Variety (Dec 1929)

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VARIETY FOREIGN FILM NEWS Wednesday, December 25, 1929^ British Film Field By Frank Tilley London, Dec. 13. Stuart Paton, once a pne-i'eel dl- rectox' Avlth Univiex'sal and later mixed up with a Wheeler OaJcland concern and "producing ''Ladles from Hell," got himself railroaded onto British International at Elsti'eie, where they Just know enough to be- lieve anything they are told by an agent, as a director from Hollywood who had made 264 pictures. So they gave him a Job as. assistant studio manager or something. Sick of the lay oil the land, at iElstiree, Paton got a press aig:ent, and shot a heavy squawk aboyt everything, especially the management o.f the production end by John Thox'pe and the; sce- nario end by Walter Mycroft. Two days later he was invited to War- dour street to see Htixwell^ and. told John would sure likei to see the 265th film Paton made in Universal City—and:^Q go.odbye. B. I. P. and.Syd Chaplin Came a caee into coui*t with Brit- ish International suing Syd Chaplin for breach of. contract owing to his failure to make "Mumming Birds" ("Night in an English Music Hall"). Syd got in bad over biting a Jane's ear, etc.i iand ducked-oft to Biarritz. When the case canle up .Syd's legal representative-put In ai pleei' he would like It to go to arbitration instead, and ^s. B. I. P. ' Is a good; soout and doesn't want thei. dirt dished, anyway, , and :has a grip on .some dough which might otherwise be Syd's from "Little Bit of Fluff,"- its wig-wearer isaid okay, and arbi- tration It is. Which has possibly cheated the newspapers out of a juicy story, and all that i^rance. Says No :^3Unor Glyn, making her first talk- er, "Knowing Men,"^' figures she will dub it lii French, having the Eng- lish cast mouth so the sound can be stuck on after. French trade het up at the idea, figuring she ought to get a second cast and make the filfn over. Offer to boycott it if she dubs.- PRESIDENT HEARS A CRY Holler Forces Fpisnch Film on. His Xmas Bill-'RCA Wires Palace ;. Paris, Dec. 15. For President Doumergue's an- nual Christmas show, at his palace, "Le. Collier de . la Reine^*^ ("The Queen's Necklace".), elected as the •first French talker to be shown prl- yately before . the President, had se-veral dialog sequences and other sound effects added. Since its showing at the Franco- Aubert's Cameo,. on the Boulevard des Italiens, the picture "was sub- jected to a change in billing: from a dialog production to merely ■ a: soundfilm with songs,, not having iany dialog in It to speak of and creating ill-will beca,use of the originally misleading billing^. The French President hiad to compromise this year and include, a nati-ve picture In response to the protest against the alleged overplus of everything American theatrically and clnematically. Although for his kiddie party to 3Q0 or 400 chliaren, a; few deslgria:ted from each w^ard by the p-ublic schools, M^G-M!s "Spite Marriage" -was shown. The President's jpersonal. movie'party is usually only for about a score of intimates. RCA scooped Western Electric by wiring th€! dfllcial resldience of the presidents of Franc>, this Item be- ing pinned, on a Mr. Ri<^ard, who wais formerly chief electrician at the Gaumont-Palace when that was a Metro house beforfe M-GJ-M turned its theatres ovet to Franco-Aubert,, Rfbhiard is now an - Independent electrical contractor, doing Work for Photbphpne -ion its installations, although not otherwise on the pay- roll. Vaude in Film Houses A sidelight on the talket^ .situation; Is no fewer than 18 London neigh- borhood theatr(e8 are playing vaude acts this week< These are Brixton Astoria, Rivoli, Wembley Elite, Mile End . Empire, . Upton Park. Carlton, Sbepheirds Biish iPavilioh/ Canter-, bury, . Stratford Broadway, Ber- mohdsey Pavilion, West Ham Em- pire, Flrisbury Park Rink, East Ham Empire, 'sis well- as Hoxtoh, Hollo- way, Stamford Hill, Southall, Rdth- erhithe and Crouch End houses^. Most of the^e are In the Qaumont' British group. 