Deception (Warner Bros.) (1946)

Star Says Screen Roles Enhance His Worldly Knowledge It is Claude Rains’ conviction that he has never enacted a screen role which didn’t add in some way to his over-all knowledge or accomplishments. His current role in Warner Bros.’ “Deception,” which stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Rains, is no exception. For his role in the film Rains had to learn (1) piano technique and (2) how to conduct a symphony orchestra. “That doesn’t mean,” the actor says, “that Pll ever become a pianist or a conductor as a result, but it does mean that I will enjoy music and concerts even more than before with the additional academic knowledge I have acquired.” Has Aided In Travel Rains recalls that for “The Sea Hawk,” he had to learn to speak a little bit of Spanish. “Very helpful,’ he says, ‘on my south-of-the-border trips.” In “Four Daughters,” he learned to play the lute for his part as Father Lemp. He learned to fence for “Anthony Adverse”; he acquired a smattering of chemistry for his role in ‘““White Banners;” and he was taught the proper handling of medical instruments when he enacted Dr. Tower in “Kings Row.” The actor also remembers that once, for a picture ‘a long time ago whose title I choose to forget,” he learned how to pinch snuff. “That,” he says, “added to my accomplishments all right, but only for the duration of the role. My wife would put up with no more of my sneezes, and all my friends were weary of telling me, ‘God bless you!’ ” “Deception,” a romantic drama about a woman who loves two men, opens Friday at the Strand. It’s Good Luck, Not Rain, When Heavens Open Up Bette Davis intends to check with the United States Weather Bureau to determine if there was a measurable precipitation on the day she started her newest Warner Bros. picture, “Deception,” in which she is currently starring with Paul Henreid and Claude Rains at the Strand Theatre. Plenty of Evidence The star was sure it had to rain. Because rain belongs in Bette’s Department of Good Omens. It rained the day she was born. It rained the day she won her first stage engagement. It rained the day she left the East Coast for Hollywood. A rain storm delayed — and indirectly prevented — her departure from Hollywood when she was despairing of a film career. It rained during her most dramatic scene in “Jezebel,” for which role she won the Academy Award. Director Irving Rapper, who directed “Deception,” scorns superstition of any sort, and assured Miss Davis that it didn’t rain the day filming started— not even any dew. Miss Davis was not that easily discouraged. “Tm sure it must have,” she said determinedly. The Script Called For Action, All Right, But Didn‘t Supply Necessary Sound Effects Claude Rains is quite the continental gentleman, but he wasn’t continental enough to know what a “Gallic lip sound”? means. The actor, in pre-production rehearsals for his role in Warners’ “Deception,” in which Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Rains are currently starring at the Strand, encountered several times in the script the following parenthetical direction for reading his lines: ‘tGallic lip sound.” Mr. Rains remained puzzled until set straight by director Irving Rapper. Love Monotonous? Never To Him, Says Film Star “Love is a wonderful thing,” says Paul Henreid, “even in the movies.” And love is one thing in which Henreid is invariably entangled whenever he appears in a movie, which is often. Currently, the actor is making love to Bette Davis in Warner Bros.’ ‘“‘Deception” at the Strand Theatre. The amorous dealings are a repetition of the time, four years ago, when he made love to Bette Davis in “Now, Voyager.” “The trouble with love on the screen,’ says Henreid, “is that often it is either too maudlin or too comic. You can’t overdo it and you can’t make fun of it. But if a film tells a love story with good taste, then it is bound to be a success. Maybe the reason for that is that love is so universal.” Henreid believes that only sensitive, emotional women “who have loved deeply in real life” can be genuinely romantic on the screen. He and Bette are confronted with no less than nine love scenes in “Deception,” and that is something of a record even for Henreid who has been making movie love ever since he came to Hollywood six years ago. He made love to Michele Morgan in “Joan of Paris.” He made love to Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca.” There followed romantic engagements with such actresses as Hedy Lamarr, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker, Olivia de Havilland, and now Bette Davis again. Monotonous? “No,” says the romantic star. “Not monotonous for me. What kind of a man would I be if I didn’t enjoy making love to beautiful women—even if it is only makebelieve?” Claude Rains is also starred in “Deception,” a romantic drama about a beautiful woman in love with two men. Still No. PH 166 lf Glaude Rains Lacks Charm Blame lt All On G.B.S. It’s George Bernard Shaw’s fault that Claude Rains refuses to be ‘‘charming” on the screen. The actor explained this to Bette Davis and Irving Rapper, the director, who were using their combined persuasive powers to induce Rains to put some charm into a scene with Miss Davis in Warner Bros.’ “Deception,” the Strand Thea© tre’s current feature which stars Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Rains. “IT gave up trying to be charming twenty years ago,” Rains explained, “thanks to Mr. Shaw’s sarcasm.” He was performing an obscure Shaw play in London, Rains recounted, in the role of a “charming” young aviator. It was a light play and a light role, and Rains was treating them both as such. “A few days after the opening,’ he recalled, “I received a penny postal card from Shaw. On it was written: ‘My dear Mr. Rains— Must you be so chaaaarming? Sincerely, G.B.S.’ “That,” Rains said, ‘cured me.” PAUL HENREID plays opposite Bette Davis once again in Warner Bros.’ new romantic drama, 'Deception,"’ opening Friday at the Strand Theatre. The film MAT No. 2F also stars Claude Rains. Bette Davis Hopes To Gut New Trail With New Trailer Bette Davis and her husband, William Sherry, recently purchased a new three-room trailer which they expect to use in the near future for a leisurely cross countL 20 Ur: They hope to visit several of the national parks and then wind up at Bette’s home in New Hampshire. This is a trip that the star has long wanted to make but which she was unable to take because of film commitments. The trailer was temporarily moved onto Stage 7 at Warner Bros., where the bedroom was re-fittéd and used as a dressing room for the actress during the filming of ‘Deception,’ her most recent screen assignment at Warners, in which she is currently co-starring with Paul Henreid and Claude Rains at the Strand Theatre. New Role Provides Welcome Wardrobe Changes For Star Bette Davis plays a _ welldressed Park Avenue woman in her current screen portrayal. And she loves it. “After kicking around in a great many pictures in slacks and tatters or crinoline and calico,” she says, “it’s a pleasure to be garbed on the elegant side.” Miss Davis qualifies her statement by explaining that her wardrobe is one of “sensible elegance—the kind a _ welldressed but not over-dressed New York woman would have.” Her current, sensible elegance is on view in Warner Bros.’ “Deception,” now at the Strand, a romantic drama which also stars Paul Henreid and Claude Rains. Bernard Newman, dress designer, is responsible for the elegance. He has designed a modern wardrobe of eleven changes, ranging from black suits to filmy grey evening gowns and even an ermine wrap. “Women are all alike in one respect, I guess,” the star says. “Clothes give them a spiritual lift.” In her last film, “A Stolen Life,” Miss Davis alternated between slacks and blouses and housewifely polka dots and aprons. In “The Corn is Green” she wore the period costumes of a Welsh schoolmistress—a spinster, at that. The star considers her ‘Deception’ wardrobe the finest from a modern good-taste standpoint since “Dark Victory” in 1938. “Actually,” she says, “I suppose I will never be better dressed than I was in ‘Elizabeth and Essex.’ I was the Queen of England. But for heaven’s sakes, who wants to be well dressed in the 16th Century?” Bette Davis Mat No. IA ‘Deception’ Reunites Expert Film Foursome “Deception,” Warner Bros.’ current drama at the Strand, reunites Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, who are co-starred in the film, and director Irving Rapper. Four years ago the same quartet of talent worked together in ‘Now, Voyager.”