Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 8 November 1928, page 7


ANOTHER film by the McDonagh sis

ters was an interesting feature at Hoyts Theatre de Luxe (Melbourne).

The successful production by these three Sydney girls, "Those Who Love," was something unique in the history of the industry. "The Far Paradise" marks an advance on the previous effort, and shows that in favourable circumstances produc-tion in Australia can be carried out at a comparatively small expense.

Marie Lorraine.

Those who see

"The Far Paradise" will be surprised to hear that it involv-ed an outlay of only

£2,000. Various fac- tors helped to mini-

mise the cost. Iso-

bel McDonagh, the

youngest sister, who is known on the

screen as Marie Lorraine, took the leading role. Phyl-lis McDonagh un-dertook the art direction, and Pau-lette McDonagh,

who has provided four stories for American companies, wrote the scenario. The McDonagh mansion in Sydney was used for many of the interior scenes, while grounds were loaned by their owners for some of the exterior "shots." Every detail was well considered, and arrangements com-pleted before the screening was com-menced. As the result of good organisa-tion, the actual filming occupied only two

weeks.

In considering the achievements of these clever girls, it is gratifying to learn that they acquired their knowledge of motion picture production in Australia.

The photograph of Marie Lorraine in this column shows her at a fancy dress ball, which is one of the elaborate scenes in "The Far Paradise.*' The picture opens well, with Cherry Carson, the heroine, arriving from abroad and meeting the hero by chance in the train which takes both to their native city. Cherry's father is a prosperous swindler, whom the hero's father threatens to expose, and thus the foundation is laid for a sensational society drama. The action is quick, and the con-tinuity never broken. Gaston Mervale and Arthur McLaglen figure in the small cast, and John Faulkner, as the hero's father, is also notable.

Picturesque scenes abound in this film. Sydney beauty spots comprise many of them. There are also glimpses of Mel-bourne, while the scenes of Paradise Val-ley, the retreat of Carson and his daugh-ter, were taken in Donnybrook, (Vic. ).

COME Hollywood impressions by Mr. ^ Wells Koot in the Adelaide "Gossip ":

Los Angeles lies around thc bills like a dream on its off day. There are soft hori-zons, miles of ocean, «nd behind you a chunky file of circling hills. This agree-able panorama is excitedly improved by real estate companies. On the face of thegreen hills they have reared glowing monuments to their own cupidity in tho form of thc largest advertising figns in the world, lt must make a mountain proud to be advertised by man.

These same men of property have built au enviable toy town, Graceful and low. with flowers in. the window boxes, the endless bungalows have the most leisurely inviting living rooms in all the world. I am told they are built with paper and putty stink together witli paste; but this is not true. 1 live in one. It looks like a child's Christmas present, but it works perfectly and lhere are six of everything.

The surrounding inhabitants seem to me to be the most "genuinely and unconscious ly courteous 1 have ever known. An amaz-ing advertisement is this Californian cour-tesy. May it never be sloganised. ^

Wandering in Hollywood one comes to the motion picture studios. Wandering through one of them one should pinch one-self at intervals. At Paramount 1 en-countered in quick succession, a live tiger, Moscow under several feet of sno.v, . Clara Bow. an ocean liner, an elephant,

and two actors sitting in bathtubs full of hot mud. lt was real mud. Two hours later I sneaked back and they were still sitting thpie.

No wonder the country lad leaves home. HPHK announcement that Maurice Mos?*- covitcb is making his farewell appear-ances iii Australia in "The Silent House"' at" the .Theatre Boyal. Melbourne, has caused some misunderstanding regarding the .future plans of the famous Russian actor, many playgoers being under, the impression that when he leaves* Australia at the end of the run of "The Silent House" Mr. Moscovitch intends to retire from the stage.1 "Nothing' is further from my thoughts,"' said Mr. Moscovitch, when questioned on the point. "I am going to have a holiday, and attend to my private business and -my house in. London, and then I shall possibly accept a'very good offer I hiivc received for a tour of Canada. But as for giving up the stage? No. Aud . ? what for": When a niau gives up the work

he loves and has no other interests there is nothing for him to do but die." This will not be Mr. Mospovitch's final season in Australia. He has entered into another contract with J. C. Williamson Ltd. to return at a future dale under the firm's management, with a number of new plays.

"VTAT Madison, who is.giving a delightful

character sketch -as Ho Fang, thc heathen Chinee in "The Silent House" ai the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, has fol godfather. Robert Hichens. the novelist who wrote "The Garden of Allah." An other claim to literary fame is that Ed ward Marsh, the editor (if thc "Georgia! Review." and the mau who brought Rupert Brooke's work before the public, dodi cat ed to Mi. Madison his two books o: translation of La Fontaines' Fables.

