The Last Flight (Warner Bros.) (1931)

— aaa THERE'S A CAST THAT'S WORTHY FROM THE GAY CAFES OF PARIS TO THE BULL-RING OF LISBON! Lost souls caught in the maddening whirl-wind of life! Seeking new adventures to forget the old! by John Monk es Saunders author of “Dawn Patrol.” FLI Y A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE HIT Cut No. 10 Cut 60¢ Mat 15¢ You loved our Dick as captain of Dawn Patrol.” Now _BAVID MANNERS JOHN MACK BROWN ELLIOTT NUGENT WALTER BYRON “The with all these sereen _faveries Helen Chandler Charms As /|Barthelmess Re-Hires Own Nikki In “Last Flight’ (Current Reader) Helen Chandler, new leading lady playing opposite Richard Barthelmess, First National star of “The Last Flight,’ now playing at the Theatre, introduces what may become a new fad in this film. In one of the most amusing scenes, in the role of Nikki, Miss Chandler is seen having her toenails painted by a little Chinese girl. Just why she does this, Nikki never knows. Her only explanation, a classic one in the story for many odd things, is that “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Old Yacht For Rest Cure (Advance Reader) Before beginning the strenuous business of filming “The Last Flight,” the First National production which comes to the ........... Dhentre ss: Bae es, next, Richard Barthelmess prevailed on the purchaser of his old yacht “Pegasus”, to let him have one more cruise. He returned to the Burbank Studios properly tanned and invigorated to make the picture which is claimed to be the most thrilling of his career. He plays the part of an ex-flier in search of excitement after the Armistice, roving Paris with four buddies and a tantalizing girl, who says she can “walk faster in red shoes.” “ Mother’s Friend Steers Dick Barthelmess Into Films (Advance Reader) Richard Barthelmess, who comes to the Be Gie eee next in “The Last Flight,” the First National production, meant to be a newspaper reporter. It was his mother’s friend, Alla Nazimova, who saw in him the right type for a certain role in her starring picture, “War Brides.” “The Last Flight” presents him as an exflier seeking excitement in gay Parisian haunts—with four buddies and a girl—in the days following the Armistice. Helen Chandler is the girl, the four leading men are John Monk Brown, David Manners, Walter Byron and Elliott Nugent. William Dieterle directed. Be Sure To Use The “Turtle” Stunt As Outlined On Page 6 of This Press Sheet! four out of every ten v RICHARD BARTHELMESS HAS WORN MILITARY UNIFORM OF THIRTEEN COUNTRIES DURING FILM CAREER Star Wears Flier’s Garb in Early Scenes Of “The Last Flight,’”’ First National Production, Now At Strand Theatre (Short Feature for No. 1 Paper on Third Day) Hollywood, Calif—Exactly twelve times during his screen eareer has Richard Barthelmess been starred if pictures which required him to don the military uniform of some nation. Sometimes he has been a doughboy or officer of Uncle Sam, though he has also worn the resplendent regalia of a prince of a fantastic Graustark-like principality; the habiliments of a young Dutch soldier of fortune in Merrie England of the seventeenth century ; a British officer, and a French poilu. Now for the thirteenth time, Dick is assigned to a role that will again put him into a uniform. The number doesn’t mean much to him, for he is unsuperstitious by nature, and accords the number 13 as much or a little consideration as any other unit in the numerical system. Besides, he reasons that if he had let himself be bothered by the universally suspected number, he might have quit being a star long ago; when his thirteenth starring picture was reached, for example. “The Last Flight” is the title of the First National picture which will show him again in uniform. The picture, incidentally, will constitute his thirty-fourth starring picture— the forty-sixth he has made. It is based on the John Monk Saunders story which ran serially in Liberty Magazine as “Nikki and Her War Birds,” and which was subsequently published in book form as “Single Lady.” With thirty-four starring pictures to his credit in twelve years as a sereen figure in thirteen of which he is seen as doughboy, poilu, cadet, officer or prince, Barthelmess’ percentage of thirty-eight percent for he has been