The Private Life of Don Juan (United Artists) (1934)

ADVANCE FEATURES ♦ BIOGRAPHIES ♦ REVIEW ♦ SHORTS STUNTS HARD? DOUG MAKES'EM HARDER Matador Selects Doug Fairbanks For High Honor and Strange Gift (ADVANCE FEATURE) When a matador in Spain "dedicates” a bull to a dis¬ tinguished guest by passing up his hat before the fight, it is the custom for the guest so honored to place a gift in it when returning it after the bull has been killed. The guest is notified the day before the "corrida,” as the bullfights are called, so that he or she can make the necessary arrangements. When Douglas Fairbanks was in Barcelona recently for the exterior shots for London Films’ “The Private Life of Don Juan,” released through United Artists and showing. at the . Theatre, he was informed that he had been selected for such honors by Lalanda, one of the famous matadors who was appearing in the bullring there. Know¬ ing the etiquette of the occasion, Doug selected a handsome silver cig¬ arette case at a jewelry shop the morning before the bullfight, and when the matador stepped up for his hat, Doug placed the gift in it—to an obligato of cheers from 14,000 spec¬ tators who had witnessed the corrida. Doug Cets A Gift The following day Lalanda called on Fairbanks at his Hotel and brought him a gift—the two ears and tail of the lately deceased bull! For the mata¬ dor’s performance had been so artistic that he had been awarded that honor. During the ensuing discussion of the ancient art of bullfighting, Fair¬ banks happened to mention the late Frank Harris’ famous story, “Montes scenes of “The Private Life of Don Juan.” For architecturally, the two cities are as remote as possible, and since one has gone to the trouble and expense of a trip to Spain in quest of a Seville street scene, why use a Barcelona thoroughfare? The explanation lies in the fact that in the Spanish Village which was built for the Iberian Exposition in Barcelona in 1929 there is an exact replica of a street in Seville. Because this street was located in the deserted exposition grounds, far away from cu¬ rious crowds, it was much easier to “shoot” the required sequences there. For in addition to having exclusive use of the street, it was possible to control the shadows caused by the sun on the white walls of the buildings. Huge canvas coverings kept out the sun’s rays and the absence of street traffic of all kinds made it possible for Alexander Korda to direct the scenes without interference or annoy¬ ance. And not even an old resident of Seville would be able to detect the substitution, for the street was re¬ produced with utmost fidelity. BINNIE’S BLUFF Miss Barnes Won Fame in England By Adopting Dialect Of State She Never Saw “Don Juan”Brings Fairbanks Back In Colorful Romantic Comedy; His First Film In Two Years Doug’s Best (REVIEW) The colorfully costumed, rapier-wielding, leaping, laugh¬ ing Douglas Fairbanks of old returned to the screen of the Theatre last night to the loudly expressed delight of a huge and enthusiastic audience. "The Private Life of Don Juan,” Doug’s first film in two __years, is one of those gay romantic ' comedies in which the athletic star scored his greatest successes. It was produced in London by Alexander Korda for the London Films which gave us two of the outstanding tri¬ umphs of screen history, “The Private Life of Henry VIII” and “Catherine the Great,” and it is not extravagant praise to say that “Don Juan” is not only the most pretentious offering of these producers but the best picture Doug has ever made as well. Lavishly mounted and produced with infinite care, the film is a feast of beauty and color. Every foot is chock full of entertainment and Doug is utterly delightful as the matchless lover who loses his name and reputa¬ tion when a young gallant who has been successfully impersonating him is killed by a jealous husband. Attends Own Funeral Enormously amused at the idea that all feminine Spain has gone into mourning for him, Don Juan enjoys the unique experience of attending his own funeral and then takes ad¬ vantage of this opportunity to go into retirement incognito and eat and sleep to his heart’s content with no thought of his looks or his figure. However, when he attempts to use his old wiles on a pretty barmaid and she demands a pair of earrings, he quickly calls in his masseur and trains down to his old weight. But still he cannot succeed with the ladies, who laugh at the very idea of his being Don Juan. Returning to Seville, the scene of his earlier conquests, he ap¬ proaches Pepilla, a beautiful dancer, whose fame depends on the fact that he had loved her, but even she fails to recognize him and turns from him to a younger man. Utterly disillu¬ sioned, he admits defeat and returns to his wife. (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) Those American actresses who as¬ sume elaborate accents and crash Hollywood as exotic foreign stars, will probably be surprised to learn that America hasn’t a copyright on that little stunt. For, although Binnie Barnes, the be¬ witching English beauty who appears in support of Douglas Fairbanks in “The Private Life of Don Juan,” show¬ ing .at the . Theatre, was born in London and had never seen America, she discovered that assuming a Yankee drawl, a ten gallon hat and the sobriquet “Texas” Binnie, turned a previously mildly wel¬ comed rope twirling act into the sen¬ sation of the English music halls. A feminine rope twirler doesn’t seem nearly as odd, by the way, when you realize what widely diversified callings Binnie had previously glori¬ fied with her definitely disturbing presence. She’d been milkmaid, truck driver, nurse and dancer. SEAWEED FOR BEAUTY Fairbanks Refuses Double and Risks Life To Give Fans Thrills In “Don Juan” (ADVANCE FEATURE) Stunts don’t come so dangerous or difficult that Douglas Fairbanks won’t try them. The athletic star, who is famous for his feats of daring, has never used a double, and is so far from avoiding danger that he seems actually to court it. It is not at all unusual for him to take his life in his hands to “point up” a stunt if he thinks he can make it more exciting than it is in the script. An instance of this occurred during the filming of “The Private Life of Don Juan,” Doug’s new London Films production released through United Artists and showing. at the.Theatre. In one scene the script of this ro¬ mantic comedy from the pens of Frederick Lonsdale and Lajos Biro called for Doug to climb to the bal¬ cony of one of his many loves and, finding the long French windows locked against him, hammer on them until he broke them open. Doug Improvises During the rehearsals Doug followed the script to the letter, but as soon as the cameras started turning, he took a running jump and leapt clear of shattering glass and splintering woodwork. Fortunately, no damage beyond a few cuts was sustained, but the danger was deadly. In another scene where he climbs up an eighty foot castle wall, he could easily have used a double and saved himself not only the risk but the fatigue of the repeated takes required as well. But each ascent was made by Doug personally, and there were no knots in the rope or footholds on the castle walls to make it easier for him either. Major Thrills For Fans Fairbanks fans will experience another major thrill when they see the scene in the Inn at Valencia where Doug, hanging on to one end of a roll of fishing net, swings from the roof of one house to the window of a fair lady’s apartment across the wide courtyard. From this height he at¬ tained considerable velocity by the time he reached the opposite side and it was no easy matter to land without damage and to avoid “bouncing” off the wall before a hand-hold could be obtained. Perhaps the most dangerous of all the stunts Doug achieved in making this swashbuckling romantic comedy was to leap over a balustrade wielding a naked rapier, with the landing space limited by a sweep of stairs. It can easily be seen that if one foot had landed on the stairs and the other on the ground, a cracked ankle would have been a mere detail in the list of injuries sustained. Director Alex¬ ander Korda being no sentimentalist, and scarcely relishing having his pro¬ duction held up indefinitely, saved this danger-fraught leap until the rest of the film had been completed! Navy Men’s Enthusiasm Spoils 4 Don Juan 9 Scene (ADVANCE STORY) Just before finishing work on “The Private Life of Don Juan,” his new romantic comedy for London Films, which comes to the . Theatre., Douglas Fairbanks invited Lieutenant Com¬ mander Cecil, eight officers and twenty-five midshipmen of the U.S.S. Wyoming and Arkansas to lunch with him at the Elstree Studio and watch Alexander Korda direct some of the exciting final sequences of this color¬ ful romantic comedy for release through United Artists, in which Merle Oberon, Benita Hume, Binnie Barnes and Joan Gardner are importantly cast. The first scene showed the agile Doug climbing up to the balcony of a fair lady imprisoned in an eighty foot tower and, upon finding the long French windows locked, taking a run¬ ning jump and leaping clear through them with a crash of shattering glass and splintering woodwork. The enthusiasm of the visitors at this spectacular feat — which inci¬ dentally was not in the script but an unrehearsed change impulsively de¬ cided upon by Doug—caused them to applaud loudly, making a retake necessary. The Matador.” “The greatest story ever written about a matador—far greater than Ibanez’ ‘Blood and Sand’,” remarked Lalanda. This so interested Lord Beaver- brook, who was among Doug’s guests, that he immediately arranged to have “Montes The Matador” published in serial form in the Evening Standard, one of his London newspapers. It may seem odd that during this stay in Barcelona, Fairbanks found a typical Sevillian background for some Lovely Merle Oberon Attributes Her Flawless Complexion to Weed’s Magic Properties (BEAUTY FEATURE) At last the lowly seaweed has come into its own as an aid to feminine loveliness. The strikingly beautiful Merle Oberon, filmdom’s newest sensation, who