50% Dividend ~ ' Third annual' meeting of Madame Tussaud's Cinema, Ltd., stockhold- ers, with John Maxwell in the chair, showed profit for the year to Octo- ber 31 of 1308,842, only $2,197. below prospectus .estimates. Stock is in two classes—10% pref. and deferred, i'ormer naturally gets its dividend and latter gets 60% dividend, leaving $176,688 to carry forward. Addi'essing the stcokholders. Max- well said in part: "In May this year^ aftier I Joined the board, we ar- ranged the installation of talking picture equipment (RCA), as it had become evident that form of enter- tainment was very much in demand, Business has steadily increased since then, although these accounts do not show the full increase, as we had to pay hot only for the talking plctures-^and the terms were pretty high, as the films were scarce—but we also had to pay for a large num- ber of silent pictures prevtously booked for a long tline ahead and not used. Generally the revenue from the talkei's was large enough to cover this double expenditure and show a handsome profit," As Maxwell is also distributing talkers, that's not a bad political speech! VLO&t FOREiaN PLATERS . . Hollywood, Dec. 24. Ne^d of players from abi*oad for foreign versions Is responsible for _:.tlie:. re ported exp e cted . arrival, here, of Maria Conessa, dramatic star from Madrid. Actress is said to be cbihing hei'e .on speculation. Another stage celeb of the same liatlonallty,. now negotiating with Paramount, Is Ei'hesto .Vilches, -vvho Is currently . touring . Chili. He Is expected, to come, .here to appear In Paramount Spanish talkers after completing his. present tour which ends sometime'in January. Spain Madrid, Dec. 10. Western Electric has opened of-' fices here and in "Barcelonia. Up to date there are 14 installa- tions in Spain, five in Madrid, five in Barcelona, two In Bilbao, one in SevlUa and one in Gerb'na. .Of these two are Syntox (British), one Pacent, two RCA and niiie W. E. Sound pictures."have not met with the success anticipated. Hearing English and reading Spanish tlltes is a little too complicated.; "Wild Orchids," synchronized, knocked , them dead here. They go foi* Garbo over heire. "Noah's Ark," still being shown at the Callao. Biblical themes are what they like in this sector. They have> Just completed , pro- duction of a Spanish talker titled: "El Mistexic de Puerta Del • Sol." Cast, acted free, the company hav- ing no idea of spending money. Another Spanish px'oductlon was finished recently In Paris. Film will have some dialog passages and be synchi'-ohized. Title: "La Bodega." "White - Shadows" opened at the Palaclo del Muslca . and was en- thusiastically x'eceived. Picture seems to be In foif quite a stay. Theme song 'Flower of Love' has made a hit. ...... . Mrs. Jesse. Lasky and son Just passed through here on their way to Paris. ■ M. MeSserrl, director of Para- mount, Is here. He has been awarded, a prize for being the first to project a sound picture In Spain, ''Innocence In Paris.*- Pictures and the legit theatre are the big thing hex*e because carbarets are taboo for nice women. To be seen entering one leaves the Jadies With a doubtful rep. In Poland By E. J. Kurylo . Warsaw, Nov. 30. There was much excitement in to-vvn when Cinema Splendid ad- vertised Al Jplson in "The Sing;' ing Fool." The show made a very good impression, so much so that another .cinema, Swiatowid, wired, and is showing Laura La Plahte and Joseph Schildkraut In "Boat of Comedians." : Receptions. Indicate more houses win be wired. On account or the talkers the cinema Industry is at ia standstill oyer whait to do. It looks like "chaos."