Between Two Worlds (Warner Bros.) (1944)

Ladies Like Paul Henreid |FNNIS KING Equally As Nazi Or Hero The story is told that when Paul Henreid was playing a Nazi in the motion picture “Night Train,” he received a fan letter from a woman in Dubuque, Ia. The lady wanted to know who “that cute German in ‘Night Train’? was and she requested an autographed picture. Mr. Henreid still treasures that missive among his memories. Today Mr. Henreid is no longer playing Nazis. He is a romantic leading man in such pictures as “Now, Voyager,” ‘Casablanca’ and currently “Between Two Worlds” starring John Garfield, Mr. Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Eleanor Parker at the Strand, and the characteristics that made the lady from Dubuque, Ia. write him a mash note when he was wearing a swastika on his armband are more in evidence than ever. Mr. Henreid’s six-foot-three frame is crowned by a head of wavy brown hair. He has soulful blue eyes that seem to contemplate distant poetic vistas. His voice is soothing to the ears. Mr. Henreid is of the continental school of great lovers. American vs. European “The difference between the American and the continental screen lover,” explains Mr. Henreid in mellifluous tones, “‘is that the American is faster and more direct than the European. He does not go in so much for niceties. The timing makes all the difference. Someone like Clark Gable, for instance, grabs the girl and kisses her. Charles Boyer, on the other hand, pauses slightly between the grab and the kiss. He waits for a few seconds for the girl to catch up with him. The success of either technique depends upon the lady. Some women are delighted to be grabbed and kissed in one sweep, while others prefer to be led to the kiss gradually.” Mr. Henreid’s brand of cinematic amour is of the sympathetic, understanding type. In “Now, Voyager,” he was in effect a combination of lover and psychiatrist, a human rock of Gibraltar on whom Bette Davis’ neuroses broke in a tidal wave. In “Casablanca” he was a refugee political leader with a benevolent affection for Miss Bergman. In “In Our Time” he was a suave Polish count who literally swept Ida Lupino off her feet by lifting her to kiss her. Still P.H. 120; Mat 121—15c PAUL HENREID Mr. Henreid started out as a stage lover in Vienna. He was born in Trieste thirty-two years ago as Baron von Wasel-Waldingau, later migrating to Austria where he appeared in many theatrical productions, always as the romantic leading man. Before the anschluss, he left Austria in 1935, settling in London. There he starred in “The Madman of Europe,” a bitterly anti-Nazi play. The success of this production set him off on a cycle of Nazi productions. He gave up his romantic roles to play the Hitlerite in “Night Train,” which brought him to the attention of New York and Hollywood. His first American drama was Elmer Rice’s “Flight to the West,” in which he was seen as the Nazi consul. Then Hollywood beckoned and he went West to appear in “Joan of Paris.” That motion picture provided him with a change of pace as a Free French flyer escaping from the Germans, and after that the going was easy. He gradually shed his military garb for the more becoming vestments of the romantic hero. Today he is again established as a man with a profile and a persuasive manner. TT WAS EASIER TO BE CITIZEN Paul Henreid, currently in Warner Bros.’ “Between Two Worlds” at the Strand, had a genuine title, with a “von” in front of it. But he has shed it Officially and finally and hopes that any person who recalls it will co-operate by forgetting it. “It may have snob appeal, but I detest that,” he says. Paul is—or was—legally an Austrian, and this invariably confuses the record-takers who are putting everybody’s name on file these days. This is why: he left Austria before the Germans took over, so he is by no means of German origin. But he was born in Trieste, which was once Austrian, but at the time of his birth belonged to Italy. For several years, he lived in England. Now he is an American, a “First Paper Yankee,” he calls himself. His father was a Swede. By the time the record-takers get all this down, they are quite willing to forego wrestling with a title that’s harder to spell than trinitrotoluol., WANTS IT KNOWN HE ALSO ACTS Dennis King, the one time romantic swashbuckler of the singing stage who plays a top role in Warner Bros.’ “Between Two Worlds,” now at the Strand starring John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Eleanor Parker, wears a clergyman’s cassock instead of a rapier. And he likes it. So well that he wishes Hollywood would forget his tights, romance and singing past. “T really mean it,” says the debonair Englishman whose robust baritone and dashing swagger made successful boxoffice perennials of such operettas as “The Vagabond King” and “The Three Musketeers.” “I’m a dramatic actor with a respectable present, not just a singer with a past. “As a matter of fact, and Hollywood record, I’ve been a dramatic actor for some years now. In New York, I’m accepted as such. Only Hollywood harks back to my singing past.” ” Hollywood Accepts Him The actor admits that Hollywood, or at least the part of it that pays off in salary checks, was sufficiently informed about his present (and comparatively recent) dramatic past, to accept