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

CLAUDE RAINS Who Plays Andy Griffin, the Ruthless Prosecutor “| GOT THE BIGGEST THRILL OF MY ACTING CAREER” Mat No. 219—20c He rips into witness with tiger-like teeth, to exact the full penalty of death for an innocent man accused of murder. “THEY WON'T FORGET” WILL OPEN TODAY AT THE STRAND THEATRE That daring and _ successful producer and director of photoplays, Mervyn LeRoy, sends through Warner Bros. his latest sensational movie, “They Won't Forget,’ to the screen of the Strand Theatre today. LeRoy is the young man who made for the films such tremendous things as “1 Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang,” “Tittle Ceasar,” ““Anthony Ad verse’ and many others. LeRoy won't touch a story that is dull or routine. Now he presents one that certainly is neither. ‘“They Won't Forget’ is the film version of “Death In The Deep South,”’ a novel by Ward Greene that is second in southern interest only to “Gone With The Wind” =... and=is far more contro: versial. It presents the argument that a politically ambitious district attorney, by building up a chain of circumstantial evidence—and at the same time craftily stirring anti-sectional hatred — can send to death a perfectly innocent man accused of murder. In “‘They Won't Forget,”’ Claude Rains is the villainous prosecutor. Edward Norris is his victim; a young Northern school-teacher. Gloria Dickson —a new film girl drafted from a Federal Theatre Project stage play —is the victim’s wife; Lana Turner, a 17-year-old Hollywood high school girl, is the one that’s murdered; Otto Kruger, of stage and screen fame, is the Northern lawyer that tries to save Norris — and a splendid additional cast completes the roster. There has been endless debate ever since “They Won't Forget’’ was previewed, and it will probably continue, according to all indications, to the great profit of the box-office. It’s said to be a real thriller. Mervyn LeRoy directed as well as produced this photoplay, from a screen version adapted by Aben Kandel and Robert Rossen, based on the best-selling novel “Death In The Deep South.” Absorbing the situation in the next scene before going into action are Director Mervyn LeRoy and Claude Rains. 220—20 Mat N WAS addressing the jury, seeking with shrewd rapier thrusts of legal cunning to send an innocent young man to the electric chair. The legal phrases were pretty unfamiliar to me —and the speech had to last for a full five minutes, so I was concentrating pretty hard, as you can imagine. For the time being, I actually was the rascally Andy Griffin, concentrating every effort on getting a verdict of guilty. When I finished, and Mervyn LeRoy, a smile of satisfaction on his face, cried, “Cut!” there was a thunderous uproar which shook the very floor I was standing on. I looked up, and literally rubbed my eyes. Then I realized that the extras who were taking part in the courtroom scene were applauding me. It was one of the big thrills that come only once or twice in an actor's lifetime — because an audience of movie extras are about the most hard-boiled in the world. I felt truly rewarded for the weeks of hard study I'd put into the role. When | learned that I was to do the District Attorney in “They Won't Forget,’ I first read the novel by Ward Greene, “Death In the Deep South,” upon which the picture is based. I read and reread the book a dozen times. I wanted to know the man I was to play—what he looked like, his distinctive traits and mannerisms, little peculiarities which made him such an interesting fellow. Now that the picture is finished, I will confess that at first I was frightened of the role. | am English, and to play an American role is difficult enough, much less to do an American with a Southern dialect. But Mr. LeRoy was most reassuring and insistent that I was the one man for the part, and so | began my study of the script, which, by the way, is a grand bit of dramatic writing by Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel. I spent a couple of weeks Mat No. 105—10c Claude Rains himself, crisp, dynamic —very magnetic. y. ty ~as Andy Griffin, the banty with Dalton S. Reymond, a professor at Louisiana State University, who was engaged to coach the members of the cast in speaking with correct Southern diction. On a Sunday before the Monday I was to begin work in the picture, Mr. Reymond and | spent the better part of a day together. We drove for hours through California, and as he read the lines to me, emphasizing the way a true Southerner would speak certain words, | repeated them back to him. Nevertheless, during the first two days’ work, I'll admit that I was most self-conscious about the dialect problem. However, as time went on, | found myself growing into the role, feel jing more and more that I real little lawyer with the Napoleonic complex, who would not scruple to convict an innocent man to further his own ends. During my rather lengthy stage and screen career, I've portrayed a lawyer twice be fore. Once was in the HechtMcArthur picture, ‘Crime Without Passion,” the other time was in the John Wexley play, ‘““They Shall Not Die,” dealing with the celebrated Scottsboro case. But I can honestly say that I’ve never worked so hard —nor gotten such satisfaction from any role as [| did from that of Andy Griffin in “They Won't Forget.”’ JAPANESE BEETLES KEEP CLAUDE RAINS HOPPING By H. ALLEN SMITH (Reprinted in part from the N. Y. World Telegram, Sat., July 3) This is an account of a conversation with Claude Rains, and it is being printed in the theatrical section of our newspaper in spite of the actor's perverse efforts to shunt it over to the Grass Roots, Field Pest and Horticultural Department. This week Mr. Rains tore himself away from his fifteenacre farm in Pennsylvania long enough to come to town for a guest appearance on Rudy Vallee’s radio program. Then, with his check in his pocket and visions of cows dancing before his eyes, he sped back to renew the good fight against Japanese beetles. It was nice of Mr. Vallee to invite him in for a guest appearance, said Mr. Rains. “I take these jobs whenever they offer them to me,’ he explained, “‘so I can buy cows. I love cows. | also love sheep. | love hay, and I| even love the things you harvest hay with. But these Japanese beetles ,they .. .” ‘‘About this new movie,” interrupted the actor's visitor. “Do you really think it will stir up the South and maybe start another civil war?” Mr. Rains is the star of “They Won't Forget,’” which comes to Broadway in a few days. It has been produced by Mervyn LeRoy, the mickey maestro of the Warner lot, and is taken from Ward Greene's swell novel, ‘‘Death In The Deep South.’’ Picture people all over town say it is a lady monkey on wheeis, and picture people don't ordinarily go around paying compliments to the products of their rivals. “These Japanese beetles,”’ went on Mr. Rains, ignoring the question, ‘‘are pure venomous. They eat up the grapes. They eat up the cherry trees. They go for soft vines and for poplar trees. I expect them to start on the fence posts any day now. Following this invigorating discourse on bugs, Mr. Rains veered toward hay, treating especially of his experience last Tuesday in helping his neighbor bring in the hay. Space limitations forbid our giving this subject more than casual mention, because we still have to talk about that picture. Mr. LeRoy decided to make this story of Southern prejudice and intolerance with a cast of players made up almost wholly of unknowns. The cast, beyond Mr. Rains and Otto Kruger, contains no names you would likely recognize. “Yet,’’ said Mr. Rains, “1 never have worked with a more competent, talented group of people. It astounded me. One of the principal parts is taken by Edward Norris. He has been working as a test actor. When ambitious young women come to Hollywood to crash the movies, and are given screen tests, his job is to play with them in the tests. But in this picture he demonstrates that he is a brilliant actor. He is the man who stands trial for murder, is convicted, repriev ed, and then lynched. ‘The girl who plays his wife is Gloria Dickson. Her real name is Thais Dickerson, but they changed it to Gloria Dickson. She was taken straight out of a WPA play in Los Angeles, and she’s absolutely superb. “The girl who is murdered in the picture—Lana Turner— never acted before. She was eating in a restaurant across from the Hollywood High School when somebody from the studio saw her and sent her out to LeRoy. “Allyn Joslyn and Ransom Clay have strong parts—their first movie experience. Joslyn, you know, was the playwright in ‘Boy Meets Girl.’ Clay is the well-known tennis player. But the star of the picture, to my mind, is a Negro—Clinton Rosemond — an extraordinary artist in his way.’ Mat No. 227—20c Blatantly thrusting the damning evidence before the court, he now is at fever height in his final address to the jury. MERVYN LEROY'S MOST DARING MOVIE COMING HERE NEXT WEEK “They Won't Forget,” a Mervyn LeRoy film production which aroused a tremendous amount of discussion at its previews and after its subsequent showings, is scheduled to open next week at the Strand Theatre. Based upon the sensational Ward Greene novel “Death In The Deep South,” this picture, presented by Warner Bros., has for its theme the question of whether or not an innocent man may be hurried to a murder conviction on circumstantial evidence—plus a spirit of hatred aroused by an evilly ambitious prosecutor who wants to win the case for the sake of personal publicity. According to the story told by ““They Won't Forget,’ the answer is “Yes.” The movie is described as sensational in its daring, and in the performance of its players. Claude Rains— always the thorough-going villain — plays the part of the unscrupulous district atorney and is said to outdo himself in earning the hatred of audiences. Edward Norris, handsome young leading man,. appears as a Northern school teacher in a Southern town, who is charged with the murder of one of his young pupils. His performance is described as winning and sympathetic. Gloria Dickson, a 20-yearold newcomer to the screen, who was discovered by LeRoy playing in a stage production for the Federal Theatre Project in Los Angeles, makes her first movie appearance as the teachers faithful and undoubting wife. She is said to be headed for stardom. Lana Turner, a Hollywood High School youngster of only 17, is seen briefly as the murder victim, and she, too, is said to be full of promise. Otto Kruger, star of both stage and film, has the role of a Northern attorney who tries vainly to save the young teacher from conviction. Others with important parts include Allyn Joslyn, Linda Perry, Elisha Cook, Jr., Leonard Mudie and Clinton Rosemond. All his persuasive tricks and cunning are used to win over the twelve good men and true of the jury to his views. Mat No. 221—20c