British Intelligence (Warner Bros.) (1940)

PUBLICITY — PREPARED REVIEW, READERS Boris Karloff Says Make-Up Is Handicap For a Good Actor Boris Karloff prefers doing pictures in which his acting rather than make-up holds the spotlight; specifically something like the Warner Bros. spy film, “British Intelligence,’ which comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday. Karloff is glad to act without fearsome superstructure of make-up. All he wears to change his normal, private-life appearance is a scar that extends around his mouth and across his cheek. This, at one stage of the picture, he removes right before the camera. It is only camouflage for his dark and dirty spy work. “I’ve often been inclined to believe that a man can’t prove whether or not he can act when he’s covered up by such makeup as I often wear, or for that matter, when he hides behind a beard,” Karloff remarked. “You see, in motion picture work every slight expression of the face counts. And every bit of camouflage, such as my s.Gak.; even, robs the actor of one opportunity — and also, one responsibility. “‘Consider — with this thing on, I keep one side of my face rather stiff. I can’t act very expressively with that side, naturally. But having the scar removes my responsibility, gives me what you might call an alibi. On the other hand, I can do more, and must, or show myself up, when the unsearred profile is toward the camera. “That’s why probably —the hardest acting jobs in pictures are the sort pretty girls such as Margaret Lindsay do so well. Marked character lines, or a heavy, unusual face such as many characters have—such as I have, to a modified degree— undoubtedly make acting easier. “A woman’s smooth face is the mirror for the most subtle expressions the acting art is capable of producing. So such a woman has at once the greatest opportunity and the hardest, most responsible job.” Miss Lindsay plays opposite Karloff in “British Intelligence,” which is based on A. P. Kelly’s stage play, “Three Faces East.” Maris Wrixon Thanks Teacher for Success Maris Wrixon, the Great Falls, Montana, beauty who is clicking in Warner Bros. pictures lately, wouldn’t be in Hollywood now if she hadn’t been “discovered” by a home town casting expert. It was, of course, a Warner Bros. scout who located her when her acting began to attract attention of Pasadena Community Playhouse audiences. But she’d never have reached the Playhouse, or launched a dramatic career, Miss Wrixon says, if it hadn’t been for a drama teacher in high school who recognized her talent and urged her to develop it. She was given the lead in her class play and was voted the most popular girl in the class. The actress, who has light brown hair and blue eyes, is Mat 109—15c Boris Karloff currently in the _ spy film, “British Intelligence,’ with Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay, which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Page Eight STAR PAIR OF STRAND FILM Margaret Lindsay and Boris Karloff in an exciting scene from the Warner Bros.-First National film, ‘British Intelligence." The thrilling story of intrigue and espionage in European war comes to the Strand on Friday. Mat 208—30c (Review) ‘British Intelligence’’ Packs Wallop on the Strand Screen In keeping with its now wellestablished tradition of being the first on the screen with good pictures based on timely subjects, the Warner Bros. Studio has come up with another such winner—namely, “British Intelligence,”’ which opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre with Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay in the leading roles. The new Warner picture is an exciting, swiftly-moving recital of the activities of spies in wartime, and the two nations with whose espionage services it deals are England and Germany. Its period is that of the World War of 1914-1918, but the events it depicts are likely to be just as applicable to the current era. Both Karloff and Miss Lindsay play spies in this picture, and in their own way each is brilliantly effective. Karloff’s only concession to the sinister is a long scar across one of his cheeks, but that doesn’t prevent him from endowing his character with a quality of suave menace that in the end is just as effective in communicating terror as any of his past portrayals. Miss Lindsay is an_ ideal choice for her role of ace operative. The chief requisites for a girl to play this part were obviously that she be pretty, that she seem courageous and that she also appear convincingly intelligent . . . thus the young star was a perfect choice. At the outset of the story, Karloff is a super-spy in the service of Germany who has managed to convince the British Intelligence that he is working for England. And Miss Lindsay, while actually working for one country, has managed to con vince the other that she is working for them. With the girl always one jump ahead of execution, matters come to a climax at the home of a British Cabinet Minister, where Karloff is serving in the supposed capacity of butler. He learns that the entire British Cabinet is to hold a meeting at the house where he is working, and he sets a time-bomb in order to wipe out the whole cabinet. The suspense filled scenes’ resulting from this plot kept this reviewer right on the edge of his seat up to the last reel. The story, written by Lee Katz, was based upon the stage play by Anthony Paul Kelly and was excellently directed by Terry Morse. The entire cast is good and credit is due all the supporting players for their admirable performances. Hollywood Calls Actor Bruce Lester, the handsome young British actor who played the boy in “Boy Meets Girl,” went back to England following that success, intending to stay. He was speedily called back, however, and now intends to settle in Hollywood. His first picture after his return here was “British Intelligence,” the Warner Bros. spy melodrama coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. Boris Karloff Makes Up Boris Karloff wore an artificial scar on his face for three days at a time on occasions, during the filming of “British Intelligence,” the Warner Bros. film coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. The make-up department shaved him around the scar. Three days was the limit, though. The scar was waterproof and he could take his daily showers wearing it. Spy-Catcher Drills Stars Leon G. Turrou, ace spycatcher and former champ machine gunner of the FBI, taught Margaret Lindsay to operate a “Tommy.” Being new to Hollywood, he also offered to teach Boris Karloff, but the horror man turned down the offer, as he can’t bear to kill anything. Karloff and Miss Lindsay are featured at the Strand in Warner Bros.’ “British Intelligence.” FACTS ABOUT SCREEN STARS’ VOICES Margaret Lindsay was in rare speaking voice for the filming of her latest Warner Bros. picture, “‘British Intelligence,”’ which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre with Boris Karloff in the leading male role. That’s the way Stanley Jones, sound man on the set, put it. Jones would never say, “She has the nicest voice in pictures.” Being an engineer by trade, he doesn’t specialize in diplomacy. Being an engineer, however, he’s factual. And this, says Jones, is the fact. Voices of screen stars vary according to health and other less accountable reasons, so that between a given star’s best and worst voice is a greater gap than between the best voice forms of various stars. He excepts, with a grin, Andy Devine of the gravel tones, Smiley Burnette’s bull-frog obligatto, Ned Spark’s twang and a few others. By and large, however, there’s not a great range of choice in screen speaking voices. They’re all rather good, Jones points out, or they wouldn’t be speaking from the screen. “Oddly enough, colds often improve voices. I noted a very pleasant effect when Gloria Dickson and Marie Wilson had bad throat colds recently,” Jones observed. “Miss Lindsay, however, seems to be in best voice when she is in fine health.” Bette Davis has probably the most flexible voice of any actress, he declared; it can be mellow or brittle at her command, and is full of tone expression of the subtlest varieties. Ann Sheridan’s voice has a throaty, velvet quality always associated with sex allure; Henry O’Neill and John Litel are both great line readers with fine, consistent voices; Miriam Hopkins can undoubtedly say a greater number of perfectly pronounced, unabbreviated words per second than anyone on the screen; Ronald Reagan’s voice has amazing strength and clarity via the mike. And in general, older players have a far narrower range between their worst and_ best speaking voices, says Jones, than younger ones. Boris Karloff’s, for example, is much more consistently the same than Miss Lindsay’s. Margaret’s voice, however, is never unpleasant when “off”; rather it lacks timbre and volume. There’s another exceptionally fine voice in the film that features Karloff and Miss Lindsay, Jones declares. It belongs to Holmes Herbert, matinee idol of silent films. Cleanliness Gives Beauty, Says Star Margaret Lindsay Margaret Lindsay analyzes beauty with one word—cleanliness. Whether portraying one of her frequent nurse roles or the part of a spy as she does in “British Intelligence,” the Warner Bros.First National picture coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday, Margaret herself always has “that scrubbed look.” Thoroughness and regularity in cleansing are a big part of the Lindsay beauty creed. Margaret has her hair shampooed weekly with soap and water but brushes it nightly with a stiff brush having a thin layer of cotton over the top to catch all dust and oil. She cleanses her face before retiring with three applications of cream, removing with tissue, and uses soap and water every morning. She always gives her face two soapings and rinses with a spray which finishes off in een os CN stream. Every night Margaret washes her eyes with a pure, warmed lotion and removes eye make-up with cream. Occasionally she uses an ear syringe filled with warm water into which has been dropped a pinch of baking soda and a few drops of peroxide. She brushes her teeth once a day with dental powder, once with clear water and once with baking soda. Twice a day she scrubs her nails with a brush and thick suds. She washes her hands frequently and always follows with a softening cream. A luxurious tub bath in the evening and a cool shower in the morning rate a place on Margaret’s beauty chart. No Punches Pulled in ‘British Intelligence’ Now that war clouds bring back into popularity a form of motion picture that dates back to World War times, the studio prop shops are digging deep. The Warner Bros. spy film, “British Intelligence,” opening Friday at the Strand, is of the World War period. Props had to be unearthed which the company acquired through various deals, absorptions and amalgamations, dating back to 1916. The theme of “British Intelligence” centers around espionage and counter-espionage, and results of spy information used in war are vividly portrayed. That meant battle scenes of all sorts. Among the sets used were front-line trenches, stretches of No Man’s Land, war-torn villages on all the various fronts, and even a British estate and its vicinity. Dog-fights in the air, naval clashes, even submarines figure in the film. For this reason it may go down in film annals as the first picture of a new era: war with sound and no punches pulled. The famous old war pictures, it will be recalled, were all made long before the screen began to talk. Principal backgrounds for the new spy picture, however, are English and French estates, cottages well behind the lines, offices of high British, French and German espionage agents, and so on. The glimpses of war, comprehensive as they are and as full of headaches for the prop men, are brief on the screen in the completed film. Mat 108—15c Margaret Lindsay