Rivers End 1930 (Warner Bros.) (1930)

‘“RIVER’S END”—A Warner Bros. and Vitaphone Production (Feature—Amusing and Instructive) Bickford, Hero of “River’s End,” Dazed by Blizzard Making “A studio blizzard is no joke,’ says Charles Bickford, featured in the latest Warner Bros. and Vitaphone outdoor romance, “River's End,” adapted from the Curwood novel of that name and now play .. Theatre. CHARLES BICKFORD JUNIOR COGHLAN ing at the.. “T was faced by both real and make-believe storms in the making of this picture and I prefer to take my chance with nature every time. “A motion picture studio always and an equal amount of bleached corn (Current) “RIVER’S END,” HARD RIDING ROMANCE OF THE ARCTIC danse Oliver Curwood’s Most Thrilling Romance of the Canadian Mounted Police The Canadian Mounted Police was organized to bring law and order to the far-flung stretches of the great Northwest. The organtzation quickly made a name for itself and the icy wastes of the North soon became an unhealthy community for fugitives from the law. As an organization the Mounted Charles Bickford was selected by goes the elements one better in stag-| flakes were piled into drifts about the ine any kind of a demonstration. This trical license inherited from the and necessary for dramatic elrect. “When it rains on a studio set it pours, and I don’t mean maybe, and the victim caught in it is several degrees wetter than anyone caught in a real storm could ever be. Cinema heavens sparkle with an exaggerated brilliance though the old stage moon which rose by jerks out of a flower bed was accepted without complaint by theatregoers for many years. “When it came time for Michael Curtiz, director of ‘River’s End,’ to stage an imitation blizzard in a snow set built to match the long shots made months before in the high Sierra mountains and in Alaska, he did it with a vengeance. “The largest of the great sound stages was converted into a dreary snow waste. Fifty tons of gypsum (Current) ESKIMO DOG TEAMS ARE IMPORTED FOR “RIVER’S END” Three trained Eskimo dog ~ were imported by Warner nga Teese ai 4 the ‘stirring Arctic melodrama adapted from James Oliver Curwood’s famous novel of the same name, now showing at the . Theatre. These dogs were used Alaskan location trip early in the picture and were later brought to Hollywood to be used in close-up scenes where recording that had been impossible in the Far North was completed. Great care was taken of these dogs to prevent the California climate from injuring them. They were clipped as soon as the scenes were completed and were kept out of the hot sun. Special food, and quarters planned to avoid excessive heat, were made available for them and their appearances under the bright light for making shots were short and spaced far enough apart to avoid danger to the fine animals. “River’s End” is a gripping story of love and danger in the Far North with Charles Bickford featured in a dual role. Evalyn Knapp, J. Farrell McDonald, Junior Coghlan, Zasu Pitts, Walter McGrail, Tom Santschi and David Torrence are in the cast. Michael Curtiz directed. on an ADVERTISEMENT i Two-Column Slug—Style E—Cut or Mat WARNER BROS. Present RIVERS E stage. A thousands-foot syclorama enclosed the snow about the edges of the stage to show only the dreary|& gray of the Arctic skies. “High in the rafters were vats with hundreds of pounds of powdered gypsum and corn flakes to be sifted slowly into the scene. In one end of the set were six huge airplane motors | # and propellers, capable of stirring up a ninety-mile wind. “This Alice in Wonderland storm had been threatened for some time, but Curtiz had put it off from day to day. Finally it broke. I found myself lost in the swirling drift, trying to lead my dog team to a place of safety. A tremendous wind was driving tons of gypsum and bleached corn flakes through the air. “It was practically impossible to walk against the wall of wind that was being thrown against me. Even the dogs, used as they are to real Arctie hurricanes, wanted to turn tail and run from this manmade nor’wester. I was blind with light and breakfast food. The temperature must have been a hundred in the shade! I struggled on, leading the dogs toward the gesticulating director. We made it! The storm died away. Curtiz dug himself out of a white» dri Seeks Scene from “Rivers Er A Warner Bros. Production. ORPHANED KID OF O’TOOLE believes in the man who is driven from the camp Production No. 4—Cut or Mat 7 ig ae fe 4 Unfurred Eskime again? Tnridentally 1 cau cold. As I said before, I'd rath N orth Pole, any day. I’m still. ing gypsum out of my beard.” Evalyn Knapp plays the leading feminine role opposite Bickford in “River’s End,” which