Devil's Island (Warner Bros.) (1939)

PUBLICITY “\ Mat 203—30c TRON BARS — placed over a dark, damp hole in the ground, form the “pits,” dreaded punishment confinement for prisoners on “Devil's Island,” name of the stark film starring Boris Karloff, (above) which comes Friday to the Strand Theatre. (Current Feature) Grim Reality Of Set “Gets” Boris Karloff Boris Karloff, in ragged, soiled dungarees and shirt of hop-sacking, lies on a plank cot in a filthy, oppressive cell. It is for a scene in “Devil’s Island,” Warner Bros.’ picturization of life on the dread penal colony, which is playing now at the Strand Theatre. The cell is a cement-lined hole in the ground, approximately four feet wide, seven feet long and twelve feet deep. The filth is synthetic but nonetheless depressingly real. A negro convict orderly comes to the grating over the pit with food for Karloff and a message of cheer from the commandant’s wife. Karloff stands on the cot to receive the food and message. Then the guard returns to hurry the orderly along about his business, giving him a kick to aid him. Karloff, seeing the kick, cringes and Director William Clemens stops the scene. “No, Boris, you mustn’t cringe,” he says. ‘Remember that your spirit remains unbroken despite the cruel treatment you have had and the brutal things you have witnessed.” “I know,” Karloff replies, abashed, “but I couldn’t help myself. It’s the reality of this set that’s getting me. From a physchological standpoint I don’t see how any man’s spirit could remain unbroken under such conditions.” Star Of Silent Days Makes Comeback One of the greatest stars of silent days, Stuart Holmes, who after 20 years on the stage, and after pictures like “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” “The Four Horsemen” and “The Man who Laughs,” is now making his comeback playing bit parts. His latest role was in support of Boris Karloff in “Devil’s Island,” a story of the notorious island penal colony, filmed ‘by Warner Bros., which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. The role was small but it had a most important significance in the story. Holmes, convicted of treason, was shot and wounded by his guards in making his escape while en route to prison. Mellowed through his years of experience in talking pictures, Holmes is said to have done some excellent work in the highly dramatic scenes. His assignment to even more important roles may follow as a result. James Stephenson Halts Wandering James Stephenson’s. days of wandering are over — he hopes. And so do the executives of the Warner Bros. Studio, where he is under contract and worked last in a featured role in “Devil’s Island,” starring Boris Karloff, which comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday. But those days are over, for there is a definite campaign to keep Stephenson so busy in pictures that he won’t have time to humor his itching feet. And that suits him fine — except... “I would like to go back to Shanghai sometime,” he says wistfully, “after things have settled down over there.” The wanderer has taken root now — and lives happily with his wife, his Great Danes and his badminton court in Toluca Lake, a small suburban community only five minutes away from the Warner Bros. Studio. Technical Expert's Career Colorful As Film Plot One year after the World War started a young soldier wearing the uniform of France lay apparently dead at HartmannsWeilerskopf. He had safely transported an important message, and before resigning himself to Death had carefully placed the tri-color of France on his right side and the flag of his native Belgium on his left. The young soldier was Capt. Louis Van Den Ecker who today, alert, active and the picture of health, is noted as a technical advisor in Hollywood, the latest picture for which he served in that capacity on “Devil’s Island,” stirring Warner Bros. melodrama of life and adventure in the notorious penal colony, starring Boris Karloff, which is being shown currently at the Strand Theatre. Van Den Ecker spent 18 months in the hospital as a result of a shrapnel wound in his left thigh. At first it was thought he would die; then, after 23 operations, he was told he would never walk again. But he not only fooled them in this respect; he returned to active service at the front for the balance of the war. He ran away from home as a boy to join the Foreign Legion. He fought robber bands in IndoChina and pirates in the Malay Straits; he served with the French and Polish armies during the World War, is a Chevalier of French Legion of Honour, and a holder of the Croix de