- The Polish pictures,; for some reason or other, never were great; now it looks as ^ if they may lose even a local market. . On the Gran "Via • the other day an Indian on horseback. Crowd yelled "por fin un Americano" ("at last a real American"). Just an- other publicity stunt for a western Raquel Meller appeared In ' a Fox short. You can Imngine how she went over. Americans Abroad Paris, Dec. 15. Shex'ley Kellogg, (jcorge H. Doran, R. J. Cuddiliy, R. Corse, Olga Bacla- ho-ya, Nicholas Soussaln, • Roy W. Howard, Dr. and Mrs. Wattci'son Rotchacker and daixghter, Viola Shore, Constance Bennett, Hai-ry Fox and Beatrice Cux-tls. . .Polish Films ; . The first of the Polish films shown this season was "One Night Advehr tilre." Richard Biske, one of the best producers in .Poland, had to deal with a most ridiculous story, and this is- the I'eason why whole pro- duction did -not come up to stand- ard. . . •. Another Polish, picture, "The Strong Man," of Px'zybyszewski, was not really bad. Grzegorz Chmara and Artur. Sdcha gavei a very good creation; The producer and opera- tor tried hard to show, some novel- ties but they were handicapped, like other prodticeirs, by too many obstacles/'. The third picture, shown. in War- saw, Was "A Sinful Love," taken frpm the book of. Strug's .^'Genera- tion of Mark Swida." Ther^ Is no doubt thkt the real hero was the operator Gniazdowski, who has shown" some nlcei moments.' Qf course, producers are improving over herje—but. too .slowly. The fourth, picture shown not long algo was ratheir good, but offered no opportunity t6 rave over it as an example of Polish art, although one of the papers px'edlcts that this pic- ture Is going to be shown abroad. "From Day to Day,*'. froiix the. story of Ferdinand Goetel, is altogether a better picture. Of coursci from time to time, some of the Polish fllnxs are shown outside of Poland, but usually in Polish ' colonies, for Instance, In U. S. A. It is true that one pictui'e was shown' In Berlin, and that was "The Police Master Tagiejeff" In the cinemia! Marmor House. But the most x^ldiciilous. thing: appeared • In the press, not long ago thait "Before the Spring,'^ the Polish film of Zeromskl, is going to .be sho-wn in one of the best. theatres in Rome, and that a special delegation went ..to Italy to ask Mussolini to witness the. play,: and that he even promised to do so> This appears an uixreasonable thing to do, for " the. picture, although good, still Is. not quite first class. Still another Polish piicture, "Un* der the 'Love's Banner," looks only "Wishy-'^vashy," Why the picture producers cannot find the right type for their Vfov\% \s a mystery. Productions Scheduled And now about the pictures that are soon to^ be flhished and px*o- duced^ "Halka," fx'om the story of the opera by Monluszko, produced by Constanty Meglickl. "Mascotte, or Woman. Who Has Stolen the Love,"^^ which Is produced by Alex-_ ander Ford. "Woman Who De-' sires a Siri," soon will be produced. The producer is Mr; Bieganskl. "Magdalena," picture of Meglickl, and then "Track of Infamy." "The Life's Allux'ement" Is going to be filmed again under the direcj tlon of J. Gardan d,hd under the lltelrary supervision of T. Konczyci It is Intended to film "Big Game," of Mlclej Wlerzbinskl, and "Cult of the Body." ..It was announced that the next .'company, Polish-Austrian, is Starting, a " souhd film entitled "Merry-Go-Around.V This picture Is going to be filmed abroad. Enh^fllm is going to start to work on "The Legend of the Tatras," of kazlmiers Przerwa-Tetmijer. Musicians, . There has been, a Joint conference of the government officials arid the representatives of Musical Federa- tion. They were discusslilg what to do In the case of so many orchestras losing their Jobs bh account of the talkers. People were complaining in the press that the orchestras over here are not using any Polish music, in accompanying the films. Municipal Cinema Theatre Is go- ing to stay again in Teatr Bogus- lawskl, though there was some Idea of putting. in a light comedy from Teatr Letni. Because Poland • is unknown abx'oad, and has some nice scenex*y Jn^.her--old..townsT.4akeSi-ih<5untaIns, etc., a few film companies have com- bined to do a large propaganda film. This picture is going to be Shown here In Poland and loaned to some geographical societies here and abx'oad. Hot Titles . Very often one sees in the Polish press Jokes at the expense of exhib- itors, who bestow most exciting (Continued on page 58) U Can't See Ueturns for Foreign Tongrue Shorts . Universal, pioneer In attempting to solve the American dialog- abroad situation has given It up as a bad job. . From .40 to 50 