seen as an officer or private of some army or navy. In his first screen appearance, he began his cinemesque soldiering. This was “War Brides” in which he ‘Supported Aila Nazimova, who, let it be mentioned in passing, is responsible for Dick’s adoption of the career of actor, since she brought him to the stage when he was considering newspaper work as a career. This was followed by a series of pictures, all of variegated costume but unmilitary. With “Sonny” he was a fighting man—in strict truth he was two fighting men, since he played the dual role of an A.E.F. officer and his doughboy buddy. Barthelmess momentarily forsook the uniform of Unele Sam for his work in “The Fighting Blade.” Here movie fans saw him in Merrie England of the Cromwellian days, as a young Dutch soldier of fortune, clad in breastplate of steel, halberd, sword, and all the military trappings of the day. Next, his allegiance returned to our shores. In “Shore Leave” Dick was a gob. And, for opulent contrast, his succeeding picture , was “Just Suppose,” in which he wore the scarlet regalia of a prince in an imaginary country like Ruritania. “Ransom’s Folly” a Richrd Harding Davis yarn concerning a Western army post, disclosed Dick as a U.S.A. lieutenant in the old frontier days. He has also appeared in pictures as a British officer on foreign service in Egypt; as a Pershing doughboy; a French infantryman; and in “The Dawn Patrol,” the epic of the war in which he won such brilliant honors, he was the embittered British officer, Captain Courtney, forced to watch mere schoolboys fly to death against the superior German air forces. Barthelmess, it would seem, rather expects to have pictures with roles showing him as a fighter. He naturally welcomes the relief of alternating in pictures in which he moves freely as a civilian. But even in this type of picture, he has occasionally had to wear clothes out of the ordinary. Quite recently, in “The Lash,” he swaggered about in the. vaquero outfit of a Mexicano of old California days; and before that, in “Son of the Gods,” he made a @ Program Reader Richard Barthel Cut No. 15 Cut 15¢ Mat 5c though he alternated with the street wear of modern days. “The Last Flight,” as the highstrung airman unable to let down from the tension of war days, he and four boon companions pursue a spectacular career through Paris bars, Portugese taverns and Spanish bullrings. They pursue pleasure hectically, with a strange girl, Nikki, keeping uv with thair -* With its we ackgrounds ana unusual situations, it is said to afford Barthelmess exceptional opportunities for acting. Barthelmess is supported in “The Last Flight” by Helen Chandler, John Mack Brown. David Manners, Walter Byron and Elliott Nugent. William Dieterle directed. Now at the Theatre. Bal Tabarin Is Scene Of Fantastic Foolery In “The Last Flight” (Advance—Plant 4 Days Before) The celebrated Bal Tabarin of Paris was transplanted with the aid of movie magicians to the First National lot in Burbank for the filming of “The Last Flight” starring Richard Barthelmess—which comes to the Sol ee ee Theatre next. The Tabarin, best known of all music-halls is locale for an important sequence of this romantic tale of ex-war-fliers adrift in Paris after the war. Like a fairyland, with garlands, colored lights, flags, suspended hoops loaded with souvenirs, huge black cats, donkeys and pigs, and reflecting mirrors wreathed in flowers, it is seen through a maze of serpentine ribbons thrown from balconies on the dancing girls below who do the French quadrille or cancan of Mabille fame, wearing immense picture hats, lace lingerie and white satin gowns, each arranged with a wire hoop which they turn and throw over them as they do a high kick, frequently knocking off the hat of some over-curious gentleman. The Bal Tabarin sequence is but one of the many gorgeous scenes in “The Last Flight.” Others are in Montmarte, on the Sud Express, the bullring at Lisbon, Portugal and the Market Place. William Dieterle directed. The cast includes Helen Chandler, Johnny Mack Brown, Elliott Nugent, Walter Byron, David Manners, Yola D’Avril, George Irving and others. The story is from “Nikki and Her War Birds”—novelized as “Single Lady”’—by John vivid figure in a mandarin robe, Monk Saunders.