One Way Passage (Warner Bros.) (1932)

“ONE WAY PASSAGE” PUBL! GPT Y Fate William Powell and Kay Francis in a poignant scene from their starring vehicle, Warner Bros. “One Way Passage,” now showing at. thes a! Theatre. Mat No. 103—10c Star Handecuffed To Cop Loses Key And Halts Camera William Powell and Warren Hymer were as inseparable as Siamese twins for the better part of a morning during the shooting o-sthe Hong Kong sequence in Warner Bros.’ picture, “One Way Passage,” Which comes next nein Pee to the Theatre, with Kay Francis again ¢ostarred with Powell. The scene was the arrest of William Powell, alias Dan Hardesty, escaped murderer, by Hymer, playing the role of Steve Burke, of the San Francisco police force. A knoekdown fight follows, brief but furious, during which Burke overpowers his man and slips the bracelets on his wrists —while the cameras click merrily. Not until the handcuffs were firmly attached to Bill Powell’s wrist, with the other hand clamped securely on Hymer’s, did Director Tay Garnett call “Cut!” “Let’s do it once more, folks,” said Garnett. Powell and Hymer had _ regained their feet and were being brushed off by the property men, as Bill said to Warren: “You've got the key to these things, haven’t you?” “Sure,” returned Hymer. “I put it in my pocket just before we started.” He began reaching for it—then his face suddenly clouded with dismay. “Tt’s not there,” he told Powell; “it must have dropped out of my pocket while we _ were wrestling there on the ground. Don’t worry—we’ll find it.” But at the end of ten minutes, it became clear to everyone that it was lost. ‘A car was dispatched post haste to Police Headquarters in Hollywood—five miles away—for another key and in the meanwhile — rehearsals had to wait. The scene of the arrest is but one of many thrills in an altogether unusual picture, the tense scenes of which are relieved by comedy the more effective by contrast. “One Way Passage” is one of the films you’ll never forget. Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, Herbert Mundin, Douglas Gerrard and Frederick Burton are in the supporting cast. Tay Garnett directed. Page Ten William Powell Holds Sympathy In Any Part Unique Gifts of Star Evidenced in “One Way Passage”? Cast as Lovable Crook After the coming of the talkies William Powell adroitly carried his gift of getting sympathy for whatever hoodlum he happened to be playing—and increased his power ‘immeasurably by the sound of his well-modulated and mobile voice. In Warner Bros. ‘‘One Way Passage,’ > in which he is co-starred with Kay Francis, and which is now playing at the teee jen” Theatre—he is supposed to be an escaped convict, plotting to escape the toils of the law, and with all sorts of crimes to his credit, or discredit, inecluding murder. But does the audience boo and breathlessly wish for the long arm, of the law to reach him before he wins the girl? They most emphatically do not. They sigh with approbation when he takes Kay Francis in his arms and shed an inward tear because Warren Hymer, the hardboiled detective, cannot see that Powell is, after all, a very likeable chap indeed. Doomed Lover William Powell as the doomed and dauntless lover in Warner Bros. “One Way Passage,” in which he is starred with Kay Francis—and which is now showing iat theio vt se Y Theatre. Mat No. 106—10c Some lay this changing aspect of villainy to Bill Powell’s voice. When he menaced furtively and silently in such pictures as “The Bright Shawl,” “Romola” and “Beau Geste,” he gave no intimation of the suave breeding. that became manifest when he opened his mouth and actually talked in “Interference.” That picture settled it. Although Powell has done some odd jobs at villainy in some of his later pictures, audiences flatly refuse to relinquish one iota of the sympathy they had suddenly conceived for him. Powell himself will tell you, however, that his voice had nothing at all to do with it. “Tt is all a matter of regarding a so-called heavy as an ordinary human being,” Powell says. “He may be ninety per cent to the bad, but there is still that ten per cent of decency which must be taken into account. “The tradition of early motion pictures was the same as that of the melodrama school of the nineties. When a player essayed a role, he had to be like the little girl with the little curl right in the middle of her forehead: ‘When she was good, she was very, very good; but when she was bad, she was horrid.’ “The sophistication of modern audiences demands a like quality in drama, and the actor has to make a character as true to life as possible. “The good and the bad in each character is shown in both hero and heavy alike, and it is up to audiences to choose with which one they are going to place their sympathy.” William Powell’s personality has stamped him as a gentleman. The Philo Vance series of detective stories which raised him to stardom, did that job thoroughly. In “For the Defense,” he was an ex-convict. “Street of Chance” pictured him as a big-time gambler, consorting with underworld characters. In “The Road to Singapore,” he was a philanderer and what the English so aptly term a ead. In “Jewel Robbery” he was.a master thief and in “One Way Passage” he is an escaped convict on his way to the gallows. Yet, in every one of his talking pictures, he has the sympathy of audience from first to last. In William Powell’s ease it would seem that he makes the very small percentage of good submerge the large percentage of evil of his characterizations. And that’s why William Powell is always a hero although his role is that of a bad man. William Powell and Kay Francis are supported in “One Way Passage” by Frank McHugh, Warren Hymer, Frederick Burton, Douglas Gerrard, Herbert Mundin and Aline MacMahon. ‘One Way Passage’ Gives Film Star Urge to Travel Just the sights and sounds and smells of an ocean liner give Kay Francis the urge to travel. In her latest Warner Bros. picture, “One Way Passage,” now showing at the Theatre, many of the scenes are taken aboard a liner on the Pacific, just off the port of Los Angeles. “There is something about a big ship that always gets me,” she said. “It has stirred up the desire to go to Europe, and I shall leave just as soon as I finish this picture, if I ean get away. I have made four pictures without a rest and I need a vacation.” In “One Way Passage,” a Warner Bros. picture, Miss Francis is accompanied on the trip by William Powell, who is_ costarred with her. Others in the east are Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer, Frank McHugh, Douglas Gerrard, Herbert Mundin and Frederick Burton. Tay Garnett directed the picture. Till They Meet Again William Powell and Kay Francis in a stirring scene from their starring vehicle, “One Way Passage,” the Warner Bros. picture which comes to the____..___-.--- fer ee Theatre: on 2 es ok Se Mat No. 202—20c Kay Francis Calls Velvet Most Glamorous Fabric Best-Dressed Woman on the Screen Selects It for Most Important Costumes ‘‘Wear velvet for glamor,’ says Kay Francis, who is hailed by women all over the world as the best-dressed woman on the screen. The star of ‘‘One Way Passage,’’ the Warner Bros. picture which comes to the................ 6S a) a amrian standing fabric of the year. has chosen velvet as the out Time was when velvet was a luxury even for the wealthy, because it wore so badly that a velvet frock never looked really well after one or two wearings. But some clever fashion experts put their heads together recently, and decided to do something about it—with the result that a new velvet was developed. Retaining all the suppleness and luster of the original, it combined with it the sturdiness of wool, so that velvet has at last been brought within the reach of the most modest budgets. Miss Francis has selected velvet for her most important winter costumes. “It molds the figure, and flatters your face with its softness,” she says. Silver fox makes the collar of her afternoon suit of black velvet, and the tunic jacket is banded around the bottom with the fur. A softly-draped velvet hat with a sheer veil, black antelope bag and pumps complement it perfectly. Velvet again for a white evening cape that reflects the regal trend in fashion. It has an upstanding collar of rich brown mink, and the velvet falls from the lower edge of the collar in lustrous folds that just miss the floor. Another favorite is her black velvet evening frock that depends almost entirely upon fabrie and line for its smartness. Cut to the waist in back, it has the new back fullness which is emphasized by a large buckle of seed pearls at the base of the back decolletage. Seed pearl flowers in her hair carry out the motif. For cocktails—she wears a street length “formal”, in claretcolored velvet. The puffed sleeves end abruptly just*above the elbows, and the short skirt flares out widely from a point just below the hips. With it she wears a girdle-sash of sheer silver cloth, and a hat of the same silver cloth. “One Way Passage,” which costars Miss Francis and William Powell, is the drama of a deathless love with a background that shifts from Honk Kong to Honolulu to San Francisco. Most of the exciting scenes are laid on an ocean liner. STAR ROUGH ON GLASSES William Powell does a Carrie Nation in “One Way Passage,”’ the Warner Bros. picture coming to the. Theatre next_______---. Not that he actually wields a hatchet. Powell is so deeply in love that when he drinks to his inamorata, Kay Francis, he follows the old English custom of snapping the stem of the glass after a toast to the King or Queen. With the rehearsals and retakes he made a deep impres sion on the studio glass supply. The cast includes Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, Warren Hymer, Herbert Mundin, Douglas Gerrard and Frederick Burton. Tay Garnett directed.