The Key (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Powell In Dashing Role In A Dynamic And Colorful Film Never has William Powell appeared in a more magnetic role than as the dashing army officer in “The Key,” which was shown for the first timesocaliiy at thes. ......-2.2 2s. theatre yesterday. In “The Key” Warner Bros. have managed to combine a most unusual romance with thrilling action, the love interest being set in the turbulent days of the Irish revolt of the last decade when Dublin was the seething battleground of the Sinn Feiners and the British authorities. Not since “Beau Geste” and “Beau Sabreur” has Powell appeared on the screen in uniform, but he makes a gallant figure in the natty togs of a devil-may-care captain who is a bold fighter and a gay dog with the women with whom he flirts outrageously and successfully. The star has brilliant support in his leading lady, Edna Best, star of the London and New York stages and of English pictures, although this is her screen debut in America. She is the apex of the triangular love affair, being the wife of one officer and under a strange spell of infatuation for the gay captain whose sweetheart she had been before her marriage. She carries out the role with a finish and polish that bespeaks her long training in stagecraft. Nor does her natural blonde beauty detract from her loveliness and charm in the role of a woman who fought so hard and yet unsuccessfully against her mad infatuation. Like Miss Best, Colin Clive, the other side of the triangle, first made his stage debut in London although since then he has built up a strong reputation both on the New York stage and in pictures. As the somewhat over-zealous, but intensely human secret service operative, he fights a losing battle to hold the love of his wife until a surprising crisis occurs which opens her eyes to the real worth of “her man.” Hobart Cavanaugh, as Powell’s dog robber, furnishes some rare humor which acts as a foil to an otherwise intensely dramatic story. Halliwell Hobbes and Arthur Treacher are excellent in their roles as British army officers as are Henry O’Neill, Phil Regan, Donald Crisp, J. M. Kerrigan and Arthur Aylesworth as Irish patriots and rebels against the English rule. Maxine Doyle, Gertrude Short and Dawn O’Day all carry out their roles as Irish lassies with talented acting. The picture is filled with thrills, love interest and fast action from start to finish, ably directed by Michael Curtiz, one of Warner Bros. most efficient megaphonists. Edna Best Who makes her debut in Holly wood in the Warner Bros.’ dramatic film, “The Key.” William Powell stars in the picture, which boasts of such players as Colin Clive, Halliwell Hobbes, Hobart Cavanaugh and others. The picture is now on view at the Strand. Mat No. 4—10c Unique Love Drama, “The Key” At ... Theatre Today A strange triangular love drama set in the background of the seething cauldron of the Irish rebellion comes sto: these, Theatre today when the Warner Bros. picture, “The Key,” opens for a ret Pah ae eae run, with William Powell in the stellar role. Powell and Colin Clive, brother officers stationed in Dublin to suppress the rebellion, form two of the sides of the triangle, while Edna Best, the wife of Clive and the former sweetheart of Powell, forms the third. Clive, a serious minded officer in the secret service, has never completely won the love of his wife, who has a strange infatuation for the gay and dashing captain in the person of Powell. The outcome of this love tangle is one of the big surprises in the picture which is revealed in a thrilling climax. The picture, which is based on the play by R. Gore-Browne and J. L. Hardy, follows the exploits of the Irish patriots in their uprising of the last decade and the efforts of the British to put down the rebellion. The daring deeds of the Sinn Feiners in their conflict with English officers furnish many a thrill to add to the romance of the film. Others in the cast include such talented players as Hobart Cavanaugh, Halliwell Hobbes, Henry O'Neill, Phil Regan, Donald Crisp, J. M. Kerrigan, Arthur Treacher, Maxine Doyle, Arthur Aylesworth, * Gertrude Short and Dawn O’Day. Michael Curtiz directed the picture from the screen play by Laird Doyle. FREAK #00. FROM HIS AUNT INORDER TO PAY HIS WAY THROUGH THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DRAMATICS INNEW YORK agli FACTS... . ABOUT FILM FAVORITES ISA OIRECT DESCENDANT OF LORD ROBERT ClivE wHo ANNEXED INDIA FAMOUS P SHAKESPEARE HALLIWELL HOBBES BRITISH ACTRESS APPEARING IN “THE KEY “ IS THE MOTHER OF TWIN Boys, TWO STRATFORD-ON-AVON Boys WHO MADE Gooo— ONEIN WRITING = THE OTHER IN ACTING / These stars are appearing in the new Warner Bros. drama, “The Key,’ coming to the Strand Theatre Friday. Editors like this feature! Readers do, too! So get working on it. It’s a swell plug for the picture. Mat No. 9—20c Powell Finally Cast in Role He Really Likes Star of ‘“‘The Key” Thinks Character in His Latest Film Real Human Being S a sereen success William Powell considers himself a failure. If success is measured by the extent to which one realizes his most cherished desires and ambitions, Bill is the most unsuccesful star in Hollywood. He has impersonated all sorts and conditions of men in the course of his years before the camera, but never once did he get a chance to play a character he really likes until he was cast for the stellar role in ‘““The Key,” the Warner Bros. picture which comes to the Bill made his cinema debut as a villain— one of those “sign-thepapers-or-I’ll-tear-up-the-cheeild” boys. He hated the role but he played it so convincingly that he found himself sentenced to heavy parts for years, with no time off for good behavior. One day somebody discovered that Bill could make love mighty well in front of the lens. From that moment his villainous record was forgotten and Powell forthwith became a great lover. Despite the fact that he had never thought of himself as a matinee idol and couldn’t see why anyone else did, he discharged his new responsibilities with characteristic thoroughness. Great Screen Detective Just when it looked as if he’d be making love to whatever heroine he chanced to be cast with, for the rest of his days, the studio that employed