is a dramatic story of clashing loves and hates in the great Canadian Northwest. David Torrence, J. Farrell McDonald, Walter McGrail, Tom Santschi, Junior Coghlan and Zasu Pitts are others in the distinguished cast. er 6, To the list of expressive similes may now be added: “Hot as a Hollywood Eskimo.” All the exblubber-eaters in the film capital were corralled for one short sequence in “River's End,’ the Warner Bros. and Vitaphone romance of the Arctic now at the ... Theatre, recently and a de cidedly hot time was had by all. Exchanging American clothing for their native fur garments, twenty-two of these strange little people, several of them imported from Alaska for this particular picture, were introduced to the make-believe snow and composition-ice igloo set on the studio stage. It looked naturally cool enough but felt like an inferno not only to the thick-blooded Arctic nomads, but to the Eskimo dog teams pulling sleds through salt and gypsum. The set was an exact counterpart of a real Eskimo village photographed earlier in the year for the making of “River’s End” by a hardy group of location cameramen and was solely for the making of talking close-ups because it had been physically impossible to take recording machinery to the Far North. So the Eskimos braved the furious heat of a studio snowstorm scene at a temperature that would have quickly reduced a real igloo to a puddle and a fat Eskimo to a perfect thirty-six. When Michael Curtiz, the director, gave them time off between scenes they rushed in a body to a confectionery shop near the studio for ice cream cones. (Current) **River’s End’ Greatest Of Far North Films The white majesty of the Far North has been caught marvelously in “River’s End,” the Warner Bros. and Vitaphone version of James Oliver Curwood’s novel of that name, which opened at the.... Theatre... . last. Charles Bickford vigorously portrays the dual role of a hunted man whom fate put in the strangest position a man ever faced, and his determined and vengeful double. Michael Curtiz directed. , eee noe ‘“RIVER’S END” Rivers are highways that move on and bear us whither we wish to go. SS es ; = eee 1D ie f pce =P ASOAL: 3} Oliver Curwood, ‘} that group of men in several novels, :| Police soon captured the imagina tion of the public. The legend grew that this was one body of officers that always got its man, and never gave up a trail. About its history and personnel fiction and romance has been built in vast || quantities but only a few of these t}stories carried an authentic and realistic note. No one author knew the Canadian Mounted Police so well as James who immortalized the most famous of which is “River’s End,” which Warner Bros. used to make the great outdoor picture now playing at the .... The&tre. “River’s End” has caught the spirit of the Far North. It pictures the stern and ugly sides of that handicapped struggle for existence as well as the romance and color of frontier experience. It gives an authentic picture of the men who police thousands of miles of desolate country, who acknowledge honor above all. The picture breathes the fierce passions of these men and pictures their stern code of ethics against which is woven the strange romance of a man ho was neither a murderer nor a not prove that he Lf ptwnse on — ee es Of “River's End”| WARNER BROS. Present ay wireclen CHARLES and EVALYN KNAPP In a torrid romance of the frozen north —the first James Oliver Curwood novel to reach the talking screen. A man’s picture that women will love! IVER’ Warner Bros. for this dual role which Bickford welcomed as the first real opportunity of his motion picture career. He found in the Curwood story a vigorous part which was both dramatic and convincing and he makes of it one of the outstanding characterizations of the year. Evalyn Knapp plays opposite Bickford as a new and valuable addition to the ranks of young leading women of the screen. The supporting cast includes J. Farrell McDonald, David Torrence, Zasu Pitts, Walter McGrail, Junior Coghlan, Tom Santschi and others of equal note. The picture was made in part in Alaska, in part in the high Sierras of California, in the historic Sacramento valley and ‘in Hollywood studios. Michael Curtiz directed “River's End” throughout its long and painstaking filming. (Ci “River’s End” Thrills Charles Bickford plays the dual role of pursued and pursuer in “River's End,” the Warner Bros. and Vitaphone picture now at the. ... Theatre, which deals with a supposed murderer whose captor dies while taking him back to justice. There are a girl and a little boys played by Evalyn Knapp and Junior Coghlan, respectively, who * ie BICKFORD Two-Column Ad—Style F—Cut or Mat