Key Largo (Warner Bros.) (1948)

PUBLICITY “KEY LARGO” (ADVANCE) Warner Bros.’ ‘key Largo’ Opening Friday At Strand No picture in years has stirred up such advance interest as Warner Bros.’ sensational drama, “Key Largo”, which comes next Friday to the Strand Theatre. The brilliant cast has Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor, five of Hollywood’s greatest action personalities. John Huston directed the drama, which is a filmization of Maxwell Anderson’s potent stage play. The story is set in the Florida Keys with most of the action (COLUMN PLANT) SURPLUS BADMEN IN ‘KEY LARGO Two opposing faction of film badmen assembled on the Warner Bros. lot for the explosive drama, “Key Largo”, now completed and coming soon to the Strand Theatre. The hoodlum leaders are Edward G. Robinson and Mare Lawrence. The Robinson team consists of Thomas Gomez, Dan Seymour, Harry Lewis, and William Haade. Lawrence’s men include Pat Flaherty, Lete Crockett, John Phillips, and Jerry Jerome. In the middle and, for the time being on the side of law and order, is Humphrey Bogart, aided only by Lauren Bacall and Lionel Barrymore. “Key Largo” is directed by John Huston. It was produced for Warner Bros. by Jerry Wald, the same producer who brought the following distinguished films to the screen: ‘Mildred Pierce’’, “Dark Passage” and “To The Victor”. taking place during the off-season in a resort hotel. Into this strangely quiet atmosphere gathers a motley array of personalities, whose true motives soon come to the surface. Huston directed and also collaborated with Richard Brooks on this screen version. In addition to the drama which is unfolded, a violent hurricane, plays an important part on the strong story. Warner Bros. have excelled themselves in this sequence which strikes a new high for terrifying action. (OPENING DAY SHORT) ‘KEY LARGO’ SET FOR PREEM TODA Humphrey Bogart ... Edward G. Robinson . . . Lauren Bacall . . Lionel Barrymore a .=Glaine: “Trevor... all-together in one film . . . Warner Bros.’ dynamic drama, “Key Largo”, which opens an engagement today at the Strand Theatre This awe-inspiring cast, under John Huston’s ace direction, appears in one of the dramatic masterpieces of this season, or any other season for that matter. The film is based on Maxwell Anderson’s stage play in which Paul Muni starred on Broadway. “Key Largo” is set in a small winter hotel in the Florida Keys, and presents one of the exciting dramas ever screened, much of the gunplay and action taking place during a tropical hurricane. One of the problems in handling such a cast was to give each star equal attention. This Huston has done expertly thus using all the talent he had under him, FILM FIREWORKS HUMPHREY BOGART and EDWARD G. ROBINSON in a tense moment in Warner Bros.’ smashing drama, ''Key Largo’, adapted from Maxwell Anderson's stirring story of the return of a Chicago mobster, coming next Friday to the Strand Theatre. Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor are also in the 14-karat cast. Still 692-558 10 Mat 692-2B CLAIRE TREVOR SINGS FLAT. . . INTENTIONALLY Miss Claire Trevor made her motion picture song debut under handicaps that would have discouraged a less courageous actress. In the first place, Miss Trevor had the sniffles, and anybody knows that a lady can’t sing her best with a cold in the nose. Director John Huston, who guided the actress through her vocal work-out for Warner Bros.’ sen CLAIRE TREVOR Still 692-522 Mat 692-1E sational drama, “Key Largo”’, talked her out of worrying. “You’re playing the part of a tired, throaty, has-been torch singer,” he said. “The sniffles will be perfect.” Miss Trevor sniffled and said she’d go “alog wid dad.” Then there was the matter of no accompaniment, You’ll hear no multi-stringed off-scene orchestra when Miss Trevor sings in “Key Largo”, coming soon to the Strand Theatre. She just sits on the edge of a barroom table and warbles. The director did agree to haul in a piano out of scene, to give the singing actress the proper key. But that’s all. Handicap No. 3 involved the fact that Miss Trevor isn’t really a singer and that the song she sings is “Moanin’ Low”, a famous torch ballad made that way by Libby Holman, one of the torchiest singers of all time. She sang. .