him found itself with a Philo Vance story on its hands, and _not an actor-detective in sight. Some actors are born to be detectives and others have roles of that kind thrust upon them. Bill Powell was one of the latter. Some executive soothsayer decided that Powell was the ideal Philo Vance, and it was so. The public agreed with the producers to such an extent that Philo Vance is still one of the most popular roles Powell has ever played. But you can’t get any enthusiasm out of Bill about it. He doesn’t like the detective type of mind. He dislikes people who know all the answers, whose attitude toward life eet: cat Theatre on ..........0..0... is “elementary, my dear Watson.” Nevertheless, he became _ the screen’s best known sleuth. He still is. Likes to Portray ‘“‘Humans” What are the parts William Powell has longed to play, that he’s never before had a chance to do? The star isn’t arbitrary about it. He hasn’t any cut-and-dried ideas on the subject. He’d like to be a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood character instead of a _ theatrical puppet. That’s what the character he represents in “The Key” is, a redblooded human being with plenty of faults, a weakness for women. William Powell, as Capt. Tennant of. “The Key,” is a scamp and a rogue, a gay dog with a weakness for women, a dare-devil who laughs at life and snaps his fingers at death. But he possesses a certain code of honor that. leads him to commit an act that sends him to prison to patch up a love affair he has wrecked. “And that,” said Bill Powell, “is the kind of character I like to portray.” “The Key” is a thrilling tale of romance and adventure based on the play by R. Gore-Browne and J. L. Hardy and adapted to the screen by Laird Doyle. It is set in the turbulent days when the Sinn Fein’s impassioned uprising set all Ireland ablaze. In the cast with Powell are Edna Best, Colin Clive, Hobart Cavanaugh, Halliwell Hobbes, Henry O’Neill and Phil Regan. Michael Curtiz directed. Clive Has Own Gallery Of Screen Stars Colin Clive, who has the role of a secret service operative in the Warner Bros. picture, “The Key,” winicheGomes=to, “the 2... ee. cn.kons. UWeabre Ol. cst ; has his own gallery of screen stars. The well known British actor has a camera, with which he is thoroughly proficient. During the making of “The Key,” he kept it on the set wir him and secured many informal portraits of William Powell, Edna Best, Halliwell Hobbes, J. M. Kerrigan and other members of the cast. Clive’s Hollywood gallery also includes Boris Karloff, Mae Clarke, Katharine Hepburn, and others. Edna Best Makes Bow In American Film Edna Best, the celebrated English actress who is also well known to Broadway, makes her debut in American films in the Warner Bros. picture, “The Key,’ which comes tothe. 5, ce: acwenieh teeta Theatre ODM pert al kare She has played in many British films, however, and in 1931 came to Hollywood under contract to make a film with John Gilbert. She took a train back to New York before starting the picture and later explained that she was homesick for her husband, Herbert Marshall. Many Irish Actors in Dramatic Film of Erin Having the Sinn Fein uprising of 1920 as its story background, Warner Bros. film, “The Key,” Wihich.comes. £0) thegescis-.samencmoseee hea tre OM \ 102 lr peewee Ie s presents a cast which, appropriately, includes a number of actors whose names connote their Irish ancestry. They are J. M. Kerrigan, who endeared himself to screengoers as Marion Davies’ father in “Little Old New York”; Henry O'Neill, well known New York stage actor recently placed under contract by Warner Brothers; Maxine Doyle, the former mistress of ceremonies at the Earle Theatre, Washington, D. C.; Phil Regan, former New York City detective, who also is a radio star, and Hobart Cavanaugh, noted character actor. Colin Clive Meets Old School Mate Colin Clive, celebrated English and American actor, had a surprise in store for him when he stepped onto a set at the Warner Bros. studios preparatory to starting work on “The Key,” now showinpvat thes erage hoo... Theatre. The surprise came in the person of Dr. Thomas F. MacLaughlin, who had been appointed technical supervisor for “The Key,” a romance of the Irish rebellion. Clive and MacLaughlin had been school mates in England years ago, attending Stonyhurst, one of the best known boys’ schools on the British Isles. They had lost track of each other until they met to work in the same picture at Warner Bros. Powell Can't Go High Hat in His Small Car William Powell thinks he’ll go back to big cars. When he started work in “The Key” for Warner Bros., the picture now showing at ING eae Senter es Sa Theatre, he substituted two small cars for his Packard. He picked a sedan and a roadster—since he wanted variety. Variety is what he’s got. But now size is beginning to worry Bill. Arriving for work one morning, he grumbled: “Humph, I turned my big car in for a lot of rumbles.” He pointed to the natty little sedan in which his chauffeur had just driven him to the studio. “And there’s another trouble,” he complained. “I may not get dressed up often, but when I do I like the job complete. How’m I ever going to wear a high hat in that thing?” Famous Biograph Girl In Role of an Extra A famous star of yester year appeared as an extra on the set at ‘Warner Bros. where they were making scenes for now showing at the ..............cccc. Theatre, with William Powell in the eg role. But no one recognized ner. Finally one of the property men who had been in the business for twenty years recalled her and whispered her name to the others. It was Florence Lawrence, known from one end of America to the other in the years 1910 to 1914 as “the Biograph Girl.” * Lhe; , Key,” Powell Combines Acting With Architecture William Powell combined architectural work with acting during the production of “The Key,” the Warner Bros. picture now showing at the oo... Theatre. He was personally supervising an extensive remodeling of the old Hobart Bosworth home in Beverly Hills, which he purchased. Four rooms were being added. William Powell Handsome star of the new Warner vehicle, “The Key,” exciting drama of the Sinn Fein revolt. Colin Clive and Edna Best are featured in the film. Mat No. 8—10ce Page Three