will be seen opposite Douglas Fairbanks in London Films’ “The Pri¬ vate Life of Don Juan” at the. Theatre ., attributes her exquisite skin to—of all things— seaweed baths! Every week-end, while she was en¬ gaged at Elstree in making “Don Juan” with Fairbanks and “The Scar¬ let Pimpernel” with Leslie Howard, under the direction of Alexander Korda for release through United Artists, the fair Merle motored a mere matter of seventy-five miles from London to Ramsgate and stopped at a hotel there which specializes in these beautifying dips. “Any woman can procure the sea¬ weed at the shore and prepare her weekly beauty bath in the privacy of her own home,” explains Merle. “The modus operandi is extremely simple. One merely spends thirty minutes in a tub filled with hot water and seaweed. The iodine in the weed acts as a general tonic and its other chemical properties have an almost magical effect on the skin.” “Seaweed baths are not enervating, like Turkish baths, for instance, yet —and this will interest many women —they do tend to remove superfluous flesh should you be afflicted with I any.” Binnie Barnes 10 —One Col. Player Head (Mat .05; Cut .20) In 1929, when rope twirling began to pall, she gained entry to the British legitimate stage in “The Silver Tassie,” with Charles Laughton. She next appeared in Chariot’s Revue and the stage production of “Cavalcade.” Films were only a step away. She ap¬ peared in three before she attracted general attention with her charming portrayal of Katheryn Howard in “The Private Life of Henry VIII,” which lead to her being cast in “The Private Life of Don Juan” by Alexander Korda and signed to an attractive Hollywood contract by Universal Pictures. Imme¬ diately upon completion of “Don Juan,” Binnie sailed for Hollywood, where she has already completed her first American-made film, entitled “There’s Always Tomorrow.” Binnie is five feet six inches tall and weighs 122 pounds. She has dark brown eyes and red-gold hair. Her ambition is to see Texas, the phantom home whose adoption once won her success in her own Merrie England. 44 Curvaceous ” But Sorry (ADVANCE STORY) A lot of English lovelies who took Mae West’s advice and went “curva¬ ceous” are sorry now. All went well until they were cast to play some of the more luscious bits of femininity in “The Private Life of Don Juan,” Douglas Fairbanks’ new Alexander Korda production, showing.at the . Theatre. Then began what an earlier day so elegantly described as “the lacing in process,” and with it came the moans and groans of the curvaceous beauties who wished they hadn’t “plumped up.” Merle Oberon Lovely As Pepilla The glamorous Merle Oberon, who attracted so much attention as Ann Boleyn in “Henry VIII,” is strikingly lovely as Pepilla. Benita Hume is ex¬ cellent as Don Juan’s pretty wife, Dolores, and Binnie Barnes shines as the barmaid and sings charmingly a specially written number entitled “The Sun Came Up In The Morning.” Joan Gardner, Patricia Hilliard, Prin¬ cess Natalie Paley and a score more of eye-filling beauties are cast as some of the countless lovelies whose paths Don Juan managed to cross. Korda’s direction turns Frederick Lonsdale and Lajos Biro’s lively, witty story into a superb comedy. The sets, created by Vincent Korda, are among the most impressive ever built for a film and practically all the exterior shots were actually made in Spain. Offering Doug more daring and thrilling stunts than he has ever es¬ sayed before, “The Private Life of Don Juan,” is a rare treat for Fairbanks fans and all film fans. Don’t miss it! Korda Find Finds Films No Soft Job (CURRENT STORY) If Patricia Hilliard, lovely Alexan¬ der Korda discovery, had any illusions about the lives of luxuried ease led by film stars, they were thoroughly and completely crushed by her rather brusque initiation into pictures as one of Douglas Fairbanks’ ladies fair in London Films’ “The Private Life of Don Juan,” released through United Artists and currently at the. Theatre. Patricia is cast as a Spanish beauty imprisoned in an eighty foot tower. The script called for her to lean far out over a lofty balcony and catch a rope thrown to her from below by Fairbanks and it was only after a number of nerve-wracking attempts that the trembling girl—her ankles firmly held by a pair of unseen hands —succeeded in catching and securing the flying rope. But the classical-featured brown¬ eyed, brown-haired beauty is thrilled with film work and her five year con¬ tract with Alexander Korda nonethe¬ less. Patricia was born in Quetta, India, and educated in London and Switzer¬ land. Her parents are both profes¬ sionals. She went straight from school to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where she studied for two years. John Myers, an executive of London Films, saw her in the annual Academy play —a production of Moliere’s “Le Sicilien,” and the direct result was a ’phone call from Korda offering her screen and voice tests. These were so definitely successful that Patricia was immediately signed for five years.