The Bargain (Warner Bros.) (1931)

——_ IDEAS FOR SURE-FIRE CAMPAIGN | You are missing out on the greatest sales aid ever devised if you don’t play the First National talking trailer on oy “The Bargain Created by master advertising showmen, hailed by exhibitors everywhere as perfect to the infinite degree, the trailer guarantees the return of this week’s audience next week! don’t hide that light! Worth its weight in gold! — Yet you can get it at cost from First National! Review Contest To stir up interest in the fine qualities of “The Bargain” you can revert to the effective medium of a review contest run in cooperation with a local newspaper. Small cash prizes and passes for the following week’s show should be awarded for the best |: reviews written by fans who have seen the picture at your theatre. A new angle is that this is the first time in the history of motion pictures that amateur reviews have had the opportunity of expressing their opinions on the film version of a prize play. The*contest should be announced in the columns of the paper, in the lobby, in a trailer run on the sereen after each showing and-through the Another way to guarantee the success of the medium of throwaways. contest is to interest the English de partments of all local schools to the extent of their urging all pupils to enter the competition. Call the attention of the contestants to the following points which should be emphasized in the reviews: 1. The quality of the acting. 2. The theme. 3. The direction. 4, The dialogue. 5. The cinematic values (photography, settings, recording, ete.). 6. The general entertainment value. Art School Tie-Up One of the most important characters in “The Bargain” is that of a business man who longs to become an artist, played by Lewis Stone. Quite a number of scenes depict him secretly working in the attic of his home on an oil painting of his maid whom he has persuaded to pose. Here is a marvelous opportunity: for a tie-up with local art schools and amateur artists in a contest for * “best drawing or painting of Kenyon. Una Merkel plays \—<fart of the artist’s model in the photoplay, but for exploitation purposes it is best to use Miss Kenyon. Use a beautiful star still of Doris Kenyon as the model and ask the art students to make their own conception of the lovely star. must be run far enough in advance of the opening date to insure a lobby display of the paintings submitted. The artist’s name should be .eliminated from the work and a number substituted. Your patrons can vote for the best painting by number with each admittance ticket good for one vote. The voting angle is a fine business booster as each contestant is certain to ask his friends to visit the theatre and vote for his work. The contest, of course, Lobby “ggestions Be sure to use heads of Lewis Stone, Doris Kenyon, Charles But terworth, Evalyn Knapp and Una Merkel. This is one of the finest casts any picture has ever offered. Supplement the illustrations with descriptive copy on each one of the characters. This copy can be found in the press sheet. If you have enough lobby frames to put each head in an individual one, so much the better, but if you have to go out of your usual routine and split the frames in order to include all these characters do so, because the presentation of each one of these various roles makes a most compel ling selling argument. HOLLYWOOD If you’ve ever with LEWIS STONE CHARLES BUTTERWORTH DORIS KENYON EVALYN KNAPP UNA MERKEL, DARROW, NO MATTER HOW MANY OTHER PICTURES YOU MAY SEE — YOU’LL NEVER FORGET THE DRAMA—COURAGE—TRUTH — THRILLS OF “THE BARGAIN”! BEGINS TONIGHT you'll see your own life —your own troubles— your own secrets — in Philip Barry’s great story of You—and Me! Te ARG AIN OSCAR APFEL = / Sometime / ) Or Regretted | Our Marriage! loved, JOHN Cut No. 1 Cut goc Mat 10¢ MILTON, DIRECTOR OF “THE BARGAIN” SAYS TALKING PICTURES MUST HAVE MUCH ACTION AND MINIMUM OF TALK Master Who Created First National Dramatic Success, Now At The _ Theatre Explains Differing Techniques Of The Stage And The Screen; Directed “Outward Bound” (Interesting Feature for No. 1 Paper, Plant Fourth Day) Hollywood, Calif.—Robert Milton, whose able direction was responsible for much of the effectiveness of ‘‘Outward Bound,’’ and who recently completed directing ‘‘The Bargain,’’ the First National picture which is now sense immediately the difference in medium and direct accordingly. He did not attempt to stick to the tech nique of the stage, in which he was thoroughly versed, for he realized motion pictures have a technique of their own. According to Mr. Milton the proper basis of motion picture production is as follows: “The eye comes first, then the ear, but the heart must rule over all. “There is much more fluidity of said Mr. Milton, as he compared it with stage motion in screen work,” work. “The transition from the stage to the screen does not alter its ultimate aim of appealing to the emotions. But it certainly alters the or the method. The attack be made through the visual The stage audience, having but one pair route must rather than the aural sense. of eyes and one plane of vision, is kept stationary and is unable to see sidelights of actions which are therefore indicated in the actors’ speeches. Not Too Much Talk “The screen can dispense with this additional dialogue and actually take the audience through these sidelights or aditional scenes, by means of a third eye, that of the camera. Psychological undercurrents are built up by a series of pictures, rather than a series of words as is the case on the stage. And here is where a vital point enters which not all directors understand. “The hardest thing in making a talking picture is not so much the choice and use of dialogue, as the ability to weed out dialogue until there is only a mimimum of talk. After all speech is but a bare means in pictorial drama, and it can too easily be made to reach a point of over-saturation. “Tn ‘The Bargain’ the theme is abstract—the struggle between love and career, art and business. The development is psychological and the culmination is a sacrifice which symbolizes the ultimate of this struggle. There is a young couple and an older couple playing against each other to bring out the lights, shades and nuances of the drama. If they were to do nothing but talk, it would only achieve a one-dimensional effect. nstead, I strove to have the audience projected into minute details of action; visual pictures of scenes and situations are used; which more universally drive home the conditions under which the two couples labor. Speech in pictures is marvelous for eclimax—too much is anti-climax.” Recalls Henry Miller Milton’s idea of direction is allembracing. He believes that knowledge of the camera, lighting and general technique, should go hand in hand with an understanding, human heart. When asked who he thought was the greatest director, he replied by saying that there is no such person, directors can only be rated comparatively. It is this quality, too, which marks Robert Milton’s work. A _ plastic technician in two mediums, stage and screen, Milton is indeed fortunate that his directorial abilities for the screen thus far have been applied at the Theatre is one of the few stage directors, who, when asked to direct for the screen, was able gales a NEW TEAM Cut No. 18 Cut 15¢ Mat 5c Evalyn Knapp and John Darrow, two of the most popular of the screen’s younger players, make a strong bid for popularity as a team n “The Bargain,” First National’s picturization of Phillip Barry’s play, “You and I,” which comes to the Strand next week. LEWIS STONE TRIUMPHS AS LEAD IN “BARGAIN” (Current Reader) Lewis Stone, starring actor of stage and screen, plays a new part in his latest picture, “The Bargain,” the current First National offering Bb atHe ye are week Theatre. Dressed in a _ smock, and with palette and brushes in hand, he gives a portrayal of a middle-aged and reluctant artist. Una Merkel is the model. “The Bargain,” a heartwarming domestic drama, also features Doris Kenyon, Evalyn Knapp, Charles Butterworth John Darrow and others. Robert Milton directed. to two pictures of former stage productions he had directed. The first was “Outward Bound,’ for Warner Bros. and now comes: the Philip Barry Harvard prize play, entitled “The Bargain” for First National with a east consisting of Lewis Stone, Evalyn Knapp, Doris Kenyon, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel, Osear Apfel and John Darrow. DORIS KENYON CHARLES BUTTERWORTH Cut No. 14 Cut 20c Mat 5¢ Page Three