Anthony Adverse (Warner Bros.) (1936)

PUBLICITY ‘Anthony Adverse ° Film Is Production Triumph More Than Two Years Taken In Preparation And Production When Warner Bros. decided to undertake the mammoth task of filming ‘‘ Anthony Adverse,’’ which comes to the +: 20 cease Theatre on ........ erie Saar ae , Vice-President Jack L. Warner, production chief, explained why the company was willing to spend so much time and go to such expense to do so. “There are certain things that every audience wants,” he said. “They are an absorbing story, lots of action, drama, romance, adventure and unusual settings. We found all this in ‘Anthony Adverse.’ So we felt sure it was a natural, and the public would like it.” It was a big undertaking. No doubt of that for Warner Bros. actually spent two years preparing for production. Sheridan Gibney, who did the ' scenario spent 5 months on the actual writing after a staff of a dozen research men had spent 21 weeks gathering authentic data on everything from the kind of wheelbarrow on an Italian dock in 1793 to the kind of buttons on @ lady’s gloves in Auvergne in 1775. Gibney’s attitude toward the story was practical and showmanlike. He said: “In Hervey Allen’s novel, Anthony was a passive character. Everything happened to him. For the purposes of drama it was necessary to show him as a man who sought adventure, rather than a man to whom adventure came. He had to be made more dramatic, more active, more positive. Fundamentally this is the difference between the boek and the scenario.” Assignment Most Difficult There. is always danger in a production like “Anthony Adverse” of a director who goes arty, and in his attempts to do a class picture, forgets the good old principles of dewn to earth entertainment. That is one reason why Mervyn LeRoy got the assignment. He’s a canny young man, very practical and has been in the box office lists for a long time. . Pictures like “I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang,” “Little Caesar,” “Five Star Final,” “Gold Diggers of ’35,” “Oil For the Lamps of China,” and “I Found Stella Parish,” prove that he keeps his eye on what the public wants. “This is the toughest picture I ever made,” said LeRoy, “mainly because for once in my career, instead of wondering if I have enough story, I have to be very careful not to neglect any part of my overabundance. “I never understood why people speak of ‘Anthony’ as being so long. After all, nearly 1,000,000 people bought the novel and an estimated 3,000,000 people read it. So length could not have mattered. It had popular appeal and that’s the best reason I know for making any story. “Anthony Adverse’ is the story of a boy born out of wedlock as the result of one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. He is adopted by a rich old merchant, who turns out to be his own grandfather. He finds love affairs and adventures in every corner of the world. “Wherever he goes dramatic happenings color his life. His only real love is the beautiful Angela. He lives with her one single night, and adventure again calls him to the far ends of the earth. When he returns sstill greater drama marks his realiza tion that his sweetheart has become a favorite of Napoleon. Double Number of Sets Before a picture is made, the studio always prepares a “Cross Plot.” There was one on “Anthony Adverse” in LeRoy’s office. It was a ruled chart with a list of sets and the order of their shooting across the top. Along the sides was a list of characters. By an X in the proper intersection of lines, it showed at a glance when and where each character would work. According tothis, there are 131 sets in “Anthony Adverse,” more than double the number in the usual big feature. This necessitated an extensive building program. The African stockade, for instance, covers some 12 acres, including its approaches. There is an opera performance in Italy and one in Paris. An entire theatre interior was built for each, including stage sets, boxes, auditorium and foyers. Then there are the big docks and warehouses of Leghorn, Italy, and a dock at Havana with a quarter mile of business street, an African Jungle, covering about half an acre, to mention only a few of the larger sets. In addition, there is a monastery and wall built on the Warner Bros. ranch, a big chateau built at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, a snow-covered Alpine trail built on the lot, an American clipper ship built on the studio lake and a Spanish tramp steamer erected at the Vitagraph pier. Anton Grot, art director who designed the sets said: “From my standpoint the size of the sets was by no means a major problem. The fact that there are more big sets in ‘Anthony’ than in any other picture meant much less to me than