Voltaire (Warner Bros.) (1933)

CURRENT PUBLICIT _ “Voltaire” A Great Screen Triumph Amazing, Spectacular Drama (Review) Presents George Arliss in Handsomely Mounted Picture of Decade ] view *‘Voltaire’’ the new George Arliss picture, by Warner Bros., which opened at the nae Theatre. It is undoubtedly the greatest ec most resembles, or “The Millionaire” or “The Working Man.” the most skillful performance this) and It is not greatest of living actors has yet) just it is the contributed to either stage or screen. | panorama of the world’s most dramHere is the finest cast ever as-| atic history unfolded realistically. sembled for an Arliss production.| “Voltaire” is a novel Here, in short, is an amazing drama,| by George Gibbs and E. Lawrence hand. drama spectacular costume based on spectacularly produced, magnifi| Dudley and the screen play is cently staged and dramatically| credited to Paul Green, noted playsound. | wright and Pulitzer prize winner : é : and Maude Howell. Due credit Ht io esid thet Mr. Arliss has deservedly goes to them all. This waited for twenty years to find the suitable dramatization of the Life of Voltaire, called the father of the French Revolution. If so it has been time well spent for the intervening years have ripened his talent and pointed artistry toward the memorable day when} he put “Voltaire” film. is the high mark in the career of George Arliss. It is the high mark in screen entertainment, too. his on A single incident in the long and| singularly exciting of the great French poet-philosopher is used as a dramatic background for this remarkable film. In this Mr. Arliss has followed the method he found so successful in his immortal “Disraeli.” About that one incident has been drawn all the drama of the times, all the gorgeous panoply and extravagance of the court of Louis XV, all the exciting intrigue which centered in the boudoir of Madame Pompadour. It is thrilling, reckless, beautifully mannered melodrama the like of which} has not come out of Hollywood before. career | | The incident used by the dramatists and so colorfully portrayed by Arliss, is an adaptation of the famous Calas case in which Voltaire interested himself for eight long years, braving threats of imprisonment and death his efforts to clear a man’s name and to save his estates from intriguing advisors to in the king. Voltaire’s well known friendship and influence with Madame Pompadour, a role played charmingly by the ever more beautiful Doris Kenyon, plays a vital part in the story. Of such stuff is great entertainment made! Brilliant Cast The excellence of the supporting east matches the magnificence of the production values. Margaret Lind say, whom we saw first in “Cavaleade,” plays the role of Nanette Calas, one of the innocent of the eventual revolution. Theodore Newton, another newcomer who won his spurs in “The Working Man,” plays the part of Nanette’s superlative artistry of Mr. Arliss. causes = SS nnn ne eremmmeemecmmmamemmeeenmmnrsceiiamecaiae ai a aa eee Ist day of run ‘Same Gambling Games lover. Miss Kenyon has already been mentioned. David Torrence, P d + Ho) Alan Mowbray, Reginald Owen, laye in Voltaire Ss Ivan Simpson, Doris Lloyd, Helena Phillips and Murray Kinnell, more | than competent, all of them, are others in the cast. John Adolfi who Time as Exist Today Kings and countries and costumes died shortly after the picture was) change but gambling devices recompleted, directed and it must be| main forever . | mi : said he left a memorable monument The principal games on which as his last work. King Louis XV loses a fortune in The swiftly from|the Warner Bros. picture “Voltaire,” Voltaire’s Paris apartments to the| the latest George Arliss production palace of the French king, into the at the Theatre, are _ boudoir of Mme. Pompadour and roulette, backgammon and cards. en to the unrivaled extravagance These for separating a lies. All of these settings victim from his money have changed story moves now devices Mightiest Characterization Doris Kenyon Magnificent as Pompadour In Most T is not easy to find the superlatives needed to properly reproduced | mtribution to the screen Mr. Arliss has ever made, not excepting ‘‘Disraeli,’’ which it| Here is) have been reproduced with a lavish} eT Played Nurse to 4782 Candles A Warner Bros. property man was assigned to do nothing but light and extinguish candles during the production of the George Arliss picture, “Voltaire,” now at the ao Pawnee: | |} Theatre. He thinks he was 4} over-worked at that. | He claims to have lighted ¢) 4,782 candles an average of four times each. For the long rows of burning