The Verdict (Warner Bros.) (1946)

Bit Player Tops Stars By Virtue Of Accident It happened during the filming of Warner Bros.’ “The Verdict,’ the Sydney Greenstreet-Peter LorreJoan Lorring starring film currently at the Strand. Lorre and Greenstreet were involved in their usual gruesome antics on the set. The year indicated was 1890. The setting was a gloomy cemetery. Ivy-coated grave markers and crypts loomed through heavy Lon don fog. In one corner of the cemetery a grave digger shovelled dirt out of a newly opened grave. George Coulouris, portraying the Superintendent of Scotland Yard, and three of his police officers stood by. Their storm lanterns lit the scene. As the men peered down into the excavation, the workman’s shovel struck against the top of the buried coffin. At the same instant Lorre and Greenstreet materialized out of the swirling mist from the far end of the cemetery. Lorre, cast as a ghoulish little portrait painter, nodded to Coulouris and remarked: “A lovely night, Superintendent.” “T ean think of nicer ones,” Coulouris answered wryly. “Why have you come here?” Lorre rolled his soft-boiledegg eyes in the direction of Coulouris and drawled: “I’ve always had a suppressed desire to see a grave opened — especially in the dead of night.” Greenstreet started to speak just as the tenseness was broken by the sound of a heavy crash from the depth of the grave. Director Don Siegel yelled: “Cut!” and rushed over to the grave to see what caused the commotion. He found that the gravedigger had crashed through the top of the buried coffin. Lorre looked at the chagrined bit player and quipped: “Look, old boy, you’re going at it the wrong way. That’s not the way to crash into the ‘big time.’ ” Separated By War, Finds Daughter Is Warner Bros. Star Four and a half years of anxious waiting ended recently for actress Joan Lorring with the arrival in Hollywood of her father, Fred Ellis, former prisoner in a Japanese internment camp near Hong Kong. Ellis, a former stock broker, and his wife and daughter were members of the British colony in Hong Kong = until 1938, when they came to the United States and applied for American citizenship. In 1941 Ellis returned to the Orient on a business trip and was taken prisoner by the Japs shortly after Pearl Harbor. When Ellis last saw his daughter she was a high school student, but during his absence she signed an acting contract with Warner Bros. and has completed major roles in three films, “The Corn Is Green,” “Three Strangers” and her current film, Warners’ “The Verdict,’ in which she appears opposite stars Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, at the Strand. Joan Lorring MAT IC Following his release from the — internment camp after VJ Day, Ellis went to England to await re-entry papers into the United States. While there he was given a special showing of his daughter’s films. According to present plans, he will remain in Hollywood indefinitely. Still No. SG 30 THROWING HIS WEIGHT on the side of justice, Sydney Greenstreet plays one of the most unusual roles of his screen career in "The Verdict," Warner Bros.’ exciting new mystery film currently at the Strand Theatre. Peter Lorre and Joan Lorring are co-starred with him. Mat IF First Special Wardrobe Turns Out To Be Dated! Joan Lorring, currently costarring with Sydney ‘Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in Warners’ “The Verdict’ at the Strand. for the first time wears a specially designed screen wardrobe—a fact which would ordinarily delight the young actress were it not for the fact that all of the dresses were designed to represent the height of fashion in the 1890. period. In her first two films for Warner Bros., “The Corn Is Green” and “Three Strangers,” the new star was delegated to drab handme-downs in keeping with her characterizations. However, in her current film, she wears six lavish gowns and a scanty stage costume especially designed for her by William Travilla. Artistic Director Aids Sad Confrere On Sketchless Set Director Jean Negulesco’s talent for sketching was put to good use during the filming of )Warner Bros.’ “The Verdict,” the Sydney Greenstreet Peter Lorre-Joan Lorring starring film now playing at the Strand Theatre. Don Siegel, who directed “The Verdict,” had to make a last minute change in a scene with Sydney Greenstreet and Rosalind Ivan. The new business required a portrait sketch of Miss Ivan, The production was unprepared for the abrupt change. There were no potential artists in the cast or crew, and the scene was ready to be filmed. So Siegel rushed Miss Ivan to a projection room where Negulesco was looking at tests. After listening to the problem, Negulesco stopped the film and in a matter of minutes made a pencil sketch of the British actress, which can now be seen in the film, Bats And Camera Crew Alike Found In Movie Belfrey An old belfrey constructed on a Warner Bros.’ back lot had more in it than bats during the filming of that studio’s Sydney Greenstreet Peter Lorre Joan Lorring starring film, “The Verdict,” now playing at the Strand Theatre. The phenomenon happened when director Don Siegel led his camera crew up into the belfrey’s topmost level to establish a new high in camera angies. To film. the opening shot in the suspenseful new drama, the camera was hoisted to the belfrey, then focused on huge tolling bells which were suspended up another fifteen feet in the rafters, ; As the bells rocked back and forth, the camera slowly yanned down three floor levels to an English street scene. When Sydney Greenstreet finally walked into the long shot, he appeared in the