dialects, plus the languages .themselves^ make the only plausible move and last stand one to eliminate dialog and feed the foreign wired b, o.'s straight picture fax»e vlth music accompfvnl- ment and noise a la non-sync. Grosses from.the Latin countries for; U have 'hardly been enough to turn out a. good Ameirican short. If it were just one kind of lingo for a people It would be wblrthi the effort^ But -U, experimenting Irt South Amexica, has foUnd that the Mexicans in Tia Juftha have less use for Castillian fluency than bona fide Sbuthex'nex's have for the aver- age "iTank drawl. And let. any native producer try to take advantage of America's dia- log defeat in such countries. U. for- eign experts believe that. It would cost just as much to make a fea- tui-e in said Ifatlh country as it would in Hollywood. Furtherniox-e, an all-Spanish cast with Spatiish In the original recox'ding would .I^are Just as poorly outside Spain as American re-niade recording so far has done. Budapest Budapest,' Dec. 6. Theatres here usiially stx^aggle along through the winter and either ma;ke good or give up. by ,Ma>y. • . This year proved more, disastrbus than usuial. ... . One producing comjpaixy, Magyeir Szinhaz, started afresh tyith an .en- tirely new administration arid ar- tistic management, though with the old company of actors. Another, Fovarosi Operett Szinhaz, failed to meet liabilities and was handed over to a new pro'ducer, Kabos, principal chairacter actor of the former com- painy, who now present straight plays instead of the former mu- sicals. All theatres are -wox'king at high pressure, getting out^new plays as fast as they can, and are fighting hard for success. Kabos seems to have made~a hit •with his first play, a local tragi- comedy, "Erzsebetvaros." Title slg' nifies tixe name of one of the dis- tx'icts of Budapest, like the Brojix. Kabos plays a small storekeeper, who x'epresents the oM generation of business men. . , • . At the National, Zsigxno.nd Mox'lcz has x'eally scox-«d with the dramati- zation of his juvenile story, ."Be Good Yet Unto Death." This Is an- other tale of the '80's aiid of a little boy of 14 whose idealism and good Intentlohs are defied, - first by the naughtiness of hia schoolmates, then by the -vvicliedness of the.adults to whom he tux-ns foi; consolation. The boy is superbly actied ■ by Miss Vas- zaxT. Pro.duction and cast excellent. <'Gyar" ("The Factory")* by Endre Fai-kas, was one of the greatest flops ever to happen on the Hun-' garlan stage. A confused and sense- less sequence of short scenes In- tended to.give a futuristic-modern- istic Impression of life In the slums. Built around the passion of .a little girl for her mother's lover and her ensuing disappointment. Reminis- censes of "Street Scene" and "Pe- ripherie" serve to bx'ing out the play's failings. Three perforihances at the Belvarosi theatre, and flnis. "The First Mrs. Fraser," at the Vigszinhaz, although well cast, with Miss Varsanyi in he lead, wa? con- sidered by the press to be pleasant but unimportant. "Melo," by Bernstein, at the same theatre, unanimously voted unpleas- ant and unsatisfactory. "Bitter Sweet/' at the KIraly dress rehearsal this morning, seems bound for success, chiefly owing to the excellent numbers in the cafe scene in the second ia.ct. 3Rest of the action Seemed rather slow and the continental touch In music and sen- timent rang a tx-lfle false. But the play indicates a long run. "Piroska , and the Wolves/? an- other hopeless failure. An odd and filthy war . play by a young and gifted authoi', Sandor Farago, who promises much but has never yet rnade good. Piroska, another of the street "women for whom the Hun-" gax-Jan .stage has such a current preference. Is ill treated by a man, and curses all males In consequence. It happens that the war breaks out, and Piroska, foolish and slightly crazy, gets the notion that this Is In consequence of her curse. She tries to redeem herself by making up personally to all the men at the front for all they have suffered. Cen sgx^_ p,ut:A:^stoj to. it,..but before, the public, .who failed to .attend. * , Revivals Click Vienna, Dec. 14.. Revival of the Emmerich Kal- mann operetta season is going big here at the Johann Strauss theatre. "Bayadere" is a special favorite -n-l,th Annie Ahlex's, young German songstress, particularly liked. LONDON DISTRIB mt DIVIDED BY WRANGIf London, Dec. 24. Following resignations from the Distributors' Society of British Gau- mont arid Ideal and W. & F. com- panies, owing to the objections of Charles Woolf to actions of Sir Gor- don Gralg, Vice-president of the so- ciety, Sir Gordon now has x^eslgtied to save the situation. Wbolf protested that Cx'aig was making public addresses in his ca- pacity of vice-president of the so- ciety attacking the big circuits and boosting, art exhibitor cb-bperatlve ' scheme In which Craig Is Interested, together with J. D. Williams. Sequel Is Sir Gordon's resignation which he exiilains Is to preveht t^ia Irreparable! break of the. big circuit from the Dociejty, TEAVEIOG IICTION TALKE|V Pairls, Dec. *:4^ Fix's t tx^avelog fidtlon tutlker. tak- ing five . rnonths ifor production In the Orieiit, will be Henri Fescoui't's "Partir". ("go away'') adapted from Roland Dorgeles's novel, Jane - Helbl.lng, local fav, will be starred.' "DaU'agO al .Mllliorie" was . Per- formed by the Italian Opextitfa Co.. at the Kursaal. Among the cast were Mmes. Elodla Maresca, Minia Lise, Dox'etta de Pra and Nino El- ler, Alfredo Orslnl, Pierx'o Zachettl» Dino Lugara, and Mario Panchefti* Due here shortly Is the chorus of the Bayan Cossacks, cbnilpbs'ed 9f 26 perforhxers. '' j, Moorish Hall, Shepheard's Hot<!l, has opened' Its dancing season. Music Is provided by the new Lotas Band from Europe, . Maaxagement has secux-ed Galeaqo Glpvanninl, professional daijce. in- structor. ■ ^ Among those who appeared 3n the bill last night at the Casino de Paris (cabaret) were: Adda Kayan, Mile. Eldagy, and the Sister.s Ray- monne. ..... Josy Palace (pictures) is scoring with "Lady of Pavements" (UA), in sound. Has been held for a Secortd week. Metropole (pictures) has li-iuugu- rated its sound season Avlth "White Shadows" (M-G). "Show Boat" (U) Is the first sound film to be presented by the Empire Cinema here. Triumph, .picture theatre. )iaa- drawn large hoUses \vlth. "La Chaij-. son de Paris" (Par), "sound, featur- ing Maurice Chevalier. 1 By EDWARD ASSWAD Cairo,'Dec. 4; . Opening of the Alexandria Sta- dium by King Fuad I was quite aii event. StiftdlUm" consists of nine building's, with seating accbniixxoda- ' tlons for 26,000. Most striking of the eight tribunes Is the I'oyal stand, almost a miniature palace in Itself. There are tribunes for the lii-si- and second class on each side of the main entrance, seating 3,500. Third ' class tribune seats 4,000 and the fourth class 3,500. Athletes' stand, seatihg 3,000, Is provided with dress- ing x'ooms, etc; First performance by the Comedie Franoaise was given at the Royal ^ Opera House Diec- 2. Play Was "Primrose," by Robert De Fleers and C. A. de: Cavaillet. Not a vacant seat and the audience .-w^as the most enthusiastic Cairo has seen for a . long time. ' ' ' It is the first time In their History that the artistes- of the-. Comedie Francalse have performed out of Europe. Principal parts-w^ere played by Mme. . Marcelle Rpmee,. LeQ.n Beimax'di Dessb;nnes and. jMjlle. Ei^iji- Uenne Dux. . Announced'by C. A. Dalbagni, pt'O- prletor of the Kursaal theatre, that Dec. 13ri7 the Spanish Dancers Es- cudero Co. will perform. . Artistes are "Vlncente Escudero, LLna Perez, Carmita Gracia and Alnierla. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Johnson were here a short while ago en route to tiaking some more animal pictures. American Shows Due . Paris,. Dec. 15. Many American shows here or about^=^QTpenf Good News" (Dufrenne-Varna) goes in at the Palace; "Shanghai' Gestui'o," starring and produced by Jane Marnac (in association with her husband. Major Keifh Trevor) will be at the Apollo; "Now Moon" is due soon; and "Hallelujah,"' re- chrlstened fx-om "HJlt tho Deck,' closlng^.Jan, 2, at the Mo.vrnflor. will be foriowod by a revival ('".thcr of "Rose-Marie" or "No, No, Xanette.'