Guerre. “Devil's Island Playboy” Armand Spillers, popularly called by his native people “The Playboy of Devil’s Island,” escaped three times from French prisons and twice from the notorious island penal colony, according to Boris Karloff, who engaged in extensive research on the subject before assuming his starring role in the Warner Bros. melodrama, “Devil’s Island,” which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. The last time he escaped, he was never heard from again, but some insist he lived for awhile in Paris. LINEUP on (Opening Day) “Devil's Island” With Karloff Opening Today “Devil’s Island,” the Warner Bros. picture opening today at the Strand Theatre with Boris Karloff in the leading role depicts a system of penology so brutal and so heartless that it can be compared to the stark drama of the same company’s “T’'m a Fugitive From A Chain Gang.” The story told in Island” is, of course, fic: tional, but the background against which it is projected is authentic to the last degree. Karloff is presented as a highly respected Mat 102—15c honest surBoris Karloff geon who is himself convicted of treason because he has treated the wounds of a convicted traitor who has escaped from the authorities. Sentenced to Devil’s Island, he suffers through soulharrowing experiences, tries unsuccessfully to escape, and is “Devil’s soca eee about to have his life ended by the guillotine when he is saved by the intervention of the new minister of justice, who has arrived on the island to investigate the tales of shocking brutalities which have finally percolated through to the home government. Because the surgeon has performed a delicate operation to save the life of her daughter, the commandant’s wife, played by Nedda Harrigan, first tries to aid him in escaping and later attempts to save him from execution. Miss Harrigan and Rolla Gourvitch, the little girl who plays her daughter, are the only exceptions to an otherwise allmale cast, Besides Karloff, the cast also includes James Stephenson, Adia Kuznetzoff, Will Stanton, Robert Warwick, Pedro de Cordoba, Tom Wilson, Stuart Holmes, Leonard Mudie, Egon Brecher and Frank Reicher. The screen play was written by Kenneth Gamet and Don Ryan and was based on an original story by Anthony Coldewey and Raymond L. Schrock. William Clemens directed the production. “Sissies!” Says Mike Among the many strange jobs in Hollywood, there is that of Mike “Angelo” Kilpatrick, tattoo artist extraordinary. Frequently Mike is called upon to place strange and eery designs on the skins of sinister appearing characters for movie dramas of one sort or another, his latest being “Devil's Island,” with Boris Karloff. Nowadays men don’t like tattooing. “Bah, sissies,” exclaims Mike. Chosen From Class Play Nedda Harrigan, it seems, in doing the best she can, has done very well since she was in a class play at National Park Seminary in Washington and was seen by Margaret Anglin and offered a part in “A Woman of No Importance.” She has appeared in many stage and screen successes since then. “Devil’s Island” in a scene from the grim but revealing film now at Strand Theatre. [14] the Mat 204—30c Model Guillotines Convicts Hobby Devil’s Island convicts, existing in a living death, build miniature guillotines as a hobby. This grim diversion serves a two-fold purpose, according to Capt. Louis Van Den Ecker, technical advisor on the filming of “Devil’s Island,’ Warner Bros.’ sensational melodrama of life in the famed penal colony which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. As a spare time activity it helps preserve their sanity and serves as a reminder that their dream of one thing—Freedom— can become reality only through death. Few, however, ever wilfully seek release through this instrument. The men spend much of their spare time making the model guillotines, which are designed as cigar cutters, and they also make cigarette boxes and various carved pieces of teakwood, lamps, candlestick holders and other things of hammered copper and brass, is Many of the convict-made objects were obtained by Warner Bros. from collectors and world travellers for use in dressing the film sets representing the penal colony. Butterfly Pastime | An incongruous pastime of hardened, vicious criminals in the barren island prison colony is the capture of huge, brilliantly colored jungle butterflies, it was learned during the filming of Warner Bros.’ “Devil’s Island,” now playing at the Strand Theatre. The pastime represents one of their few opportunities to make money, for they sell the butterflies for small sums to prison officials.