Tovarich (Warner Bros.) (1937)

Hollywood Goings-On Anatole Litvak, famous producerdirector, started producing pictures in Russia. Dame Fame first smiled upon him as the result of his work in the French Production, ““Be Mine Tonight’’ which he made with Jan Kiepura. The screen version of the famous stage success ‘“Tovarich,” starring Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer, is his latest picture. It is not often that a picture receives such popular acclaim that a reissue several years after its production becomes necessary. However, this is the case with “‘Bordertown” which stars Paul Muni and Bette Davis. Both principals are re recent Academy Award winners. @ Claudette Colbert was born in Paris, France, but came to this country at an early age and received her education here. As a result she has no accent and found herself in an amusing situation when it became necessary for her to acquire one for her role in **Tovarich’” which was written by Jacques Deval, a Frenchman. Following up the great success of ‘That Certain Woman,’ Warner Bros. has started production on another picture starring Bette Davis and Henry Fonda entitled “Jezebel.” George Brent, Fay Bainter and Margaret Lindsay play important sup porting roles. e Charles Boyer is also a Frenchman, but unlike Miss Colbert has spent most of his life in his native land. ‘‘Tovarich’’ is his second picture under Anatole Litvak. San Diego had one of the most notable premieres in its history when Warner Bros. presented ‘‘Submarine D-I"’ to an audience which included over fifty ranking officers from the Navy and Marine bases located there. Among those present were Admirals Sinclair Gannon and Charles S. Freeman. e The biggest set in ““Tovarich”’ covered two acres and was an exact reproduction of the Belleville section — the poor district of Paris. Among other things, 4000 wine bottles, 200 of them filled with real champagne, were used to dress the shops on the big set. Mat 203—80e INGENUES DON’T COME ANY LOVELIER than Anita Louise, who has a featured role in the brilliant comedy, “‘Tovarich” at the Strand. Press Brevities Charles Boyer, co-starred with Claudette Colbert, in ‘“*Tovarich”’ plays four musical instruments — the piano, the violin, the oboe and the French horn. ales dees 4 Anatole Litvak, director, never says ‘cut’ at the end of a scene— he blows a little, shrill-toned whistle. e 8 & Christian Rub, who has an important part, collects Japanese masks and Buddhas. He has the finest collection of Buddhas in this country. Zeus a: Heather Thatcher, one of the featured players, is the only actress in Hollywood who wears a monocle. * * * Basil Rathbone, featured player, wrote a play at the age of eight. It was never produced. * % % Melville Cooper, new Warner Bros. comedy star, used to be a magician in England. His specialty was card tricks. Se Ve Heather Thatcher, owns thirtyone monocles. She wears a different one every day. Melville Cooper of the movies says, ““The worst scene stealers in Hollywood are children, dogs, Roland Young and Edward Everett Horton.” % -s Hollywood oddity: Those boiling pots you'll see in Warner Bros.’ comedy ‘“Tovarich,’” aren't really boiling at all. They are filled with dry ice and that’s what makes them steam. x e & Fan tale: Anita Louise, Warner Bros.’ star now playing in “‘Tovarich,”” has just received a strange gift from a fan in Chicago. It is a set of metal fingertips to protect her hands when she is playing her harp. eee Five thousand volumes were used by Warner Bros. studio for the book shop built for “‘Tovarich.”’ % + % Montagu Love, once worked as an artist on a London newspaper. His sketching ability stands him in good stead in picture work, for he sketches himself as the character he is to play and then turns the sketch over to the makeup artist. All About ‘Tovarich’ J. L. Warner saw the play “Tovarich’” in London and purchased it the next day from Gilbert Miller. It went into movie production as ““Tovarich’” but the name was changed the first week to ““Tonight’s Our Night.’’ Reason: the producers felt the fans couldn't pronounce the Russian word. Then it was changed back again. It’s not hard to pronounce. Just accent the second syllable — ‘‘var.”’ Jacques Deval, the playwright, wrote “Tovarich’” in four weeks. It ran two years in London and a year in New York. Robert Sherwood did the English translation of the French play. Casey Robinson, who wrote the film scenario, used both the French and English versions and combined the best features of each. Claudette Colbert is a blonde in the film. She dyed her hair for the part, rather than wear a wig. Miss Colbert did a good deal of crawling in ‘‘Tovarich.”’ In one scene, filmed twenty times, she had to crawl across a plank 30 feet above the sound stage. In another she had to crawl across a room and seize Melville Cooper around the ankles. She sings two Russian songs in the film —‘‘Rasposchal,” a lullaby, and “Shto Mnie Joie.” Charles Boyer sings one song — “The Volga Boatman” in Russian. Neither of the stars speaks Russian. Boyer is one of the few Ph. D's in Hollywood, having received his degree as doctor of philosophy from the University of Sorbonne in Paris. Brought to America to appear in French versions of American pictures he played a bit in “Red Headed Woman” before he could speak English. He never had a foil in his hands until he made ‘“Tovarich’’ and was taught to fence for the picture by Fred Cavens, Hollywood’s premier swordsman. Anatole Litvak, the director of “‘Tovarich,” directed Boyer in France in ‘‘Mayerling.” Litvak never calls “‘cut’’ at the end of a scene. He blows a little shrill-toned whistle. Litvak was responsible for bringing Isabel Jeans, famous British actress, to Hollywood to play the part of “‘Fernande.” The picture was in production three months. For an entire week the company worked at night, all night. That was filming the opening sequence of the picture, the Parisian celebration of the July 14th fall of La Bastille. Mat 401—60c “TONIGHT’S OUR NIGHT” — When the maid is Claudette Colbert and a Grand Duchess besides; and her butler-prince-husband has to compete with the master and the master’s son for the privilege of taking her out — things are bound to happen — and they do in “Tovarich,” now at the Strand. Left to right: Basil Rathbone, Charles Boyer, Maurice Murphy, Claudette Colbert, Melville Cooper, and Anita Louise. [7]