Edge of Darkness (Warner Bros.) (1943)

WALTER HUSTON’S MAKE-UP ONLY LEADS 10 TROUBLE Mention “the gateman story” to a Hollywood publicity man and he will groan. For “the gateman story,” that grand-daddy of ’em all, is the one about the actor who, because of his confusing make-up, isn’t allowed in his own studio by the cop at the gate. The yarn has been good for years. With variations, it sometimes. still creeps into print. Once in a great while, the story is even true; at least that part of it dealing with non-re Still WH 1; Mat 110—15c¢ WALTER HUSTON cognition. There is, for instance, the yarn, two of them in fact, about Walter Huston. Although Walter isn’t among Hollywood’s more glamorous stars, he is, nonetheless, a star, as evidenced, among other things, by his weekly check. What’s more, he finds himself, usually, in trick make-ups that all but obscure the true Huston physiognomy. Had to Walk While making “All That Money Can Buy,” Walter, as the Devil, was rushing home from work with make-up on whemheran out of gas on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. No amount of hailing or pleading on his part succeeded in getting him aid. He walked the three miles to the nearest service station, More lately, Walter’s make-up in “Edge of Darkness,’’ Warner Bros.’ story of Nazi-occupied Norway, now at the Strand Theatre, threw him some curves. For this picture, with Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan, Huston has a full beard that covers his face completely. With it, he affects a long opera-coat and morning trousers. Because his wife, Nan Sunderland, was interested in seeing Walter’s makeup, he wore it home to Beverly Hills one night. Entering his hotel, he was approached by a sailor who wanted to know where the nearest USO office was located. When Walter told him, the boy then asked if he were apt to see movie stars there. Walter assured him he would. “Will I be apt to see Walter Huston?” persisted the boy... “You’re looking at Walter Huston right now,” Walter returned, “Yeah—,” sneered the boy. “And I’m Admiral King.” Walter let it go at that. He’s been in the game too long. As a matter of fact, it’s more than forty years of trouping around the country in vaudeville and legitimate shows, starring on Broadway and, lately, appearing in Hollywood motion pictures. The old adage has it that an actor runs the gamut of emotions from A to Z. With Errol Flynn, it’s an actor who ran the gamut of characterizations, in this case, from B to W—B as in Gunnar Brogge (of “Edge Of Darkness”), W as in Frances Warren (of “Footsteps In The Dark”). Between that B and W have been twenty-one roles Errol has portrayed, ranging anywheres from a doctor investigating spotted fever to an English nobleman leading an _ expedition against a rebellious Irishman in the 16th century days. Scattered around, too, have been parts as fighting men in the service of America, England and Australia, news reporters, a professional boxer, a detective, a pirate and, even, a corpse. The saga of Errol Flynn starts with this corpse role. Certainly not a distinguished part but there has to be a beginning to every story and that’s how Hollywood and Warner Bros. started Errol’s. Started in 1935 The time is 1935 and Errol had just been brought to Hollywood by a Warner Bros. talent scout who “discovered” him doing legitimate theatre parts in London. The studio cast him in “The Case Of The Curious Bride,” a Perry Mason detective story in which our hero was really not a hero at all but a shadowy figure known only as Moxley. His stay on the silver sereen was short-lived for the plot soon had him murdered off. Errol’s second role is also buried in the dim past and forgotten records. All we know is that he was a David Van Dusen in some whimsy yclept “Don’t Bet On Blondes.” The first real mention there is of Errol Flynn is his sudden boost into the limelight in “Captain Blood.” The part was a natural for Flynn and his portrayal of the central figure, Peter Blood, the sea pirate who captured the imagination of all youths, made Errol a star. Close on the heels of this suc (Advance Flynn Feature) Mat 207—30c Errol Flynn is cast as Gunnar Brogge, stalwart leader of the underground, in Warner Bros.’ picture, “Edge Of Darkness,’ the story of a Nor wegian town’s revolt against the Nazis. at the Strand Theatre. The picture opens Friday cess came “Charge Of The Light Brigade” in which the new star more firmly entrenched himself in Hollywood. His “Charge” role was on the same order as in “Captain Blood” only a few hundred years removed. It was that of Captain Geoffrey Vickers who led the famous ride into the Valley of Death. The following year’s “Green Light” saw Flynn in an entirely different role, that of the aforementioned doctor, Dr. Newell ' Paige, who successfully investi gated a cure for spotted fever. Tossing this one off with honors, Flynn next moved into “Another Dawn” which had him cast as English Captain Denny Roark in a tale of warfare in Iraq. Flynn held on to his nationality but stepped back three centuries into the time of King Henry VIII in “The Prince And The Pauper.” Playing the part of Miles Hendon, Flynn was a wandering soldier of fortune who straightened