candles on the outer walls, along the window sills and above the doorways of the Versailles palace, he used a burning candle as a lighter. Extinguishing the candles after various “takes” and at the end of day’s work, required a half hour’s time. When not | too winded by his efforts, the 4} property man could blow ten candles out with one breath. | The Versailles exterior was the biggest candle lighting job with | | j | | a some seven hundred tapers all burning on the one set but several in boasted chandeliers other scenes as hundred as many a As the artist sees it, George Arliss’ candles apiece. sensational new picture, He is ably aided by Doris K dared to flirt with a Ki Cut No. 25 Cut boc enyon an little and the seventy in intervening The roulette | wheel of those times has a strangely | look, It but otherwise marked an | Played exactly as the modern game, hundred | years. modern “ny” had no double | =~ Backgammon has come down al| most unaltered through the decades, Card games are changed but the pasteboards themselves are Similar, All of these apparently modern games of chance appear in the gequences of “Voltaire” laid in the 0 gaming room of the Palace of Ver sailles. Only the kings and the a countries and the clothes have ; changed. It also is in this palaee | that Voltaire clashes with the king for fomenting revolutionary propaganda and is only saved from , od; Bastille by the King’s mj the | hundred and seventy years ago : ‘ngs mistress, Mme.| when Louis XV of France set tl) s 2 ance se 1e ) . Pompadour, played by Doris Kenyon. | f | Produced never before equalled in an Arliss | | Voltaire’s reign of King Louis XV of Franee. | “Voltaire,” Sixty Yards of Finest | Pensive part of a man’s costume Gala Opening for Arliss in “Voltaire” At... Today NEW George Arliss picture for Warner Bros., “Vol said to excel even his nificence, interest and vitation premiere which the character of one of the greatest Frenchman to life on stage or screen. Not even life and career of “Disraeli” such a rich field for dramatie exploration as did the character and of Voltaire. with magnificence the offers times a picture “Voltaire” marks the high water mark of the star’s career, out-ranking in importance all previous screen offerings he has made. The story of “Voltaire” is based | incident in during the dramatie career on a_ single Voltaire has been called the father of the French Revolution and the incident upon which the picture is founded was actually one of the contributing causes to the greatest dM ng’s mistress. Mat 20c 2nd day of run Lace Needed by Cast For “Voltaire” Wear Warner Bros, bought sixty f fine yards lace for the costumes of the ctors who appear in the new reorge Arliss picture, “Voltaire,” ow at the Theatre. Lace was perhaps the most ex ashiongs for men, and Madame Opening Day Story Theatre tonight with society and celebritie This is a picture in which Mr. Arliss, ree dean of actors in America, realizes a life long | a ngs } oitaire,” I Mag. Opens at the a Special jp. S rid attend ognized ag long ambition to bring —_—_____™ memorable ‘‘Disraelj’’ dramatic appeal, | governmental upheaval of the age A stellar cast of able players a | | port the star in this picture. Doris | Kenyon lends her exquisite beauty | | to the role of Madame Pompadour Margaret Lindsay plays Nanette. | Theodore Newton, Reginald Owen, Alan Mowbray, David Torrence, | | Doris Lloyd and Ivan Simpson ane | others featured in the imposing gp. ray of talent appearing in “Yo. | taire.”’” The late John Adolfi, who | | directed the last six Arliss produe. tions, is responsible for this splen| did picture, which is the last work he did before his sudden death jp the wilds of the Canadian Rockig | last Spring. : “Voltaire” the most magnif. cent donation Mr. Arliss hag made toward world’s entertainment, is Sf Z Z 4 which is now playing at the Strand, is dominated as ever by the argaret Lindsay in this new biographical drama of the man who Pompadour his mistress, set the fashions for Louis. Because lace for costumes shows | up with peculiar clearness throug | the lens of a camera in — it is necessary tg have a fine grade on the costumes of players appear ing in the court and society of those times. ; gies 8° In this connection it was pred sary also for Reginald Owen, we ing the role of King Louis to atl even better lace on his “— the | cuffs than Mr. Arliss, playing | poet Voltaire, had on his. Other important players 1" od highly dramatie and labors” oe duction of the gay court of pie Louis XV in pre-revolutionary © are Doris Kenyon, Margaret Theodore Newton and John Adolfi directed. say, Mowbray.