Bright Lights (Warner Bros.) (1930)

FRANK FAY HAS A LARGE FOLLOWING. PLAY ‘UP HIS NAME IN ALL YOUR CAMPAIGN! DOROTHY MACKAILL STRONG FOR COLOR (Current Reader—Vitaphone) “Bright Lights,” First National’s exotic musical melodrama at the Serna one Theatre, has not only the initial song and dance role of Dorothy Mackaill, but is also her first Technicolor production. The blonde actress, who is featured in this unusual film with Frank Fay, was pleased at the opportunity to appear in color.. She had this to say of the picture: “It is more strenuous to work in -Technicolor pictures because of added make-up, more attention to wardrobe, and brilliant lighting on the sets, but I feel the added effort is worth the more beautiful result. In seeing “Bright Lights” I was agreeably surprised when I discovered that I looked younger than in black and white pictures. Color, it seems, causes a player to appear more youthful. It will prolong one’s so-called» ‘screen life.’ “The screen has always striven for realism. Talking was a step in this direction. Now use of Technicolor has taken us further. Although the mechanical side has not been stressed as much for color as it was for sound, the effect upon an audience is as pronounced by addition of hued photography as it was when players first began to speak.” “Bright Lights” shows the true as well as untrue sides of a Broadway dancer’s life. Michael Curtiz directed. TECHNICOLOR KIND TO RED HAIR (Current Reader) Motion picture studios have been looking far and wide for red haired leading men and women .of late because of such players’ enhanced appearance in technicolor films. First National found a. titian topped leading man for “Bright Lights,” all-color musical producLION, at= The 2s 4e ca Theatre in Frank Fay. The actor’s hair is naturally red and of the light auburn hue that has been found to photograph well in color films, according to Michael Curtiz, direc tor of the story. He is one of the first such leading men in technicolor stories. Fay, who is featured with Miss Mackaill, played in “Under a Texas Moon” and “The Show of Shows.” He came from the stage. “Red heads of both sexes have a natural beauty that the screen can now take full advantage of,’ said Curtiz. “For the time being they are aS popular as blondes are for black and white pictures. But red heads, light blondes, and dark brunettes can be used right now to great advantage in technicolor pictures.” “Bright Lights” is a melodrama of the theatre. The story is an original for the screen, by Humphrey Pearson. Prominent in the cast are Noah Beery, Daphne Pollard, James Murray, Tom Dugan, and others. MOVIE STUDIO HAS OWN DYE WORKS (Advance Reader ) Introduction of Technicolor: pictures has brought many new industries in motion picture studios. The latest: to be added was a complete dye works, built at First National Studio for “Bright Lights,” the all technicolor melodrama which COMCS! Seo ee to theo eee Theatre. The plant was installed for tinting and coloring the hundreds of costumes used by the large cast in this picture. The primary object was not to save money, although it accomplished that, but to enable both cloth and dye to .be technicolor tested, and only dyes used that best lend themselves to technicolor photography. Due to the great enlargement of screen presentation, ordinary colors tend to “fade” or grow “muddy.” Dyes used are of exceptional brilliancy and purity, and are mixed and blended on the studio lot. “Bright Lights” contains some of the most lavish and beautiful color settings ever devised for screen presentation. Dorothy Mackaill and Frank Fay are cast in the leads of the torrid love story of backstage. Prominent in the notable cast are Noah Beery, Daphne Pollard, James Murray, Tom Dugan, Inez Courtney, Frank McHugh, Edmund Breese, Eddie Nugent, and Philip Strange. Michael Curtiz directed. Brightest Love Story of the Hour! “If you knew her past you'd ; let me take her back.” oo oan Cut No. 16 Cut 60c Mat 15c Sto. by Humphrey Pearson Directed by Michael Curtiz with Eddie Nugent Inez Courtney Daphne Pollard Tom Dugan and James Murray Dorothy Mackaill FRANK FAY and NOAH BEERY RRS “Vitaphone” trade ie} is the registered mark of the Vitaphone Corp. ROCHESTERS .¢ EEN From queen of a thousand miners to belle of New York’s smart set . sweetheart best “catch.” What happens when one of her hearts comes to claim her on her wedding night? Only the screen can tell you the startling answer! With one of the greatest casts. Blending all the big moments into one of the year’s truly-great dramas. ALL IN TECHNICOLOR A FIRST NATIONAL\( WE TAPRO = to society’s African sweet v pte ftew-prominet.act “BRIGHT LIGHTS” BRINGS NEW DOROTHY MACKAILL TO SCREEN Co-starred With Frank Fay in Romantic Story of Girl’s Rise From the African Diamond Veldt. (Review—Silent) No matter what your tastes are, you’ll be royally en tertained at the Theatre, where “Bright Lights’’ is showing, when you take in this all-Technicolor, lavishly produced First National roadshow. “Bright Lights,” slangfully speaking, has everything in it but the kitchen stove, and yet it’s tight as a drum as a drama, perhaps because the plot was written expressly for the screen by Humphrey Pearson, the noted playwright. Moreover, Pearson himself, with Henry McCarty, adapted