Lady of the Pavements (United Artists) (1929)

Sound Advance Stories SOUND HAS BIG PART IN GRIFFITH MOVIE It is another well-earned personal triumph for the quiet, hardworking man who is D. W. Griffith, that his sensational talking-singing pic¬ ture, “Lady of the Pavements,” which opens at the. theatre next.is the tremendous success it is. The picture stands as the latest vindication of Griffith’s judgment, against that of all the rest of e motion picture world. It is a further factual proof that there is no magical lamp more potent than genius and hard work to transform the inspiration of a moment into a masterpiece of art, to say nothing of commercial success. The talking motion picture has come into its own; and the great lines of eager patrons that crowd those theatres which are equipped for exhibiting them are proof enough that the innovation has taken firm hold. But how many of those persons waiting in line to see their screen burst into vocal ani¬ mation realize that Griffith was the first one to make this possible for them. Very few! Yet Griffith made the first practical synchronization of a dramatic production ten years ago when he exhibited “Dream Street” at the Town Hall in New York City with the Kellum process. True, there had been showings of the Edi¬ son cylinder apparatus in dubious synchronous relation with the mo¬ tion pictures fifteen years ago, but these early attempts were obviously crude, and presented no complicated screnario, but a continuous scene with no interposed action as at present. However, in “Lady of the Pave¬ ments,” Griffith comes into his own ^nd it must be with some satisfac- ^on that he views this latest vindi¬ cation of his ambitions and dreams. Apart from the innovation of sound, "Lady of the Pavements,” is a strong dramatic production in its own silent right, with all the splendor of settings and rhythmic, poetic beauty that characterizes Griffith’s bigger things. “Lady of the Pavements” is, in fact, the first really significant mo¬ tion picture musical drama. Lupe Velez, a soloist of high reputation aside from her film prominence, sings six times in this picture, each song accenting a dramatic situa¬ tion. Her numbers include “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?” (Berlin), and “Ae Que Ver” and "Nena” (Harms). Miss Velez and other characters also talk in part of the picture. The elaborate musi¬ cal score is by Hugo Riesenfeld, who made a conspicuous success of ^the synchronization for two other United Artists pictures, “The Awakening” and “The Rescue”. LUPE VELEZ,U.D.W.GRJFFITH5 'LADY OF THE PAVEMENTS 8 —One Col. Scene (Mat 5c; Cut 30c) Lupe Velez Sings in Griffith Sound Film Lupe Velez, because of her train¬ ing as a dancer, her distinctive beauty is admirably cast. In the opening sequences of “Lady of the Pavements” she appears as a girl of the cabarets and does a solo dance which is one of the most captivat¬ ing sights this reviewer has seen on the screen. The dynamic ener¬ gy and vivacity which were such a delightful feature of her work op¬ posite “Douglas Fairbanks as the Gaucho” are here displayed with greater ease and assurance. In “Lady of the Pavements” there is a long dramatic talking sequence, produced under the most modern conditions. The dialogue occurs between the heroine and several other players. Lupe Velez sings the Irving Berlin theme song “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?” at three different climaxes during the story. She also sings “Ae Que Ver” (At the Dance) and “Nena”, Spanish numbers which were featured in this country by Raquel Meller. The synchronized score for the production is by Hugo Riesenfeld. “Lady of the Pavements” is a superb photoplay which no follower of the best movies can afford to miss. It is D. W. Griffith at his best. GRIFFITH MADE SOUND FILM TEN YEARS AGO In the crush of those getting on the sound bandwagon, sight is lost of the fact that D. W. Griffith, whose latest picture, “Lady of the Pave¬ ments,” opens at the. theatre, was the first to introduce synchronized sound to motion pic¬ tures. Ten years ago Griffith produced “Dream Street” and showed it at the Town Hall in New York City with the Kellem process - a method of sound synchronization similar in al major respects to the present Vita- phone. The picture at the time was a sensational hit and scores of edi¬ torials prophesied a great career for it. Griffith attempted at the time to influence capital in backing the pro¬ cess, but Wall Street appeared skep¬ tical and the precursor of sound ef¬ fects died away through lack of sup¬ port and appreciation. Almost ten years to the day of the presentation of “Dream Street,” Griffith’s sound production, “Lady of the Pavements,” with William Boyd, Jetta Goudal, Lupe Velez, George Fawcett, Albert Conti and William Bakewell will be presented locally. This romance of the Pa¬ risian diplomatic courts, incidental¬ ly, is one of the pioneer producer’s most spectacular works. #7,118 Electric Bill for Griffith’s Sound Film It may be of interest to the sav¬ ing housewife to know that it cost exactly $7,118.00 to supply elec¬ tric light current for “Lady of the Pavements,” D. W. Griffith’s re¬ markable talking picture coming to the.theatre on. How many pot roasts this amount of electrical energy would translate into terms of savory morsels is a problem to conjure with, but tak¬ ing three cents as the average cost of current in cooking the roast, it will be seen that approximately 23 7,266 families might be well sat¬ isfied. Then there is the problem of how many homes could be lighted; but why continue? Electric lighting is, of course, one of the primary costs in picture pro¬ ducing and “Lady of the Pavements” because of the extent and magni¬ tude of its sets, had more than the normal share of this expense. Considerable current had to be consumed in transferring the dia¬ logue sequences, the songs of Lupe Velez and the music of an eccen¬ tric orchestra onto the film and disk processes used in synchronizing the picture. Among the numbers sung by Miss Velez are “Nena,” "At the Dance,” and the Irving Berlin piece “Where is the Song of Songs for Me?” especially composed by Mr. Berlin as a theme song for “Lady of the Pavements." SOUND FADE-OUT IN NEW GRIFFITH FILM The sound fade-out and dissolve will make its first appearance here with the showing at the. theatre of D. W. Griffith’s “Lady of the Pavements,” the pioneer director- producor’s first synchronized pro¬ duction since he startled the world with his first talking film ten years ago. The characteristics of the sound fade-out are the same as those of its photographic counterpart; the voice rises to its normal pitch and then fades out as the scene dims and dissolves into another. Lupe Velez, who makes her first appearance before a synchronizing device in “Lady of the Pavements” sings seven times during the length of the picture. She is accompanied by an eccentric orchestra composed of talented virtuosi. This orchestra is responsible for much of the comedy Griffith has put into the story. “Lady of the Pavements”, with its talking sequence, its vocal num¬ bers, its synchronized score by Hugo Riesenfeld, and the Griffith mastery of direction is virtually musical drama transferred to the motion picture theatre. Irving Berlin Song Sung y Lupe Velez in Movie Lupe Velez, who plays a leading role in D. W. Griffith’s sound pro¬ duction, “Lady of the Pavements” showing at the .The¬ atre, is by no means an amateur vocalist. Miss Velez made personal appearances during the recent show¬ ing of “The Gaucho” at the United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles, and scored a tremendous success with a repertoire of songs and dances. In “Lady of the Pavements” she sings “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?” a melodic romance written especially for her by Irving Berlin. “SOUND” STORIES Theatres showing "Lady of the Pavements” with sound have here a pageful of "sound” stories in which the facts about the musical and vocal side of their synchronized presenta¬ tions is covered. As mentioned in the box on the first page of the publicity section any story featured here¬ in may with the addition of the paragraph mentioned serve as an appropriate “sound” story. Any story on this page may be edited for use by theatres using a “silent” version of the picture.