Flight from Destiny (Warner Bros.) (1941)

PUBLICITY CURRENT STORIES ° WOMEN’S PAGE FEATURES Personal Briefs THOMAS MITCHELL .. . hates glamour . Award for ‘Stage Coach’ performance . before he took to greasepaint . . came to Hollywood where he quickly Broadway plays... . built up large followimg .. . . won Academy . » Was newspaper man . directed several successful plays role of benevolent old professor in ‘Flight From Destiny.” GERALDINE FITZGERALD .. . came to New York for role in George Bernard then to Hollywood where she appeared with Bette Davis in “Dark Victory” . in ‘ ‘Til We Meet Again”... studied art... Shaw play... comes from Ireland .. . . . later with Merle Oberon now appears opposite Jeffrey Lynn in novel film drama, ‘Flight From Destiny.” JEFFREY LYNN ... worked as salesman in large department store . . . Hollywood and soon made name for himself with performances in “Yes, My Darling Daughter,’’ ‘Daughters Courageous,’’ and “ATAHT” . . was star of college dramatic society .. . came to . appears as young artist in film with sea son’s strangest tale, “Flight From Destiny.’”’ JAMES STEPHENSON .. . famous character actor... on London stage . . starred . plays “heavy”? and “hero” with equal ability . . . likes to jump from role to role without rest .. . shortly after great characterization in “The Letter’? he was assigned to present dramatic role in “Flight From Destiny.” VINCENT SHERMAN ... came director . can direct any type picture . day’s Children” . was dialogue director . . . famous for versatility in handling films. . . . did splendid job with “Satur now wins plenty praise for direction of . later be year’s most unusual film, ‘Flight From Destiny.” Motherhood No Detriment To Irish Star’s Career Geraldine Fitzgerald Returns to Fine Role After Birth of Son Mars, maternity and movie makers willing, Geraldine Fitzgerald is going to bring her screen career up to date. Through a combination of circumstances, Miss Fitzgerald finds herself considerably in arrears, even on the lenient professional schedule she set for herself when she arrived in Hollywood a little more than two years ago. At that time, late from Ireland and direct from a stage success in New York, Miss Fitzgerald announced her program. She was going to devote six months of each year to picture playing and the other six to living as she and her husband, Edward Lindsay-Hogg. pleased. After a brilliant debut as Bette Davis’ sympathetic friend in “Dark Victory,” she went directly into “Wuthering Heights” and scored another marked success. With the movie world hailing the “discovery” of a new star, she made the first deviation from schedule when she stayed on in Hollywood to do “A Child Is Born.” That carried her initial picture stint slightly beyond the six months’ limit. As events proved, she could very well use that balance on the credit side of the _ ledger. Miss Fitzgerald and her husband went home to their 500year-old mansion in County Kil dare. About the time they were due to return for Miss Fitzgerald to resume her screen duties at Warner Bros. studios, Hitler threw the torch into the European powder keg. Weeks passed while the actress and her spouse tried vainly to book passage. Just when it looked as though Warner Bros. might have to finance an armed convoy to get their Irish “find’’ back, the Lindsay-Hoggs got stateroom space on the SS. Manhattan. Miss Fitzgerald returned to find her latest picture, “A Child Is Born,” was about to be released—and to announce she was to become a mother in real life. Before the “blessed event” she did one more picture, “ ’Till We Meet Again,” with Merle Oberon and George Brent. Then she went to New York to await the arrival of the baby. Already behind her self-set professional schedule, the enforced temporary retirement has put her several more months “in debt” to the movies. Now, for the first time in eight months, she is back on the screen. She’s playing the feminine lead opposite another distinguished scion of the “ould sod,” Thomas Mitchell, in a brilliant drama called “Flight From Destiny.” And she very definitely means to make up for lost time. Jeffrey Lynn Scores Another Hit In‘Flight From Destiny’ Jeffrey Lynn has been pretty well fed up playing nice guys who have a pervading aura of sweetness and light. Now he portrays a totally different type of character in “Flight From Destiny,” which made its debut at the Strand Theatre on Jeffrey Lynn Friday. As the husband of Geraldine Fitzgerald in his newest role, Lynn is a talented painter who has gotten in with a gang which Mat 101—15¢ counterfeits art masterpieces. He gets drunk, deserts his wife for a streamlined siren who is an international swindler, and socks his best friend, the eccentric kindly college professor, played by Thomas Mitchell. He’s not an admirable fellow, this character. But Jeffrey had grown weary of depicting admirable young men, anyway. After playing the mild if perky young man in “Four Daughters,” the serious-minded young fellow in “Yes, My Darling Daughter” and the young minister in “All This and Heaven Too,” he found it real fun to cut loose as the scapegrace painter of “Flight From Destiny,” and to really misbehave. Mat 115—15c GERALDINE FITZGERALD — feminine star of the Strand’s new picture, “Flight From Destiny,’’ contrasts two shades of violet in this graceful chiffon dinner dress. The deeper shade is used in the shoulders and brief sleeves, the lighter shade in the shirred bodice and full-flowing skirt. A wide girdle of gold and purple kid molds the waistline. New Film Proves Clothes Make The Movie Siren Clothes may not make the man, but they have a lot to do with creating the movie siren. That, at least is the belief of Mona Maris, streamlined beauty from the Argentine, and she should know. She’s playing as seductive a vampire as ever lured a man from his wife or sweetheart in the Warner Bros. drama “Flight From Destiny” at the Strand. And she is wearing costumes as “slinky” as any that ever won the approval of the Hays office. There’s nothing scanty about the Argentine beauty’s outfits. On the contrary, they’re voluminous and flowing. It’s their clinging lines and their exotic style that make them breath-taking. There is, for instance, a twopiece green and gold outfit