They Won't Forget (Warner Bros.) (1937)

MORE THAN 100 SCENES WERE FILMED FOR TRIAL SEQUENCE IN “THEY WON'T FORGET”’ T takes just about as long a time to film a murder trial as it does to conduct an actual murder trial. Ten whole days were devoted to photographing the exciting murder trial of Robert Peary Hale, young Northern’ school teacher accused of a Southern girl’s murder, in the Mervyn LeRoy production, “They Won't Forget,” at Warner Bros. studio. This is the sensational drama that opens at the Strand Theatre next Friday. A real murder trial equivalent in public interest to the one dramatized by Ward Greene in his best-selling novel, “Death In the Deep South,’’— from which ““They Won't Forget’’ was adapted—would consume about ten days, it is estimated. Of course, just as in the case with a real court trial, LeRoy’s great movie trial scenes were preceded by a vast amount of preparation and setting of the scene. Many weeks before LeRoy assembled his large cast of principals on the court room set designed by Robert Haas especially for “They Won't Forget,’’ scenarists Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel were dramatizing the powerful story recounted in the Ward Greene Book. Much research preceded the designing and construction of the set. Because the locale of the story is indefinite, LeRoy sought a composite court room which would have true Dixie atmosphere, but which could not be identified as similar to that found in any specific city. Photographs of court rooms in a number of Southern cities were obtained, studied by Haas, who then planned his composite of these. A week was spent in building the set. LeRoy himself picked the Mat No. 216—20c “My son couldn’t do a thing like that!"’ screams Elizabeth Risdon, as the mother of the defendant, during the trial. paren a oes foie sa aah ee se a ie Mat No. 212—20c “It’s a lie,” shouts the defendant, played by Edward Norris, when the prosecuting attorney proclaims him guilty. Mat No. 211—20c Mobs surrounding the courthouse, yelling for a conviction of the man who murdered the pretty high-school girl. Page 10 jury, actually going into the streets like the Caliph of old Bagdad to find interesting types for his jurors. The casting office spent many hours choosing the 500 odd extras hired each day to comprise the crowds packing the court. More than 2500 different Hollywood extra players worked in these scenes. Virtually the entire cast of “They Won't Forget’’ worked in the murder trial sequences, which Hollywood advance reports herald as setting a new peak in drama for other directors to shoot at. There was Claude Rains, dynamic, cocky, able Southern district attorney, making the most of his opportunity to advance himself politically by pinning the girl’s murder on Hale, played by Edward Norris. Hale’s wife was there, too, in person of Gloria Dickson, Mat No. 10 —10¢ Teacher and pupil work together — the innocent start. DITO ARUGER HAS LAWYER ROLE IN NEW STRAND FILM Otto Kruger, the romantic actor who plays the role of Gleason, a Northern defense attorney, in Mervyn LeRoy’s production, “They Won't Forget,” is a nephew of “Oom Paul” Kruger, the famous South African leader of the Boer War. But Kruger himself was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Bernard Alben Kruger, an accountant. He was educated in Toledo High School, and then studied at both the University of Michigan and Columbia. His youthful ambition was to become a forester, and for some time he worked as a ranger in upper New York State. Kruger, following his early work as a primitive-living ranger, worked for a time as a telephone lineman. But like the majority of actors who have started life in other occupations, his natural love for the theatre asserted itself and he worked up through an apprenticeship of stock companies to become one of the leading matinee idols of the New York stage. His selection by Mervyn LeRoy for the role of the famous New York attorney who goes down South to battle in a hectic murder trial for the life of a young Northern teacher followed tests given to an array of famous actors. Mat No. 404—40e After three hours for his final summary to the jury, Claude Rains, the prosecutor, demands a verdict of “Guilty.” the Federal Theatre ‘‘find,”’ making her screen debut. So was Otto Kruger, who is cast as Hale’s Northern defense attorney; Leonard Mudie as the Judge, Elizabeth Risdon as the accused man’s mother; Linda Perry, Clinton Rosemond, a remarkable negro actor, Elisha Cook, Cy Kendall and E. Alyn Warren, all important witnesses for the prosecution. Another unusual incident “Mat No. 104—100 Wife of defendant, Gloria Dickson awaits the verdict. was the presence of Lana Turner, the beautiful 17-year-old actress whose killing brought about the trial. She was not acting, however, but was there merely as a spectator, and she enjoyed the proceedings thoroughly. The reason it took such a long time to do the court room sequences for “They Won't Forget’ is that there were more than 100 separate scenes to be Mat No. 103—10c¢ Jealous schoolgirl, Linda Perry's testimony is damning. filmed, and often each scene, to inject freshness, had to be photographed from several different angles. Each new camera setup meant focussing the lights anew, and that takes time. Then there were the numerous ‘reaction closeups’ required, just fleeting glimpses of the expressions on the faces of key principals in this absorbing court room drama, as testi mony or incidents during the trial affected