his story to the screen. DOROTHY MAGKAILL IN BIG DRAMATIC ROLE IN “BRIGHT LIGHTS” (Advance News) Forsaking comedy portrayals, Dorothy Mackaill assumes’ the greatest dramatic role of her film career in “Bright Lights,” First National’s. all-Technicolor melodrama with music, which opens Drip fen Weer ee at the Theatre. The humorous Dorothy of “The Flirting Widow” and “Strictly Modern” becomes a fiery hula dancer who tosses her grass skirts at admirers from Africa to Broadway. Then, engaged to the scion of a snobbish family of position and wealth, she is involved in a crime which changes her career. “Bright Lights” is the first Tech ‘nicolor picture in which she has appeared. Miss Mackaill is one of silent screen who has dared to attempt the leading role in a big musical production. Comments on her singing and dancing have been excellent, and she now takes a place along with the outstanding stars of the talking screen. She comes by her talent naturally as she was formerly a featured player in Ziegfeld’s “Follies.” She was also a star at the London Hippodrome. She was born in Hull, England. “Bright Lights” is one of the talking screen’s initial musical and color melodramas. The action covers much ground, but is mainly backstage in the Broadway theatre where Louanne, the hula dancer is playing her farewell engagement. _ Michael Curtiz, director of “Noah’s Ark” and “Under a Texas Moon,” directed this Vitaphone film. Frank Fay, leading man in the latter picture and master of ceremonies in “The Show of Shows,” appears opposite Miss Mackaill. Noah Beery is a Portuguese trader, and Daphne Pollard has a comedy portrayal. Others important in the lengthy cast are James Murray, Tom Dugan, Inez Courtney, Frank McHugh, Edmund Breese, Eddie Nugent and Philip Strange. “Bright Lights” is an original for the screen, written by Humphrey Pearson, author of ‘On With the Show.” Pearson and McCarty wrote the dialogue. Clarke, Akst and Ruby wrote the songs. MELODRAMA HAS COMEDY CAST The largest group of comedy players gathered into the cast of a musical talkie appear in First National’s “Bright Lights,” all-Technicolor and Vitaphone melodrama at the Theatre... It includes such able laugh getters as Frank Fay, Daphne Pollard, Tom Dugan, Inez Courtney, Frank McHugh, and Eddie Nugent. Dorothy Mackaill, erstwhile comedienne, but in a dramatic role in “Bright Lights,” Noah Beery, James Murray, and Philip Strange, hold up the melodramatic side of this unusual picture. ee eer e ree © Dorothy Mackaill is the heroine. It is her first film in color, and her admirers are going to love her all over again, for how that little blueeyed, blonde English girl shows up in Technicolor! Moreover, Pearson gave her the ideal characterization for her wide histrionic ability and type in his story. No less well suited is Frank Fay, comparatively a newcomer to the screen but familiar to showgoers in all the big cities as a famous master of ceremonies. In “Bright Lights” Fay plays the role of a master of ceremonies too, which naturally fits him like a glove. Noah Beery makes the ideal villain for the piece, and Daphne Pollard and Tom Dugan are a marvelous pair of comics. There is no space to dwell upon individual merits of other notable folk in the big cast, but you’ll enjoy them all. Then there are chorus girls by the hundred, and of all sorts too, including the kind they used to like in Africa down Kimberley way, in the diamond mining settlements. The story is unique inasmuch as Pearson has used a new dramatic device to condense its time and and yet embraces the evolution _ a dancer in an African dive into a famous New York revue star, via all manner of picturesque spots on earth and pursuits, such as “shaking a hula’ for a medicine show man. The master of ceremonies is traced in the same way. as her steerer in the African days, her barker, and then the distinguished favorite of the new stage profession. Pearson crams all of that into his drama, and without taking away a whit of the current suspense either, by letting reporters interview the girl on the eve of her marriage, as a big New York revue star, to a millionaire’s son. While she lies to them, glimpses of her real past are shown. These at the same time have vital bearing on the plot, for from the past comes a man who is to combine with the racketeers, chorus girls and piayboys of the present to build a big dramatic punch. It is a picture that will give everyone a big thrill, and yet it’s one for the whole family to see. Michael Curtiz directed it. ra GENEALOGY OF THE HULA Dorothy Mackaill personally— and capably — demonstrates the whole evolution of the hula dance in First National’s “Bright Lights,” at the Theatre. Featured with Frank Fay in the Technicolor, highly dramatic ¢inema recital of a roadway darling’s own evolution from a “hooch dancer” in a low African dive to a New York idol, through many exotic locales. Miss Mackaill evolves the dance with herself. Its progress is something like this: Africa: Stomach dance with rythmatic stamp. South Sea Islanders: hula. Frontier medicine show: The “hooch,” or “hoochey coochie.” Low cabarets: A “low down” negro combination of the hula and hooch. Famous New York revue: A new and improved “Black Bottom” combined with the above dance variations. Modified Page Five