that could answer to no other description than that of “siren gowns.” A thin strip of Miss Maris separates the two halves of this dazzling costume. The line of demarcation is not sufficiently wide to arouse the ire of the censors, but it can be depended upon to attract the eyes of the audiences. Miss Maris says she couldn’t wear a gown like that, or any of the others Stylist Damon Diffard designed to further her campaign of luring Jeffrey Lynn from Geraldine Fitzgerald, without feeling like a siren. As for Thomas Mitchell, Lynn, and all other members of the company, they agree no woman could wear a costume like that without looking like a siren. “Flight From Destiny” stars Thomas Mitchell, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, James Stephenson. Vincent Sherman directed the production from a screen play by Barry Trivers which was written from an original story by Anthony Berkeley. Vincent Sherman Most Promising of New Directors ‘Flight From Destiny’ At Strand Proves His Unique Ability Hollywood is always scouting the world, not only for new faces for the screen but for new minds to direct the strings behind the screen. Young men and women with ideas are more eagerly sought by producers than people with near-perfect profiles or big, brown eyes. Brains, as always, are at a premium in the film colony. This explains why there is more joy in Hollywood over one young director who makes good on an early promise than over six young actors who get their first important roles after long periods of probation. A new director, who has proved his ability, becomes a permanent asset for the whole industry. Vincent Sherman is such a director. “Flight from Destiny,” is the fourth picture he has directed for Warner Bros. in something less than two years and it is considered by those who pay for the making of them as conclusive evidence of the young man’s remarkable ability in the most difficult field of Hollywood activity. “Flight From Destiny” is currently showing at the Strand. “Flight From Destiny” has been ear-marked as an important picture by all who have seen it ‘Even Mitchell’s Brows Act’ Says Westmore The eyebrows, not the eyes, are the most expressive part of the face, according to Pere Westmore. The better the actor, the more expressive the brows. “The eyes get the credit for what the eye: brows do,” he s says. ¢ §=6°To prove it, j he took still pictures of — Thomas Mits chell in Warsner Bros. “Flight From | Destiny,” and t blocked everyi thing but the Met 10513 Portis showed Thomas Mitchell Gab Whe Sie: tions portrayed by the eyebrows conformed exactly to those demanded by the script. Other “eyebrow actors,” according to Westmore are:— John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ronald Reagan, Mickey Rooney, Spencer Tracy, James Cagney and Charles Boyer. Star Rushes In Where Others Fear to Tread Geraldine Fitzgerald, who stars in the movies, also likes to watch them being made. That accounted for two red faces on the “Flight From Destiny” set at Warner Bros. One was Geraldine’s face. The other was that of Vincent Sherman. Arriving at the studio hours ahead of her scheduled call, Miss Fitzgerald hailed a “standby” car and asked to be driven to the street set where the company was doing scenes with Thomas Mitchell. The driver missed signals and drove into the middle of a camera “take,” ruining it. As a chorus of abuse arose, Miss Fitzgerald dived for the floor of the car. She was hiding there when Director Sherman walked over. “Nice going,” he commented bitingly, “but I don’t believe we need you in our picture—.” That was as far as he got. He was looking at his star. prior to release. Important players were handled skilfully by Director Sherman in getting the results he wanted in one of the most unusual screen stories of recent years. Thomas Mitchell, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, James Stephenson and Mona Maris have leading roles in this strange melodrama of a man who takes the law into his own hands when destiny moves too slowly to suit him. All of these except, perhaps, Mitchell, are comparatively young players who worked with their young director enthusiastically determined to help him establish himself. The result is more than satisfactory to studio, stars and the preview audiences and should mark an important step forward in Sherman’s ecareer. Vincent Sherman can direct others successfully, as proved by “Flight From Destiny,” and other recent pictures, and that is an ability that Hollywood rewards most highly of all. Youth is having its inning in Hollywood and Vincent Sherman and his company of actors in that picture, give ample evidence that what the industry wants is both new faces and new minds. Vincent Sherman has one such “new mind” in pictures. Art Collections Hobby Of Film Stars Film stars Thomas Mitchell and Geraldine Fitzgerald have discovered they have something in common besides their Irish ancestry and their current roles in Warner Bros.’ “Flight From Destiny.” They’re both connoisseurs of art and collectors of paintings. As a result, they’ve made a compact. Each will act as scout for the other. Mitchell recently acquired two art masterpieces which have aroused the admiration of Miss Fitzgerald. Miss Fitzgerald is quite an authority on 18th century English masterpieces in which Mitchell is deeply interested. She has a number of such originals, incidentally, in her 500 year old mansion in Ireland. From Cotton Broker To Ace Actor James Stephenson, featured in Warner Bros.’ “Flight From Destiny,” currently showing at the Strand, formerly headed the cotton exporting and brokerage firm of Stephenson and Collier in Liverpool, England. Stephenson turned actor utterly by accident. Possessed of an excellent bass voice, he sang roles in some of Liverpool’s amateur productions, and London stage scouts who saw him, mistook Stephenson for a professional actor. Before they found out otherwise, they had signed the cotton broker to a stage contract, and Stephenson took to his new profession like a duck to water. It was eight years ago when “Jimmy” resigned from the cotton importing business and stepped onto the stage, and he has never been off a payroll as an actor in the intervening period. 17 Mat 116—15c James Stephenson