out some dire court intrigue. The rapidlytravelling actor next changed into modern dress for his char Errol Flynn Runs Gamut of Characterizations In Widely-Varied Roles During Film Career acterization of Gerald Beresford Wicks, “The Perfect Specimen.” Soon there was another complete about-face and Flynn was back in medieval history in the England of Sherwood Forest and Robin Hood. Roles Change Rapidly Through the years, then, came a succession of quick-changing roles—that of a newspaper man in the comedy, ‘“Four’s A Crowd,” another newspaper man in “The Sisters”; an English aviator of World War I in “Dawn Patrol’; a _ crusading, two-fisted sheriff of ‘Dodge City”; the Earl of Essex, the latter half of the team of Elizabeth and Essex; an officer of another war, the Civil War, in “Virginia City”; a sort of Robin Hood of the Seas in “The Sea Hawk”; back to the Civil War period and John Brown in “Sante Fe Trail”; a modern comedy role to break the streak in “Footsteps In The Dark”; a Naval flight surgeon in “Dive Bomber”; the colorful George Armstrong Custer in“They Died With Their Boots On’; the leader of a five-man commando raid on Berlin in “Desperate Journey”; and the first heavyweight champion of the boxing world under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, James J. Corbett, in “Gentleman Jim.” Gunnar Brogge Next Which just about brings the story up to date. The latest stop in Flynn’s’ ’round-the-world, ’round-the-gamut tour of roles is that of Gunnar Brogge, central figure in “Edge Of Darkness,” Warner Bros.’ dramatization of the seething underground movement in Nazi-occupied Norway. The film, taken from William Woods’ best-seller novel, opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. A hasty survey shows that just about the only thing Errol has missed up on has been a song-and-dance role. That’s being fixed, though. Watch for him when he makes his next appearance in “Thank Your Lucky Stars.” NANCY COLEMAN MAKES CAREER UF FOULING NAZIS Nancy Coleman is practically making a career out of thwarting the Nazis. In every picture since her. cinematic debut in “Kings Row,” the high-voltage redhead has found herself engaged in tilting with the Hun, to the Hun’s eternal detriment and the delight of the masses. The Warner Bros. actress currently is lending her wiles to the heroic Norwegian underground in “Edge Of Darkness,” currently at the Strand Theatre, in the film version of the best-seller by William Woods. Therein, Miss Coleman starts out on the side of the Nazis. As a Polish refugee in Norway, her ambitions to be an actress sway her into a liaison with the Prussian commandant of an occupied Norwegian fishing village, but before the final fadeout, Nancy gets around to knifing a Nazi or two. It was in “Dangerously They Live” that this one-woman cinematic army launched the first sortie of her anti-Nazi offensive. Opposite John Garfield in that one, Nancy portrayed an American girl who helped expose and round up a spy ring which was reporting the movements of American convoys. “Desperate Journey” had Miss Coleman portraying a German girl, but much good it doesn’t do Furore Hitler et al. When Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan land in Germany along with the whole crew of a wrecked Royal Air Force bomber, it is Nancy Coleman who helps hide them, helps make good their escape, enabling them to sow a wide trail of havoc and destruction thoughout Naziland. There is, oddly, a valid promise for this anti-Nazi activity of this Titian-tinted temptress, insofar as the screen is concerned. It is supplied by the role which Miss Coleman played in “The Gay Sisters,” in which her mother goes down with the Lusitania and her father is killed battling the first edition of the German army in World War I. Still ED 125*; Mat 203—30c Seized as the leaders of the Norwegian underground, the Nazis force Walter Huston, Ann Sheridan, Errol Flynn, Judith Anderson, Francis Pierlot and Art Smith to dig their own graves as members of the firing squad guard them. Scene from “Edge Of Darkness,” Warner Bros. picture now at the Strand Theatre. HELMUT DANTINES START GAREERS ON SAME DAY A red letter day in the lives of the Helmut Dantines was August 31, for on that day both the Vienna-born actor and his wife, Gwen Anderson, started their starring careers on screen and stage, respectively. Dantine reported on that day to Director Lewis Milestone at the Monterey Peninsula location of “Edge Of Darkness,” the Warner Bros. picture now at the Strand Theatre. As the Nazi commandant of the forces occupying the Norwegian fishing village which is the locale of the book by William Woods, he has one of the top roles, along with Errol Flynn, Ann _ Sheridan, Walter Huston and Nancy Coleman. That same night Gwen Anderson made her first appearance in the title role of Brock Pemberton’s stage production,, “Janie,” which has settled down to an extended Broadway run. Both Dantine, who won recognition for his performance as the wounded Nazi fiyer in “Mrs. Miniver,”’ and Miss Anderson were discovered by Warner Bros. casting executives at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where they had only a few months previously discovered each other. 15