Devotion (Warner Bros.) (1946)

Theatre Veteran Finds Out Films Are Hard Work The only trouble with being a fine actor in Hollywood is that you’re worked to death. Sydney Greenstreet knows all about that. In only a few years in Hollywood, the actor has made more than a dozen pictures. And that is something. Especially is it tough when you consider that Greenstreet’s roles are not of the usual Hollywood “Hello-goodbye-be-seeing-you” type. A Sydney Greenstreet part usually comes close to being the kernel of any picture in which he appears. That’s the way it turned out in “The Maltese Falcon,” his first. Audiences didn’t know his name, but the answers to nearly all the sneak-preview cards asking ‘“‘Who gives the best performance?” read “The fat man.” That was Sydney, who weighs in at a solid two-hundred-eighty pounds of actor. Warner Bros., where Sydney punches in, knew right then that they had something. Taking advantage of his leave of absence “The most important thing with me in pictures is to keep from being typed. I started as an arch-heavy in ‘The Falcon,’ and feared for a while that I’d stay as a big bad man. Three Interesting Women Perfectly Cast In Film Three of Hollywood’s most interesting young women are playing the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, in Warner Bros.’ newest drama, “Devotion,” currently at the Strand. This is logical because the Brontes were pretty interesting, themselves. The three players most involved are Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino and Nancy Coleman and the sets where these three lovely ladies worked were among the most popular spots on the studio grounds as long as “Devotion” Still No. S 634 Mat 109—15c¢ SYDNEY GREENSTREET discards his villainy and portrays the convivial Thackeray in Warners’ "Devotion," currently at the Strand. Co-starred with him in the thrilling drama of love are Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Paul Henreid. from the Lunt-Fontanne production of “There Shall Be No Night,” Warners rushed him into his second picture, “They Died With Their Boots On,” in which he scored as Gen. Winfield Scott. When the Lunts wound up their road _ tour, Greenstreet, who had grown to like Hollywood, broke a rule of years’ standing to sign a studio contract. That was only a few years ago and he’s rarely been out of camera range since. Greenstreet, who was born in Sandwich, Kent, England, likes Hollywood and says he has settled down there for good. “I’m comfortable up here,” he says. “I’ve done my traveling. I am over sixty-five now and I have come to Hollywood because I think there is tremendous scope for great work here. “Luckily, and I intend to keep it that way, I haven’t. Warners changed my characterization for ‘They Died With Their Boots On,’ when I played Gen. Scott. I was a heavy again as an enemy agent in ‘Across The Pacific? and a sort of benevolent ‘mystery man in ‘Casablanca.’ “For ‘Background to Danger’ I reverted to evil again as head of the Nazi Gestapo but in ‘Conflict? I was a psychiatrist who sent murderer Humphrey Bogart to his execution. In the fantasy ‘Between Two Worlds’ I was a representative of the supreme authority in the netherworld, charged with the responsibility of judging mortals for entrance into heaven or the other place, while in ‘Passage to Marseille’ I was once more a heavy of diabolical proportions. “ ‘Devotion,’ my current film, has me cast as William Makepeace Thackeray, a _ perfectly lovely gentleman. But in ‘The Mask of Dimitrios’ I switched back to a man of mystery and dark doings. In ‘The Conspirators’ I was good again, leading the underground pledged to destroy the Nazis, but in ‘Christmas. in Connecticut,’ I was a plain stuffed shirt, neither good nor bad. Now, that is what I call running the gamut of types.” Actually Sydney had never played a menace before coming to Hollywood. In the theatre, seventy-five percent of his roles were straight comedy, which isn’t hard to realize, considering his out-size. He also played in musical comedy for ten years. If Greenstreet has any criticism of Hollywood actors, and he is very loathe to criticize anything or anyone, it is that they don’t work hard enough. “Maybe I can’t help it,” he says. “Maybe it’s old-fashioned on my part, but I have to be letter-perfect in my lines before setting foot on a stage. Guess I was brought up that way.” Co-starred with Greenstreet in Warners’ “Devotion” are Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Paul Henreid. The film, an unusual romantic triangle, opens on Friday at the Strand. was before the cameras. Still No. D 28 Mat 201—30c "Devotion" between brother and sister (Arthur Kennedy and Ida Lupino) reaches a high point in the dramatic scene above from Warner Bros.’ stirring new film by that title, currently at the Strand Theatre. Besides Miss Lupino, the film also stars Olivia de Havilland, Paul Henreid and Sydney Greenstreet. The girls were all well chosen for these unusual roles. The Brontes were writers and poets and, together, made up a closely knit family with their brother, Branwell, and their clerical father. These same characters make up the heart and substance of “Devotion.” Arthur Kennedy plays the role of Branwell and Montagu Love portrays the patient father of the remarkable tribe. Olivia has written verse. She still does, on occasion, she admits, and, although none of it has been published in modern anthologies of poetry, neither were the early works of Charlotte Bronte, whom she portrays in the picture. Emily, played by Ida Lupino, is most famous, perhaps, as the best poet of the family and the author of “Wuthering Heights.” Miss Lupino disclaims all ambitions to become a poet in her own right but she likes to dabble in the arts, including that of the playwright. She builds little dramas for home _ production with her immediate circle of friends, often writing both lines and music. Nancy Coleman plays the role of Anne Bronte. She, too, has confided that she'}has written verse and she admits, when pressed, that one of her bureau drawers at home is half filled with poetry by Nancy Coleman. The Bronte sisters’ seriousness of purpose is a quality shared by the actresses. Three more determined young women cannot be found. AND THESE ADDITIONAL THUMBNAIL MATS—15c EACH Mat 107—15c Ida Lupino Mat 102—15e¢ Paul Henreid Mat 104—15¢ Sydney Greenstreet Mat 106—15¢ _ Victor Francen Mat 105—15c¢ Arthur Kennedy Mat 101—15¢ Nancy Coleman. Page Eleven