The Florentine Dagger (Warner Bros.) (1935)

Replica Of Old Borgia Castle Built For Film Amazing Set Constrireted For Clue Club Mystery Drama, “The Florentine Dagger’’ A VAST, stormy hulk, grim and forbidding, perched precariously upon a crag high above the Italian town of Rossano, looming blacker against a black night sky. Long, dreary hallways, the timbers underfoot creaking upon contact with the lightest tread. Winding staircases festooned with age-old cobwebs. A vast reception hall, its beauty and magnificence visible through the dust and grime of centuries. gravestone, a A tremendous MARGARET LINDSAY in “The Florentine Dagger” at the Theatre. Mat No. 1 —10c monstrous monument to the horrible deaths caused by the Bor gias. Such was the outline of sets provided Art Directors Anton Grot and Carl Jules Weyl for the Warner Bros. picture, “The Florentine Dagger,” the Clue Club selection which comes to the PR CURC ALTO On eo tit ee Grot and Wey! have produced what authorities described as one of the most amazing series of sets ever to fill a sound stage at the Warner Bros. studios. Dark, dank, dungeon-like rooms that fairly spoke of age; groaning staircases, magnificent crystal chandeliers and ceiling-high mirrors reflecting the glory—and the wickedness—of the renaissance, are all there. A mask shop with death-like reproductions of the features of those who strode the bleak halls and magnificent chambers of the Borgia castle. Bed chambers abounding with age-old tapestries. Goblets from which enemies of the Borgias—and the Borgias themselves—quaffed the poison potions of their own manufacture. A thousand-and-one incidentals as strange, even to a motion picture studio, as they would have been to the average man in the street. One of the greatest problems with which the art directors had to deal were furnishings for these amazing sets. They combed libraries patiently, seeking out rare prints from which they eopied the massive chairs and tables of the period. They read long, involved descriptions of the times, so that their handiwork might be authentie. The castle was simple by comparison, but considerable imaginative genius was required within its grim, gaunt walls. Portraits of the Borgias were reproduced, then aged by a process frequently employed by film studios. A massive Borgia bull was earved by skilled artisans for seenic effect. A courtyard filled with broken, scattered statuary which carried out the feeling of great age. Faded frescoes on the walls, mosscovered flagstones. Grey stone everywhere, cold, depressing. Numerous modern sets, depicting interiors and exteriors of an inn and a railroad depot at the little Italian village of Rossano, also were planned by and erected under the direction of Grot and Weyl. For although much of the action of the startling mystery drama takes place in the Borgia castle, it depicts modern times. “The Florentine Dagger” is a baffling murder mystery drama written by the famous author, Ben Hecht. The slain man’s own daughter is arrested for the crime, although her lover, a descendant of the famous Borgias, thinks he may have done it. How the good services of a famous psychiatrist were enlisted by a eaptain of detectives who refused to believe the lover’s confession, and how the solution of the crime revealed a victim of the slain man’s torture make an enthralling and gripping angle to an unusual story. The cast includes Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, C. Aubrey Smith, Henry O’Neill, Robert Barrat and Florence Fair. STRAIGHTENED AT BYPNOTISM AND HOLLYWoOD's AUTHORITY ON THE SUBJECT D@NALD W**)/ HANDJOME LEADING MAN OF “THE FLORENTINE DACGER”’ WAS PASSED UP BY Alt rioviE SCOUTS Tikk HE HAD WIS NOSE FREAK FACS... . . ASOUT HIM FAVORITES _ MARGARET 2 ’ Ph) DIET ONE DAY A WEEK LIND/AY 1S THE LATEST STAR TO GO ON A LIQUID # gue ee 2 ‘ : Ss <3” f a a FLORENCE TAIR WEARS A MASK THROUGHOUT “THE FLORERTINE DAGGER” Mat No. 7—20c PRODUCTION DETAILS Stars of New Thriller Margaret Lindsay, who is featured with Donald Woods (center) in Warner Bros.’ Clue Club baffler, “The Florentine Dagger,” looks unflinchingly at the stern visage of Henry O'Neill. attraction at the Mat No. Donald Woods Extra In “Jazz Singer’ Donald romantie Woods, lead in who has the the Bros. production, “The Florentine to the Warner Dagger,’ which comes ER caae ag. theatre on made his first appearance in pictures as an extra in “The Jazz Singer,” which starred Al Jolson. After .that the went on the stage with a stock company and played in stock until a year ago. CAST OF CHARACTERS Cesare Florence Dr. Lytton__. eee Ea ‘ Lepore eee ea eS Lhe sagan eo See visas LTO A? TR ee Beebe Ae kee Salvatore Aten E245 [s, See aR Ro RAE a en ORY OY eae. a DETCGN IBY. OY he Additional Dialogue by. Didlogue Director oes Ehotosraphy by ey FUR MGT 8 duct SN Anton Grot and Carl Jules Weyl “THE FLORENTINE DAGGER” by Ben Hecht Pt Pe es ea ra Pe Te Leah A VGIOT Oe. Fi wea ge’ aes It’s the’ current Theatre. 6—20¢ No Cosmetics Used by Miss Lindsay Margaret Lindsay, who has the leading feminine role in the Warner Bros. murder mystery thriller, “The Florentine Dagger,” which comes to the clearest complexions of any Hollywood star. She says she has never used any cosmetics, but does believe in soap and water. Donald Woods Margaret Lindsay oC. Aubrey Smith Henry O’Neill Bae Me WTR ee a Robert Barrat Florence Fair be ware Ae Frank Reicher Me se PE, Charles Judels oo cows Rafaela Otizgario Paul Porcasi et ect Sac eae Kily Malyon ue Been, Brecher REE el en ee Henry Kolker esate oF Sen es te Herman Bing THE STORY In the veins of Juan Cesare Borgia, young dramatic author of today, flows a trace of the blood of the terrible and murderous Borgia family. Juan Cesare (Donald Woods) loves and wants to marry Florence Ballau (Margaret Lindsay), beautiful young actress who is playing the part of Lucrezia Borgia in a play Juan has written. In this play, she stabs to death with an ancient Florentine dagger. Florence’s father, Victor Ballau (Henry O’Neill), is the producer of the play. Juan Cesare asks to wed his daughter, but he refuses, for several reasons. He intimates there is some mystery about Florence and also fears the Borgia blood in Juan Cesare. Returning to the theatre to break the bad news to Florence, Juan Cesare is informed she had started for home, on the plea of illness. Cesare returns to the Ballau home, to get the shocking news that Florence’s father has been slain with a Florentine dagger! Had he, Juan, in his haze period, committed the erime himself — maybe impelled by the refusal of Florence’s hand in marriage, and again influenced by the Borgia blood? He does not know. Had Florence, under the semihypnotic spell the theatre put upon her, wielded the ancient weapon? Juan could not answer that, either. To save her, he confesses the killing. But the police would not accept the confession; especially doubtful was _ the shrewd police captain (Robert Barrat). Florence is the one who is taken to prison. Under the hypnotie influence of Dr. Lytton (C. Aubrey Smith), Florence reveals that she saw the=— killing of her father, but will not tell who committed the act. The police learn that Ballau had married an actress named Floria Bancroft, knowing that the child she was about to have was not his but another man’s. Then after the birth of the child, he had ruined the mother’s stage career. It proves that it was Teresa (Florence Fair), the housekeeper, whd had stabbed her husband because he refused to grant Florence the happiness of becoming Cesare’s bride. Teresa plunges the Florentine dagger into her own heart a moment after she has blessed the young lovers. Actress Never Shows Real Face In Film Song Cheba ema Robert Florey cs ee a Ben Hecht BL AOE OE TS .RE Tom Reed Se) Ce Brown Holmes baie os Arthur Greville Collins _.. Arthur Todd Thomas Pratt Orry-Kelly Forbstein a Os with Donald Woods-—Margaret Lindsay C. Aubrey Smith-—Henry O’Neill Herman Bing—Robert Barrat Directed by Robert Florey A Warner Bros. Productions Corporation Picture x MEMBER U.S. ‘*E DO OUR PART Florence Fair works throughout the Warner Bros. mystery drama, “The Florentine Dagger,” which comes to the... 2.0 002s. ‘BhieatTrelona. sey me a , under the auspices of the Clue Club without once showing her face. That is, her real face. She plays the part of the wife of a theatrical producer (Henry O’Neill) who imposes a_housekeeper role on her because he hates her. In order to keep her identity secret, she wears a flesh colored mask, A. Page Five a