him on that basis. His role as the clergyman in “Between Two Worlds” is one of the most dramatic in a picture that’s all drama. Of the two careers, the still lithely slender and _ potentially swashbucklish actor says he prefers the second. “Singing,” he says, “was fun. Serious acting is more satisfying.” The “more satisfying” second ° career in drama included starring or featured roles in such Broadway plays as “Three Sisters,” in which Dennis King played in company with Katherine Cornell, Ruth Gordon, Judith Anderson and Edmund Gwenn; “Blithe Spirit,” ‘“Doll’s House,” ‘Peter Ibbetson” and “Richard of Bordeaux.” There were others, many of them, on the stage, but “‘Between Two Worlds” provides the actor’s first excursion into drama for the films. “I'd like to stay in Hollywood,” he says. “I like it here, and enjoy working in pictures. If only they’ll forget I ever sang!” Still OB 102; Mat 201—30c Faye Emerson discourages George Coulouris from attacking John Garfield in “Between Two Worlds,’ Warner Bros.’ exciting new film at the Strand in which Garfield, as an amateur cardshark, distinguishes himself in the art of prestidigitation. John Garfield ‘Packed Up Troubles’ for Duration Still OB 525; Mat 203—39c John Garfield is seen as a dissolute newspaperman in “Between Two Worlds,” Warner Bros. stirring story of great love which comes to the Strand Theatre Friday. John Garfield, star of Warner Bros.’ “Between Two Worlds” now playing at the Strand with Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Eleanor Parker in other top roles, was one of the first Hollywood stars to throw a few wearables and toilet articles into a bag and start travelling shortly after Pearl Harbor, and he’s still rolling up miles—and smiles. A chap who followed John Garfield around during one whole week recently gives this report on the star’s activities and confirms that it is typical of a few days out of his busy life. It was Wednesday _— night when the actor bade his wife good-bye, kissed his two young children (his little girl was in bed with a fever of 102 degrees), picked up a # battered brief Still OB 510; Mat 110 C48€, and ran Eleanor Parker for a train. The next morning he was on his way in a naval patrol boat across the rough and fog-bound waters of San Francisco Bay, headed for Mare Island. It was a bouncing trip, and a wet one, but the star took advantage of an extra half hour while the coxswain was lost in the fog to polish up a few jokes, ammunition for later. At the Island Garfield sidestepped the officers, headed at once for the hospital wards. “I'd like to see the fellows who really have been out there, not just the measles cases and the chaps who have had a finger cut here in the yard,” he suggested quietly. For the next two hours the actor visited ward after ward, bed after bed, of heroes many of whom well recall that Sunday when Pearl Harbor bled. ,,.1n the afternoon Garfield was .shaking hands with members of ‘the crew of a submarine on which his last picture, ‘““Destination Tokyo,” was to be shown in a most novel setting —in the forward torpedo. room from which -had been shot many a “tin fish” to send a Jap ship to the bottom. One quick trip through the long, sleek vessel, and the star was on his way to the huge Island audi torium, where he shows. At 10 o’clock at night, back in San Francisco, Garfield was at the Stage Door Canteen in the St. Francis, greeting hundreds of boys, making them laugh. He stayed there till midnight, when the lights went out. ~ At two the next morning Garfield was on a plane, headed for home. He arrived at four a.m., rushed home, saw with relief that his child had improved, grabbed a few hours sleep and that afternoon and all that evening was down at the Hollywood Canteen, again “doing his stuff” for the boys. John Garfield is vice-president and one of the founders of the Hollywood Canteen (Bette Davis, the Musicians’ Union and he gave it its first push). “Sure, I’ve travelled a lot, had some rugged going, been pretty much on the road since several of us made that Caribbean cruise by air a couple of years ago,” the actor grins. “But let me tell you I don’t feel I’ve done one-tenth enough—I’d like to be able to do a hundred times more.” “made” two Hollywood Doing Good Job pe eT PORE SEES ea aR SSeS He thinks that Hollywood has done a pretty respectable job, in its way, in this war so far. He points to the hundreds of stars, lesser players, and musicians, who have criss-crossed the country, girdled the globe, to bring entertainment to camps and outposts, hospitals and front lines. He points out, too, the little known fact that Hollywood gives gratis four brand new pictures a week to the armed services, and pays to have 90 16-mm. prints made of them, and that these are flown via 19 well-organized circuits to every overseas spot on earth an American soldier, sailor or marine is likely to be. These 90 prints, of the four new pictures selected by the Army, go out as regularly as weeks roll around—and most of the time they are pictures that will not be given their domestic release for weeks or months. “Me, I’ve done mighty little compared with what a lot of my friends in-Hollywoodhave done. I’m really proud of the town.” The screen star stops here to grin again, then adds rather sheepishly: “I used to be a terrific rebel.” 2