Dr. Socrates (Warner Bros.) (1935)

Ann Dvorak Shot Again To Make Film Exciting Feminine Lead In “Dr. Socrates” Says She’s Tired Of Being A Target A siren screamed down the hill and from the salmon eolored limousine standing in front of the Big Bend bank came a burst of machine gun and pistol fire. In the black police car two machine guns chattered in reply. A girl darted around the salmon colored car and ran like a frightened rabbit toward the little park in the center of the street. Just as she reached it, a bullet spun her around and she fell face downward by the wall. Ann Dvorak had been shot again, this time for the Warner Bros. picture “Dr. Socrates,” Which comes TO<tHe <2... ..55...:.:05<--8 WGA UREs OU csr sees , with Paul Muni in the stellar role. Some actresses go through life without being shot. But not Miss Dvorak. In the six years she has been a featured player, she has been shot four times. Twice she has been shot to death. In “Dr. Socrates” the script writer was kind to her. He decreed that she should be spared, and only wounded her. The first time Miss Dvorak was shot was in “Searface” with Muni. Her body was riddled with machine gun bullets as she battled with the law at Muni’s side. In “Molly Louvaine” she was “shot” with a revolver but the wound was not fatal. In “Three On a Match,” Miss Dvorak met a violent end but without benefit of firearms. She jumped through a window. Only a few months ago, Miss Dvorak came to a gory end, this time at the hands of Barton MacLane in “G-Men.” He shot her as she stood in a telephone booth. He used a pistol, which at close range, seemed just as effective as a machine gun. It is MacLane also who is the eause of Miss Dvorak’s gun trouble in “Dr. Socrates.” She accepts a ride in his car as he is on his way to hold up the bank and in the battle between the gangsters and the law a stray bullet hits her. Miss Dvorak is getting a little tired of this shooting business. She doesn’t like guns. People use them to kill animals and Miss Dvorak is rabid on the subject of hunting. She hopes there won’t even be a cap pistol in her next picture. She’s glad she wasn’t cast in “Captain Blood.” They use eannons in that one and she’s certain that someone would have insisted that she take a cannon ball in the back. In “Dr. Socrates” Miss Dvorak plays the role of a girl kidnaped by bank bandits. The picture is a powerful drama by W. R. Burnett, author of “Little Caesar.” It is crammed full of exciting episodes and ANN DVORAK with PAUL MUNI in ct Dr; Socrates’’ at the Strand. Mat No. 103 10¢ thrilling situations in which a neurotic doctor traps a band of bank robbers, and by a ruse dopes them with morphine. The stirring action cures the doctor of his malady and wins for him the beautiful girl he loves. In the cast besides Miss Dvorak, are Barton MacLane, Robert Barrat, John Eldredge and a score of others. William Dieterle directed the production. Film Hiteh Hiker Technique Flops For Ann Dvorak Ann Dvorak plays the part of a hitch-hiker very convincingly in the Warner Bros. production “Dr. Socrates” which comes to HONS Ba ain erence Theatre on Bc: ter or ee , with Paul Muni in the stellar role. In the film she has no trouble at all getting rides. Everybody and his brother tries to pick her up. But when she really needed a lift on the highway, she tried every known technique of thumb bending without success. Clad in the khaki trousers, boots and shirt she wears in the hitch-hiking sequence in the picture, Miss Dvorak drove out the San Fernando valley to look at some property. On a lonely road, the car ran out of gas and Miss Dvorak started hoofing it to the nearest service station, three miles away. She saw a car coming and hailed it. The car only went faster. Another car hove in sight. This time Ann waved her whole arm but the car didn’t stop. After several more had passed she finally walked to the service station. “Dr. Socrates” is a powerful and dramatie story by W. R. Burnett, author of “Little Caesar” in which Muni as a neurotic doctor leads the government agents in the capture of a band of crooks and incidentally recovers from his malady in doing so. There is a fascinating romance with Ann Dvorak playing opposite Paul Muni. Others in the cast include Barton MacLane, Robert Barrat, John Eldredge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Helen Lowell, Mayo Methot and Henry O’Neill. William Dieterle directed the picture from the screen play by Robert Lord. Mary C. McCall, Jr. adapted the story. Cow Bawls When Muni Courts Ann Dvorak Cows may be contented, but they have no sense of romance, declares Paul Muni, now starring in the Warner Bros. picture, “Dr. Socrates,” which comes to the Theatre In the film Muni has a tender love scene with Ann Dvorak, which takes place in a cow meadow. When Muni began to whisper tender nothings to Miss Dvorak five of the cows bolted for their barns. They were brought back and tied. When action began again, one of the cows mooed. It bawled mournfully every time Muni said, “I Love You.” The cow was taken home. It’s a good thing they don’t let cows in theatres,” said Director William Dieterle. Muni and Ann gave him a dirty look. Muni Buys Sun Helmet And Then It Rains Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak and Barton MacLane are out $8. The three players, while working at Warner Bros. in “Dr. Socrates,” now showing at the .......... Stee eee Theatre, paid out eight dollars when Muni suggested they buy sun helmets. It was a hot day when Muni got the idea. After Muni bought six for him self and each of the others bought one, the weather was anything but warm. There was fog and rain until the picture was finished. PU BET 64 T Y @ Muni Quits Juggling Act When Seals Do lt Better Star Of “Dr. Socrates”” A Juggler In Burlesque When A Boy A young man with a clipped black moustache was balancing a long pole on his chin when we came up. Carefully he kept the pole steady, holding his arms outstretched, and then he suddenly stepped back, giving his chin a little flip. The pole dropped straight down, he caught it on his open palm and kept it balanced there. This reporter, who has watched Paul Muni flee from They're Coming To Strand | Paul Muni, (right) as the ‘‘Scarface’’ of Medicine, Ann Dvorak, a lovely derelict of the motor highways, and Barton MacLane (left) Hollywood’s No. 1 killer, give what are described as unforgettable characterizations in ‘‘ Dr. Socrates,’’ written by W. R. Burnett, author of ‘‘ Little Caesar.’’ This story of a medical outcast who put gangdom on the operating table filmed by Warner Bros., opens at the BEE ta TRCOCEE= Oi. = os eee Mat No. 202—20c Entire Town Constructed For New Paul Muni Film Star Plays Role Of Small Town Physician In “‘Dr. Socrates” During the gold rush, towns grew overnight in California. GD tos) 3 on] 5 History has repeated itself. A town complete in every detail, with stores, hotels, banks and homes suddenly took form near Griffith Park, Hollywood. It is the town of Big Bend, built by Warner Bros., for Paul Muni’s new starring picture, ‘‘Dr. Socrates,’’ which comes. to the: 2n.........c.6. oT REREPG. OF. 2a Save for one sequence, the raid of federal men and vigilantes on a gangster hide-out, the entire action of the picture takes place in the town. The usual street scenes on the Warner Bros. lot were found to be inadequate, and carpenters went to work and built Big Bend on the Warner ranch across the river from the studio. One of the exciting scenes of the picture, the holdup of the Big Bend bank, in which Ann Dvorak, who plays opposite Muni, is wounded, was in the new town. As this was shot from all angles, the ordinary bank ‘‘front,’’ usually used in pictures, was not adequate, so the entire bank had to be built. Because Big Bend is a middle western town, great care was taken in the planting of trees and shrubbery. Eucalyptus trees would be out of place in Big Bend, so a spot was selected where no such trees grew. Oaks, ecatalpas, cot tonwoods and elms were planted in the new town. Much of the action takes place in the home of Dr. Lee Caldwell, played by Muni, and a two story house, replica of an old Iowa home occupied by a country doctor was built to represent it. Even the wall paper is an exact copy of that used in the early part of this century in the middle west. ‘Dr. Socrates’? is a powerful drama by W. R. Burnett, author of ‘‘Little Caesar,’?’ in which Muni as a neurotic doctor, leads the government agents in the capture of a band of crooks and ineidentally recovers from his malady in doing so. There is a fascinating romance with Ann Dvorak playing opposite Muni. Others in the cast include Barton MacLane, Robert Barrat, John Eldredge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Helen Lowell, Mayo Methot and Henry O’Neill. William Dieterle directed. chain gangs, gamble, edit a col umn for the lovelorn and battle with the law, had come to watch him play the part of a doctor in Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Dr. Socrates,’’ now showing at the .......0.......... Theatre. But the reporter had never seen him juggle before. ‘‘Fine,’’ the audience applauded. ‘“‘T used to be much better,’’ said Mr. Muni. ‘‘Once I could put a billiard ball on the tip of a cue and balance the cue on the end of my nose. I was in burlesque when I was a boy. I was the juggler. But I gave it up.’’ “Why??? ““T found out that seals have a better sense of balance,’’ he replied. ‘‘And when I saw that a seal could do my act better than I could, I lost my desire to balanee a billiard cue on the end of my nose.’’ This was a new phase in the life of Paul Muni. We knew he was born in Vienna, that he had come to the United States when a very small child, and that he had been on the stage since he was eleven years old. We knew that in addition to be-— ing a student of literature, art, history and economics, he was a fine violinist. We knew that he had fought his way up until he was conceded to be the outstanding character actor on the stage and screen. But this part of his life, when he was a juggler with a burlesque troupe, we did not know. ‘*T would just as soon forget about it,’’ said Muni. ‘‘I was really very bad. ‘‘They didn’t pay me much,’’ Muni went on. ‘‘I only did it on Sunday. You see, at the time IL was with the Yiddish players. We did not work on Sunday. So to earn some extra money, a group of us put on a Sunday burlesque show. ‘CAs I had a sense of balance and could juggle a little, that was my contribution. I began to look forward to those Sundays when I moved across the stage balancing a chair, or a pool cue, or a sheet of newspaper on my nose and keeping half a dozen balls in the air at the same time. I began to think I was pretty good. “*One night I went to a vaudeville house to get some pointers on balancing and juggling and saw a troupe of trained seals. I haven’t juggled much since.’’ “Dr. Socrates’? is a powerful drama, crammed with rapid fire action in which Muni as a neurotic surgeon leads government agents to the capture of a band of bank robbers and killers. In doing so he overcomes his malady and rescues a beautiful girl, with whom he is in love, from the gang’s hideout. Ann Dvorak plays opposite Muni while others in the cast include Barton MacLane, Robert Barrat, John Eldredge, Hobart Cavanaugh, Helen Lowell, Mayo Methot, and Henry O’Neill. The story is by W. R. Burnett, author of ‘‘Little Caesar,’’ adapted by Mary C. MeCall, Jr. William Dieterle directed the picture from the screen play by Robert Lord. Page Fifteen