their cause. When you see the trial scene on the screen, it will unreel before your eyes exactly as though you were present in the courtroom. With the art that conceals art, Mervyn LeRoy has assembled all the shots into one united whole that really gets across the dynamic drama of one of the greatest trial sequences ever filmed. “He killed our Mary,” cry the brothers and mother of the murdered girl. They demand his life in payment for hers. Clctar Swing South in Dialect Professor Dalton S. Reymond, head of the opera department of Louisiana State University, was engaged by producer Mervyn LeRoy to act as Southern technical adviser for his film production, ‘“They Won't Forget,’ based upon the best selling novel, “Death In The Deep South,” by Ward Greene. Professor Reymond, whose family has been distinguished for generations in Louisiana, assisted LeRoy and members of his cast in using correct Southern diction in doing scenes for the film. He also aided in giving the production genuine Dixie atmosphere. “They Won't Forget’’ will have its first showing at the Strand Theatre on Friday. Now on sabbatical leave from the University, where he produced a series of notable operas, Professor Reymond found motion picture work a fascinating experience. He believed that “They Won't Forget’ when released would have a splendid effect throughout the entire country in helping to correct injustices caused by too great reliance upon circumstantial evidence. The grandson of a Confederate officer, Professor Reymond represents the finest traditions of the Southland, and when his qualifications were submitted to Mr. LeRoy he lost no time in adding him to his staff. During the World War Reymond enlisted in the American Naval Air Service, and also served as an officer in the 156th Infantry after the war. Claude Rains, noted character actor, who gave the screen such powerful performances in “Anthony Adverse,” ‘“‘Crime Without Passion’’ and other pictures, plays the leading male role in “They Won't Forget,” which LeRoy personally directed as well as produced for Warner Bros.’ release. Gloria Dickson, a_ brilliant newcomer who never before had acted in a picture, portrays the principal feminine role. Two other young actress, Lana Turner and Linda Perry also have important roles. Professor Reymond spent a great deal of time with each member of the cast who is supposed to speak with a southern accent. His method was to talk to them for hours at a time, until they had imbibed the swing of the accent. Then he sat back and let his pupils talk —stopping them only now and then to make a correction. Claude Rains, who is English, had perhaps the most difficult time of all in learning the soft speech of the South. But learn it he did—thanks to his own and Professor Reymond's efforts. Linda Perry and Lana Turner, two young high school girls who were discovered by Mervyn LeRoy studied “‘South Talk’ in the same way they were accustomed to studying their French lessons, and came out with flying colors. Clinton Rosemond, the negro actor who plays the janitor, was exempt from the lessons because he has a natural Southern accent of his own. Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris and Otto Kruger play Northerners in the picture, so they too, were exempt, as was Allyn Joslyn, a recruit from Broadway, who had done Southern parts before. Because of the power and realism of the Ward Greene story, LeRoy has cast the picture principally with players who are unfamiliar faces to moviegoers. Among them are Edward Norris, Gloria Dickson, Lana Turner, Allyn Joslyn, Elisha Cook and E. Alyn War ren. “They Won't Forget’’ is stark, powerful drama, by far the outstanding film of the year. Mervyn LeRoy has thrown all of his directorial genius into making every single scene of this film as compelling as possible, and blending the whole into a gripping drama, destined to hold audiences all over the world spellbound. They'll go away remembering the brilliant performance of Gloria Dickson, as the wife of the condemned man, the dynamic appeal of Claude Rains’ portrayal of the prosecuting attorney, restrained pathos of Edward Norris in the role of the accused, and the dewy freshness of Lana Turner, the young highschool girl who is seen briefly but memorably as the murdered girl. FAME COMES BAGK T0 NEGRO ACTOR AFTER 17 YEARS Seventeen years ago fame brushed the shoulder of Clinton Rosemond. That was in London, when he and several other Negro vocalists from America were summoned to Buckingham Palace by royal command to sing for the late King George and his Queen. Meantime, Rosemond has earned a comfortable living as a singer in concert, radio work, vaudeville and in pictures. But recently fame came back again after seventeen years, perched securely atop Rosemond’s muscular shoulders and today Hollywood is shouting in clarion tones that he is one of the greatest actors of his race in the world. This is because of a remarkable dramatic scene he played for Mervyn LeRoy’s production, “‘They Won't Forget’ made at Warner Bros. studio from the sensational novel “Death In The Deep South,” and due to open next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Rosemond’s emotional portrayal was so compelling that he not only drew salvos of applause from several hundred jaded extra players appearing in a court room scene, but he also caused a dozen of them to shed tears. “I've never seen a greater negro actor, said LeRoy. “That was as fine a display of acting as I’ve ever witnessed,”’