Universal Weekly (1928-1930, 1933-1936)

18 Universal Weekly May 10, 1930 LEWIS MILESTONE IS INTERVIEWED New York Telegram Motion Picture Critic Discovers That Director of “All Quiet on the Western Front” Has Unique Method of Cutting Before He Begins Shooting By WILLIAM BOEHNEL job and then another job. They usually lasted, he will tell you, about two weeks. Deciding he would never get very far in a studio cutting-room, he embarked on a directorial venture. His first effort wielding a megaphone was at the Warner studio and the picture was “Seven Sinners,” with Clive Brook and Marie Provost. Then came “The Cave Man,” with Matt Moore and Marie Provost again. Both of these films won him no little recognition. Leaving Warners’, Milestone did “Two Arabian Knights,” with Louis Wolheim and William Boyd, “The Racket,” “The New Klondike” and then “New York Nights,” with Norma Talmadge, which George Fitzmaurice later made over. Then came the offer to do “All Quiet” for Universal. With Maxwell Anderson, he worked on the script for three months and when Anderson left to fulfill another contract, he called in George Abbott to lend a helping hand. Ip all more than eight months were spent in making the picture. Like the Russian directors, he be lieves that much of a picture’s ultimate success lies in the cutting. . . . He himself cuts a picture with the camera as he makes it. That is, he visualizes a sequence as it should be when it is finished and then goes ahead and photographs it that way. There have been troubles aplenty connected with “All Quiet.” The German government insisted that it was anti-German and threatened to close all the Universal offices in Germany until they saw that there was nothing to object to, and then the French consul on the coast objected to certain scenes. However, everything has been adjusted satisfactorily for all parties concerned, and the film, cut by Milestone himself, is now ready for presentation tonight. Critics on the coast have proclaimed it a masterpiece, and as a result Milestone is sitting pretty. His services are in demand. But after two weeks in New York, looking up little restaurants he used to eat in when he worked here in a raincoat factory, he will sail for Europe to remain until the autumn. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIII “All Quiet” Called Sensation Of Today, Tomorrow and All Time ( Reprinted from International Film Reporter) Lewis Milestone (right) and Owen Davis, Jr., who plays Peter in ” All Quiet,” arriving in New York for the opening PECK’S BAD BOY of Hollywood. That is the unofficial title that has been given, by those who know him, to Lewis Milestone, who directed Universal’s production of Erich Maria Remarque’s sensational war novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which has its Eastern premiere tonight at the Central Theatre. And all because Milestone has been fired from more jobs than any other director in Hollywood. Meeting him for the first time, you would never believe it. Quiet, unassuming, you decide that it is just another Hollywood legend. Then you learn that he is Russian — he was bom in Odessa — and although you may not be an authority on Russians, you begin to believe that maybe there is something in it after all. Milestone, himself, admits that he can be stubborn at times. Anyway, he was fired from his first job because he insisted on coming to work in a taxi every morning. He was a cutter in one of the studios in Hollywood, earning $20 a week. The twenty just about paid has taxi fares. Earning $20 a week and riding to and from work was something his boss couldn’t understand. “I don’t care how you come to work,” he barked at Milestone, “But it can’t be in taxis.” So Milestone found himself a new ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT,'' by Remarque, is a talking picture for today, a sensation for tomorrow, and history for all time. When Universal announced the intention of screening “All Quiet,” many of us believed the film would be another war picture. “All Quiet” condensed into screen actions, is not a mere talking picture. It is a powerful message to humanity, a bouncing fist upon your conscience! This message will shake the weary minds of the world, crashing with the power of lightning into recklessness and ignorance of conflict. This message will demand consideration for humanity. This picture, urging pacifistic tendencies, favors no nationality, although it portrays German heroism. “All Quiet” is a masterful achievement which keeps you spell-bound until the last moment. We compliment Carl Laemmle, Jr., a congenial youth for his cultural contribution to the world; also Lewis Milestone, the director, who proved his strength in artistic conceptions. We hope that “All Quiet” will be interpreted in every important foreign language to carry an everlasting human message throughout the whole world: Never — again — War. . . . Desider Pek.