“Perfect,” said Huston. “Print at? All Miss Trevor was _ interested in as she reached for a handkerchief was: “Did it sound like ‘Bonin’ Low’ or ‘Moanin’ Low’ ?” Monte Blue In Cast Of ‘Key Largo’ Film Monte Blue is celebrating his 39th year in motion pictures. So much in demand is he today for films, that he is presently alternating between two films at Warner Bros., “The Adventures of Don Juan”, in which he portrays Errol Flynn’s jailer, and his role of a sheriff in “Key Largo’. Both are produced for Warners by Jerry Wald. He recently completed a key villain role in the Errol Flynn starrer, “Silver River’. (STAR READER) Edward G. Robinson Likes Cozy Nap Before A ‘kill’ Edward G. Robinson lifted his thick arms above his _ head, breathed deeply, and asked if he might be excused, he’d like to take a nap. “T always nap before murder,” he yawned. “It’s a habit with me.” During shooting of “Key Largo” at Warner Bros., they were preparing for the Robinson kill-scene. His victim was John Rodney, a _ courageous young man, but a _ foolhardy one. It is Robinson’s _ personal theory, after 25 years of villainy, that an actor should approach murder with a clear and untroubled conscience, Make-believe evils, he explained, should be committed with an unfettered mind, free from complica tions. “That’s why I like a cozy catnap before I kill,” he says. The “Key Largo” homicide was to be performed in a picturesque setting — what with lightning flashing outside the death room, thunder growling in the caves, and rain splattering against the windows. All these effects were courtesy of the Warner Bros. plumbing, sound, and electrical departments. Fundamentally, of course, Edward G. Robinson is about as much of a killer as say, Baby Snooks. Everybody knows he’s gentle and considerate. But he is most famous for the sinister roles he has played in such pictures as “Little Caesar’, “Bullets or Ballots’, and “The Sea Wolf”, all rugged parts. (STAR READER) Lionel Barrymore Speaks Mind About Being ‘Lonely’ Lionel Barrymore who appears in Warner Bros.’ all-star drama, “Key Largo’, coming Friday to the Strand Theatre, is very appreciative of his fans’ interest and he thinks that Americans are warm and generous people, but he feels compelled to correct the apparently widespread impression that he’s the loneliest man in town. “Somewhere,” the veteran actor says, “the story got out that I was a lonesome old man in the midst of the frivolous, frolicking movie colony.” As a result, his mail has been loaded with tear-stained letters from people who want to take him into their homes, feed him holiday dinners, and brighten his lonely hours. “Only I have no_ lonely hours,” he snaps. “I’m a busy, happy man—and I have neither the time or the inclination to be lonely.” So he thanks the lady from Peachtree, Ga., who invited him to spend Thanksgiving with her, and he thanks the family in Fayetteville, Ark., who wrote that he could share their home, but he’s not lonely—honest! And he wants to stay here and act and enjoy life in general. FILLERS Quotes ‘F.D.R.’ in ‘Key Largo’ Humphrey Bogart quotes a portion of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Declaration of War speech to Congress in a dramatic scene for Warner Bros.’ explosive drama, “Key Largo”, which is announced as the next attraction at the Strand Theatre, starting on Friday. It is the speech which the wartime President delivered in January, 1942, and in which he said: ‘We are fighting today for security and progress and for peace, not only for ourselves but for all men, not only for one generation, but for all generations. We are fighting to cleanse the world of ancient evils, ancient ills.” Rather Costly The most expensive piece of wardrobe that Lauren Bacall wears in her newest picture, Warner Bros.’ sensational drama, “Key Largo’, coming to the Strand Theatre, starting on Friday, is a black calf belt with metal buckle that costs $85. The actress has only one change in the film, a cotton skirt and cotton shirt, both of which cost less than half the price of the belt. The action of “Key Largo” takes place on a small island south of the Florida mainland. ‘Artist’ Barrymore And His Etchings Lionel Barrymore, a prominent member of the all-star cast in Warner Bros.’ explosive drama, “Key Largo”, due next Friday at the Strand Theatre, is an expert etcher on the side. He gave members of the cast each a signed etching after the film was finished, signing them: “Here’s the Brooklyn Bridge — Lionel Barrymore”, He explained to Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson that what he meant by the inscription was that his etchings are just as hard to sell as the famous bridge to Brooklyn. Phoney Dough Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson got a lesson in counterfeiting from Arthur Grube, long-time member of the U. S. Secret Service. Grube, now retired, was assigned by Warner Bros. as technical adviser on the counterfeit scene in which Bogart and Robinson figure in ihe sensational drama, “Key Largo”, now completed and coming here soon. Besides assuring the technical authenticity of the film’ scene, Grube showed the actors and the rest of the “Key Largo” company methods of detection.