Silver Screen (Nov 1939 - May 1940)

1 Silver Screen for April 1940 79 Pictures on the Fire! [Continued from page 5 5] as though it had been standing there falling to pieces ever since the Civil War. Bits of paper, rusty cans, small sticks of wood are strewn about. Inside it's no better except for the way Marjorie, Queenie and Joan are dolled up in their cheap finery. Ginger isn't in this scene, but she's sitting on the set entertaining some )^ friends from out of town. Her hair is a chestnut brown and vastly becoming. It makes her look much softer and more alluring. But I can't spend all my time on this set so I mosey over to — «BT RENE," adapted from one of the i most successful musical comedies ever produced in this country. It was originally produced almost twenty years ago, but the plot should still be good and it had one of the most delightful scores ever written. Anna Neagle is the star. The scene they're doing is not important so there's no sense going into it, but DON'T MISS THIS. In the supporting cast are Billie Burke, May Robson, Roland Young, Ray Milland, Arthur Treacher and Tommy Kelly. As I leave the set I pass Mr. Milland who first ignores and then, as he remembers he is out of cigarettes, decides to speak so he can bum one. I introduce an out-of-town friend who is with me. "I'm glad to know you," says Mr. M. magnanimously, "even though we meet under adverse circumstances." / am the adverse circumstances. I turn to a friend of Ray's who is standing nearby. "When you get to Ray's tonight," I instruct him, "will you please give Mrs. Milland my regards." I guess that's putting Ray in his place. NEXT, there's "Bill of Divorcement." This was a successful stage play {produced shortly after the World War) that has had a checkered career. Katherine Cornell made her first great hit in this opus, which is as it should be. But then, when it was made into a picture, Katharine Hepburn made her great splash in it and I've hated the play ever since, even though the picture version proved that Billie Burke {as Hep's mother) can play drama as effectively as she can comedy and it also proved that John Barrymore {as H's father) is just as fine a dramatic actor as he ever was {when he wants to be). Now comes a new version with Maureen O'Hara {whom you met in "Jamaica Inn" and "Hunchback of Notre Dame") in Cornell's part, Adolphe Menjou as her father and Fay Bainter as her mother. In case you've forgotten, Hilary's {Maureen) mother has, after years of misery, divorced her father {Menjou). Menjou was shell-shocked during the war and became insane. Now Fay is going to marry again despite the acid disapproval of Dame May Whitty — and when that dame disapproves of anything you know it. It is Christmas time and Fay has gone to Christmas Eve services with her new fiance. Maureen's fiance {Patric Knowles) has been called back to Paris and she is alone in the house when the phone rings. It is the asylum where her father has been under treatment. They tell her he has recently improved and has escaped. Dame Whitty {Menjou's aunt) knowing nothing of this, tells Maureen that the war only brought out the insanity in her father — -that it runs in the family. Maureen leaves her, reeling under this blow, to confront her father. "What are you looking for?" she asks quietly. Menjou's eyes widen as he sees her. "Why," he explains dazedly, "they've moved my — " and then recognition lights his eyes. "Meg! It's Meg (Fay)." He starts towards her impulsively, but she side-steps. The self-confide7ice with which she first addressed him has now dwindled to pure fear which she tries valiantly to master. "I — I'm not Meg," she counters. Menjou stops and laughs incredidously. "Not Meg! Tell me / don't know Meg!" "No — really," she exclaims, a little panicky. "No, it's not Meg," he concedes with a change of manner. "I beg your pardon. I thought you were — another girl. You see, I — -I've been away a long time. A long, long time." He sighs and glances around the room ruefidly. "Whom do you want?" she persists quietly, trying to master the situation. But her voice breaks in on him. "There!" triumphantly. "You see? It's her voice, too." And then intensely, "Who are you?" "I think," she barely breathes, "I am your daughter." You can imagine what a tense, gripping scene this is. And it mounts in intensity as it progresses. And such a set as they've built. It looks like a print of an old English vicarage come to life — the low, beamed ceiling, the Christmas tree, the snow on the window panes. This should be another triumph for R-K-0, as well as for the principals. And such performances as they're giving! THE last picture— "Little Orvie"— based on the comic strip. This is a kid story, but it's reminiscent of the immortal "Skippy" and what more could anyone ask? At the moment Orvie {John Sheffield) is lyin^ on his bed, heartbroken because his parents won't let him have a dog. His father {Ernest Truex) comes in. "What's wrong, son?" he asks quietly. "Nuthin'," says John, his back to his father. "I think I know what it is, Orvie," Truex goes on. "Maybe I can help you out" "No, you can't!" John bursts out resentfully, determined not to cry before his father. "Anyway, it's nothin' you care about." "As soon as you feel like it, son," Truex tells him, hurt to the quick, but understanding the boy's problem, "we'll talk it over — just you and me." 4 STENOTYPISTS win today's preferred jobs and better pay. Stenotype's machine speed, accuracy and ease make your work faster, better, easier — and you get the credit. Progressive executives welcome this machine way of taking dictation. Stenotypy is easy to learn — easy to write — easy to read. 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