lens as a pocket-sized edition of his usual ponderous self, Preparation Means Everything In Film Making, Says Star Sydney Greenstreet, one of Hollywood’s few character actors to achieve stardom, works much harder before a picture than during its filming. “My work in front of the camera is easy,” the heavyweight heavy explains, “compared to the labor pains I go through while giving birth to a characterization.” The former stage actor is currently appearing at the Strand in the new Warner Bros.’ mystery, “The Verdict,” in which he co-stars with Peter Lorre and Joan Lorring. It is the sixth time that Greenstreet teams with Lorre, his diminutive partner in crime. Greenstreet is cast as a criminal investigator for Scotland Yard, who is forced to resign following the death of an innocent man. Using his current role as an example he explains: “T’ve mulled over the character of this man I’m to portray and explored every reason behind his actions in the script. As I studied the man I finally felt myself assuming his personality. By knowing him so well the lines and various bits of business come naturally when I step into camera range.” “It’s the preparation § that counts,” Greenstreet concluded, “and that includes twenty-seven years on the stage.” London Rain Too Much For Lorre Even In Pictures Peter Lorre was incapacitated by a serious cold as a direct result of filming a special sequence in Warner Bros.’ “The Verdict,” in which he is currently co-starring with Sydney Greenstreet and Joan Lorring at the Strand. During the filming of the psychological drama, based on the Israel Zangwill mystery which Reader’s Digest called the most baffling ever written, the actor spent two days before the camera in scenes requiring him to run through a rainy London street at night in search of a policeman. Director Don Siegel had to substitute scenes with Sydney Greenstreet and Joan Lorring until Lorre was able to return to work on the Burbank lot. Joan Lorring Tests For ‘The Verdict’, Fools Tough-To-Fool Sound Men With French Accent Motion picture sound technicians are hard to fool when it comes to identifying a star’s voice. The main part of a soundman’s job is to listen in on all the dialogue as the stars speak their lines. Every intonation and voice characteristic of the actors becomes more familiar to them than their own voices. But recently, when Joan Lorring used a French accent while testing for her leading role in Warners’ “The Verdict.” in which she is currently starred with Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre at the Strand Theatre, the soundman phoned in to the set to find out who was reading Joan’s lines. Although “The Verdict’ represents the actress’ third film, the soundman had never before heard her voice recorded in anything but a cockney dialect. Three Attempts End In Foggy Victory At Studio The cast of “The Verdict,” Warner Bros.’ mystery film now at the Strand was in pretty much of a fog during the picture’s filming, but it was all part of making pictures. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, who co-star with Joan Lorringinthe drama, and George Coulouris were the main characters lined up for a gruesome cemetery scene supposedly occurring in the dead of night. The action called for the trio to watch a gravedigger exhume the body of a murdered man. According to the screenwriter’s description of the sequence, a heavy fog was supposed to be lying close to the ground with the tombstones and crypts looming out of the eerie white blankets. To achieve the fog effect crew members blew dry ice fumes over the floor of the set, but difficulties arose immediate George Coulouris MAT ID ly. One of the workmen walked onto the set just before the cameras were ready to roll, and his movements whipped the smoke into a billowing cloud just in front of the cameras. Fans were switched on and the smoke was blown off the sound stage. Then the special effects men put down another carpet of smoke while the cast waited, scarcely breathing for fear of disturbing the temperamental fog bank. When it was Still No. 640-517 ready, the actors began the scene but before they’d finished they were completely invisible. Too much of the smoke had been blown onto the set and instead of lying close to the floor it rose gradually, and eventually screened the actors completely. The third attempt was finally successful, and the trio left the set at last, feeling more like fugitives from a smoke stack than screen stars. Shows Sudden Urge For Rewriting His Own Film Dialogue Peter Lorre hit a dialogue snag that threatened to floor him during the filming of Warners’ “The Verdict,” in which he is currently co-starring with Sydney Greenstreet and Joan Lorring at the Strand. Lorre was playing a _ tense scene wherein he had just fired a shot at a mysterious intruder and missed. Sydney Greenstreet hurried into the scene, saw the smoking gun in Lorre’s hand and asked what had happened. Lorre’s next line was supposed to be: “I fired and missed him.” But every time the scene was done, Lorre unconsciously changed the line to: “I fired and made a mistake.” Each time, filming was halted and Lorre was given the dialogue correction. When, on the third try, he again said: “I fired and made a mistake”, he finally bellowed in exasperation: ‘And these mistakes will get me fired!” DON'T LET PETER LORRE'S benevolent smile fool you. The diminutive screen villain is far from guileless in his latest cinematic characterization in Warners’ "The Verdict," new mystery puzzler at the Strand Theatre. Co-starred with Lorre are Sydney Greenstreet and Joan Lorring. Mat 2E 9