Captured! (Warner Bros.) (1933)

(Advance) Cleaning Department Had To Keep Uniforms Dirty 300 Uniforms Had to Be Kept Sodden and Mud Caked for Prison Camp Scenes in “Captured!” NY member of a studio wardrobe department will tell you that it’s a big job to keep three hundred costumes clean, during the making of a picture. But it’s an even bigger job to keep three hundred costumes dirty. And that’s the job that the wardrobe department of Warner Bros. studios found eut out for them, during at least half of the production of ‘‘Captured!’’ a powerful drama, starring Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Paul Lukas, which comes to the Theatre on Perhaps “dirty” is too mild a word to describe the condition that the uniforms of one hundred and fifty officers and men had to be delivered in, each morning, for the better part of two weeks. Spattered and stained from weeks of unrelieved marching and fight aoe Xe, DOUGLAS ing, coats FAIRBANKS, JR. 8Ti™y an d splashed with Cut Ne. 1 a j Out 15¢e Mat 5e mud, oots caked with the battle torn soil of the western front, —that’s what the script called for, and Director Roy Del Ruth, who is a stickler for one hundred percent realism, insisted on having every uniform live up to specifications. As each day of production went on, each uniform became filthier “th every shot. For the first half ~wor™tne picture, the prison camp is a] morass of mud—kept in a state of puree of daily drenchings of rain. It is winter when the detachment of prisoners who figure in the tremendous drama of “Captured!” arrive at the encampment that is to be their home for the duration of the war. All the scenes that weren’t taken inside one of the numerous buildings in the camp were photographed in a driving downpour of rain. Uni forms that were already sodden with dirt were rendered more uncomfortable by being saturated with water. | 2 Changes Daily | The wardrobe department was strictly forbidden, during the “dirty days” of the production, to do anything more to the uniforms than dry them out. So drenched did they become that two complete outfits were provided for every actor in the company, and a dry, though equally dirty uniform was put on at the noon hour for the afternoon’s shooting. Each morning, when the company reported for work, they were lined up for inspection by the wardrobe men and the property crew, to be sure that every one was dirty enough to pass muster. Anybody who failed to qualify was ordered to fall out and was given a thorough going over in the nearest mud pool on the stage. The unfortunate extra whose uniform looked too clean, was the target for handfuls of mud, aimed by unfeeling property men at every part of him but his face. The news that the rain-and-mud episodes of the picture were com pleted brought almost as much enthusiasm from the members of the company, from Leslie Howard and Doug. Fairbanks down, as the news of the Armistice did from the boys in the trenches on November 11, 1918. Springtime had come to the forbidding prison camp. What was more to the point, a new regime had been installed in the person of a tolerant and sympathetic commandant. The men were allowed to do everything they could to make their lives as normal as_ possible while prisoners of war. For the entire last half of the picture, the camp was completely transformed. And then it became a perfect setting for the powerful drama and unusual love story that makes “Captured!” such a_sensational picture. The wardrobe department’s task became precisely the opposite of what it had been. Now it was the duty of the department to keep the uniforms clean until the picture had been completed. Among others in the cast are such experienced players as Margaret Lindsay, Frank Reicher, John Bleifer, Arthur Hohl, Robert Barrat, Joyce Coad, William LeMaire, J. Carroll Naish and Reginald Pasch. The picture is an adaptation by Edward Chodorov of Sir Philip Gibbs’ famous novel, “Fellow Prisoners.”’ “‘Captured!”’ Marked by Vast Replica Camp Set Robert Haas, Art Director who designed the mammoth set of a German prison camp for the Warner Bros. picture, “Captured!” now at the Bree rr Rrra e ee Theatre, was congratulated by scores of German war veterans playing in the production on the fidelity to detail of the barbed wire enclosure with its mud holes, shell shattered buildings, dungeons, watch towers, etc. Then they discovered that Bob was a German himself and knew all about such camps. “Captured!” is a dramatic and _ exciting picture of life and love in one of these camps on the Western Front during the war, based on the story by Sir Philip Gibbs. It carries an all star cast including Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Margaret Lindsay, Paul Lukas,|} ARTHUR HOHL—‘The Arthur Hohl and Robert Barrat. SCENE FROM “CAPTURED” a LESLIE HOWARD is seen in a thrilling sequence from his latest hit, “Captured” which will be seen at the ..... ae etn o ae ees Theatre beginning 22 ee Cut No.10 Cut 380c Mati10c SCREEN BIOGRAPHIES LESLIE HOWARD — ‘‘Animal Kingdom,” ‘“Smilin’ Through,” “Devotion,” “Secrets,” “Never the Twain,” “A Free Soul,” “Five and Ten.” DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.— “The Narrow Corner,” “The Life of Jimmy Dolan,” “Parachute Jumper,’ “Scarlet Dawn,” “Love Is a Racket.” PAUL LUKAS—“Grand Slam,” “Women Love Once,” “The Vice Squad,” “Behind the Makeup,” “THlusion,” “The Right To Love,” “The Devil’s Holiday.” MARAGARET LINDSAY—“Private Detective 62,” “Baby Face,” “Voltaire,’ “Cavalcade,” “All Ameriean,’ “Once In a Lifetime.” Narrow Corner,” “Baby Face,” “Private | ACTION GALORE FOUND IN “CAPTURED”, NEW DRAMA os A distinguished cast portraying a thrilling story was the formula used in making “Captured,” latest Warner Bros. super-drama. Leslie Howard shares honors with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Paul Lukas. Margaret Lindsay has the leading feminine role. Page Sia Cut No. 22 Cut 60¢ Mat 20c Detective 62,” “The Life of Jimmy Dolan,” “Central Airport,” “The Silk Express.” ROBERT BARRAT—“The Silk Express,” “Baby Face,’ “Lilly Turner,” “Picture Snatcher,” “The — Mayor of Hell,” “Heroes for Sale.” FRANK REICHER— Rasputin,” “King Kong,” “The White Sister,” “Employees’ Entrance,” “Scarlet Dawn,” “Bedtime Story,” “Ngpta Hari.” ih WILLIAM LE MAIRE—“Silv. Dollar,” “Searlet Dawn,” “Twent: Thousand Years in Sing Sing. Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.” J. CARROL NAISH—“Elmer the Great,” “The Kid from Spain,” “Crooner,” “Tiger Shark,” “Week End Marriage,” “Two Seconds,” “The Hatchet Man.” German Inscriptions Puzzled Players on Set for ‘“Captured!’’ The fact the signs throughout the big German Military prison camp set for the Warner Bros. picture “Captured!” now at the Cheatre, are all in German, gave rise to an amusing incident during the production. A big rawboned Texan playing one of the 200 prisoners who are the inmates of a German prison camp, somewhat bewildered. “Bar he was able to make out A fellow-prisoner, was rake” meant barracks. a German, explained to him that “Briefe” on something that looked like a mailbox, stood for “Letters.” Finally he stopped in front of the big half-open shed opposite the Commandant’s quarters. A neatly lettered inscription read, “Entlausungsanstalt.” “What does that stand for?” the Texan exclaimed, half to himself. Frank Reicher, who plays the adjutant of the camp, explained that it meant in English a delousing station. The Texan looked indignant. “Why don’t they say so, then, instead of beating around the bush?” Leslie Howard and Doug Fair| banks, Jr., have the principal roles | in “Captured!” with Paul Lukas, | Robert Barrat, Margaret Lindsay and Arthur Hohl in other important parts. Roy Del Ruth directed the picture, which is an adaptation by Edward Chodorov of Sir Philip | Gibbs’ exciting novel.