the constantly changing locales. “The story, instead of being laid in one general locality, was laid in 5 countries on 3 continents and in gradually changing periods from 1775 to 1801. “One day, LeRoy would want us to have ready a French Nunnery and the next an Italian Monastery, or one day a street in Cuba and the next a street in Livorno, Italy. *t was no easy matter to jump from the jungles of Africa to the headquarters of Napoleon in Paris. The detail that had to be watched was infinite.” Three Months for Casting Four of the nine new stages recently completed on the Warner Bros. lot were given over to this production, but could not begin to hold all the sets. There was some evidence of the LeRoy picture on every stage; a room here, an office here, a hallway there. Casting the picture was a three months’ job. For at least this long, voice and photographic tests were in progress. Nearly every well known actor and actress in pictures, who was available, were tested for one part or another. With nearly a hundred roles to be filled, every type, size Fa Claude Rains, whose role in Warner Bros.’ earth-girdling ‘‘ Anthon Adverse’’ coming to the ................. that of the arrogant and domineering Don Luis, husband of Maria, (pla ed by Anita Louise). Miss Louise plays the role of Anthony’s mother while Fredric March is in the title role. Mat No. 212—20c and nationality was needed. The selection of Fredric March for the title role was generally considered a good piece of casting. He proved himself as a dashing romantic type in “Smilin’ Through,” “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” “Dark Angel” and many other big ones including “The Royal Family” and “Les Miserables.” He is the only romantic actor to receive the Academy Award. Pretty little Olivia De Havilland, the feminine lead, got her first chance in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She showed her versatility in “Alibi Ike” and “The Irish In Us” and according to the critics, proved in “Captain Blood” that she was a contender for first place among the screen’s young leading women. Claude Rains and Edmund Gwenn were sound selections for their respective roles of Don Luis and Bonnyfeather. Many Noted Players Louis Hayward, who attracted so much attention in New York last season in “Point Valaine” plays the young Denis Moore whose affair with Anita Louise results in Anthony’s birth. This pair is one of the handsomest couples of young lovers seen in many a day. A number of others in the cast come under the head of tried and true, such as Luis Alberni, Steffi Duna, Donald Woods, Pedro De Cordoba, Henry O’Neill, Ralph Morgan, Akim Tamiroff, Frank Reicher, Fritz Leiber, Joe Crehan, Clara Blandick, Mathilde Comont and J. Carroll Naish. And for special mention, there’s Gale Sondergaard, who is a candidate for big things in pictures. She was in many Theatre Guild successes in New York and played the neurotic Nina in “Strange Interlude” for 6 months. In the part of “Faith,” she clicks for sure. The costuming of “Anthony Adverse” gave the wardrobe departments plenty of headaches. TG ON -...,.5: 3be ee is y Fe Milo Anderson had to design clothes for Italian peasants, priests, soldiers and courtiers; for French gallants, courtesans, couriers, sugar planters, dancing girls and servants. “I have lost five pounds on this picture,” said Anderson, who is a slight young fellow with not many pounds to spare. “When people see a period character on the screen they do not realize the detail involved in his costume, Costuming Is Big Job “We had to go through this mass of detail on more than 3700 costumes for people in all walks of life in different periods and in different parts of the world. “Fredric March, alone, had 29 changes of wardrobe. Each change was specially designed and fitted. Every smallest detail from the lining of a cloak to the placement of buttons was important. “The magnificent gowns that Miss de Havilland wears required the services of 10 seamstresses for several weeks. When 700 people were working in a Paris theatre, I was struggling with the costumes of Italian priests, Havana plantation owners and Tyrolean inn keepers.” The claim that “Anthony Adverse” is one of the biggest pictures to come out of Hollywood does not seem an exaggeration from the evidence at hand. It is obvious to any observer that the studio gave unstinted effort to its production and turned both technical facilities and personnel loose on it. Such isolated statistics as 2971 wigs, 3194 hand props and the like may indicate size, but a picture’s real importance must be gauged by the producers’ attitude toward it. It cav/ definitely be said that Warner/Broe. gave “Anthony Ad verse” all they had. And that was plenty. Page Forty-five |) — |