Fete carried out, and, as a special attraction, has arranged for Cosse’s execution. Just a few moments before the command to fire, Jeannette opens the gates and the mob storms into the palace. After the onslaught, Jeannette is taken to prison with the cry of “The Guillotine for Du Barry.” Cosse pleads for Jeannette’s life, but the revolutionists are obdurate. On the dav of the execution, Cosse goes to Jeannette’s cell. As Jeannette reads her doom in the man’s dejected gaze, she whispers. “Tliev can’t take awav our love. We’ll have each other’s love forever.” “Forever, my darling.” murmurs Cosse, as he renounces liis alle¬ giance to the revolutionary cause and prepares to go to the guillotine with her. SAM TAYLOR GIVES ORDERS TO KINGS AND QUEENS, BUT IT’S ONLY FOR A PICTURE Noted Producer-Director Tells Their Majesties What They Shall and Shall Not Do for Norma Talmadge’s New Talker, "Du Barry, Woman of Passion” Ordering kings and queens and prime ministers around and telling them how to act and what to say was Sam Taylor’s job recently. He went about it quite calmly with no fear of lese- majesty. “Tell the king to come in,” he said. And in walked King Louis XV of France in white flannel trousers and a double- breasted blue coat. “We’ll go over the lines with Jeannette,’’ said Sam. Jeannette, a milliner who became the feminine power behind the throne of France, was sitting on a period chair. She was dressed in a white sport ensemble, the latest thing in what a screen star wears, and she answered to the name of Norma Tal¬ madge. A rehearsal for a big production such as Taylor’s is an interesting procedure. This one in particular was for Miss Talmadge’s new United Artists picture, “Du Barry, Woman of Passion” which comes to the . theatre The king who was talked to with informality and friendliness was William Farnum, the veteran actor. Cosse de Brissac, a member of the King’s Guards, entered in modern tweeds cut by a New York tailor, took off a gray felt hat instead of a plumed helmet, and disclosed that he was Conrad Nagel, leading man. Edgar Norton, impersonating Lebel, a member of the king’s court, ar¬ rived very businesslike, clutching his copy of the dialogue script, and the rehearsal was ready to start. It took place in a dusty, barnlike stage, cluttered with the odds and ends of past pictures. A sign on the door read: “No Admittance.” Studio employees walked in and out just the same and nothing happened ex¬ cept that those in rehearsal ignored them and continued acting out the scenes called for by Taylor, the director. If those historical characters of the reign of Louis XV could have seen themselves as portrayed by screen players, they would have rushed hurriedly in circles looking for their familiar costumes. But they’d have had to go to the ward¬ robe department, where a large staff was busy completing them for the beginning of the picture. The man ners and gallantry and courtly speech were in keeping, however. Taylor tilted back in a chair and listened and suggested and corrected. King William Farnum made love to Comtesse Norma Talmadge, Guard Nagel exhibited his displeasure over the lady’s lapse of faithfulness to their sworn troth, and Minister Lebel bowed and yessed the king all over the place. They forgot they were just play¬ ing a part on an empty stage in a Hollywood studio. Watching Norma Talmadge project herself into a powerful scene was to understand that she was for the time emotion¬ ally in another character and that it was exhausting work. Others in the cast under Taylor direction are Ullrich Haupt, Hobart Bosworth, E. Alyn Warren, Allison Skipworth, Edwin Maxwell, Tom Ricketts, Lucille La Verne, Henry Kolker, Cissy Fitzgerald and Maude Truex. Norma Talmadge has discovered a way to make her jewels useful as well as ornamental. CNorma‘Talmadge.. -Star of* ’DuBarrg.TDoman of Passion 2a—One Col. Star Scene Head (On One Col. Mat with Thumbnail 05c; Cut 30c) Years ago she became interested in gems, antique jewelry and odd pieces which had histories attached to them. She bought them because ‘romantic jewelry” fascinated her. But gazing at gems was not suffi¬ cient. She put some of her costume jewels to work, turning them into “props” for her latest starring pic¬ ture, “Du Barry, Woman of Pas¬ sion,” which comes to the. .theatre . Her role in Sam Taylor’s produc¬ tion for United Artists calls for lux¬ ury and lavishness, that of a mag¬ netic, pampered woman with the wealth of a nation at her command. She wears some of her own jewels in a number of scenes. Miss Talmadge is an expert in the use of costume jewelry. She selects her own ornaments for pic¬ ture characterizations that will add to the portrayal. Earrings especially delight her on the screen and she has been known to design her own bizarre ear pendants for certain roles. In the present “dressed up love drama” she is supported by a splen¬ did cast, including Conrad Nagel, William Farnum, Hobart Bosworth, Edgar Norton, Henry Kolker, E. Alyn Warren, Tom Ricketts, Edwin Maxwell, Allison Skipworth, Ullrich Haupt, Cissy Fitzgerald, Eugenie Besserer and Maude Truex. Stars Look Upon Sam Taylor as Authority On Acting Though Director Was Never Actor John Barrymore once said that Sam Taylor, producer-director for United Artists, knows more about acting than any director in motion pictures. Yet Taylor has never been an actor. The nearest he ever came to it, he admits, was in charades. However, the cast in Norma Tal¬ madge’s new starring picture, “Du Barry, Woman of Passion, agrees with Barrymore. Schooled veterans of the stage and screen, they declare that Taylor taught them new phases of dramatic characterization in the production which is now showing at the.theatre. The cast includes Conrad Nagel, William Farnum, Ullrich Haupt and Hobart Bosworth.