FOR thc fust time for fourteen yean

the Paramount studios in «'Hollywoot are producing a picture without au extra It is "Interference," which is being madi on the sound stages with a featured cast including Miss Evelyn Brent, Mr. Wi! Ham Powell. Mr. Clive Brook, and Mis Doris kenyon. Fach member of tin large east has sonic important acting to do

- T»l

T/'IRGINIA Pei ry. who is appearing as

Margot in "The Desert Song," at His Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, despite happy memories of more than three years on the concert stage in England, declares that she would not willingly go back to concert work again, for she finds the atmo-sphere of the stage much more exhilarating, apart from the fact that there is much more scope artistically and commercially on the stage. "I love acting in musical plays," said Miss Perry, for they are much more definite a medium than mere vocal-ism. When, in addition to voice, there are drama, gesture, and scenic and costume realism, one has greater opportunities for self-expression." Miss Perry added that the glamour of the stage was at its best in musical comedy. "We are a very happy family in 'The Desert Song,' " she said, "and the Melbourne people have given us a wonderful time."

NORMAN CASTLE BUILT FOR A BRITISH FILM :

Mr. Nelson Keys, the well-known comedian, I

as Slr Guy de Vere, shocks the aunt. Lady Waldegrave (Miss Lena Halliday), in "When Knights Were Bold," a British film for which a Norman castle has been built In a month near Stan

. ' more, Middlesex.

TIT AD AME Olga Baclanova, one of the

most interesting personalities that has come into motion pictures rcceutly, is seen in "Forgotten Faces." In this she plays a mother, an evil woman, who wants to pull her daughter into the welter of sin and crime in which her own life has been spent. She desires this to reveuge herself on her husband, who had stoleu their child when he discovered his wife's infidelity, and placed it where he knew it would be cared for. Baclanova is a "Rus-sian. She was one of the principal's in the Moscow Art Theatre studio conipauy that came to America. After the parent'.'body had returned to Russia, she remained be-hind and went into" pictures. She (nade a deep impression with Mr. -Emil Janniugs in "The Street of Sin," in which she acted the wretched woman on whose sinful earnings he lived. She also played the duchess with Mr. Conrad Veldt in "The Man Who Laughs," in which she scored heavily, and now she has another success to her credit as thc unnatural mother in "Forgotten Faces."'

"A SCENE FROM "THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN" : Starring Greta Misson and Jack Mulhall, it

will be screened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Saturday.

"rPHt3 most nerve-racking -experience I

have ever had during my stage careel was when I lost my voice," said Lance Fairfax, who is the Red Shadow in ''The

Desert Song," at His Majesty's Theatre, i Melbourne. It happeued while he was ap-pearing in vaudeville at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne. "One night, I started to sing, but Ho sound came. The audience gazed at me, bewildered. You could have heard a pin drop. Possibly it was nature's way nf giving my voice a rest. In any ease, turee years passed before my voice returired, . and then it was better than ever, but no manager would give me a chalice. W1)PJI I applied, they merely shrugged their sh mi-ders politely, and said that there was nothing doing. So one dav, when chorus men were.. required at His Majesty'?. I joined the crowd and was given a voioe trial under another name, and 1 was one of the twenty selected out of over one hundred applicants. After this. I worked my way up to leading roles iu Gilbert and

j Sullivan opera

"CO much that is untrue has bec» writ- ? ^ ten about Hollywood," says a weil- |

known writer at the Paramount Studios,

"that it is extremely difficult for the I ordinary man to distinguish between fact and what is fiction. To the outside world Hollywood has come to meau glamour, fanfare, carnival, unreality. In actual fact. Hollywood is an ordinary everyday city, very wholesome and very conservative. It has been variously represented by popular writers as a city of gaeity, a bootlegger's paradise, and au El Dorado, where thc paving stones are of gold. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Hard work reigns supreme, and it is a fact that Holly-wood is one of the most law-abiding citias in the United States. At 10 o'clock the Hollywood Boulevard is almost deserted, and the various dance halls that are open are patronised by the regular townspeople and are visited seldom by the picture

artists."

'pHE "extra" colony in Hollywood wc!

come with open arms the advent of the big production season in the film city,

for it means also the advent of muchneeded work. Every "extra" is a casual -he works when he is wanted. At the present time the Paramount studio at Hollywood is concentrating on the pro-duction of the new season's product to he known as the "Whole Show" proCramme. Consequently it is an "extra's" paradise. In the last two months 10.800 ! extra players have worked on the various

production's filming at thc. studios. At the : present time there are 3,000 extrás work-

ing, but they are constantly coining and going. Mr.-George Bancroft's production, "The Docks of New York," employed 300. Mr. Charles Rogers's recently completed ? starring picture, "Varsity," over 500: Miss,

Clara Bow's latest. "The Fleet's In." gave work for over a thousand sailors and

I maids; "Take Me Home." Miss Bebe Daniela's latest picture, employed 100; "In-terference," 200; Emil Ja lining's next. "Sins of the Fathers," and "Beggars of Life." 300 each.

"MD business requires such an infinite

varietv of material as that sf the mo-tion picture. The steel industry requires coal and iron as the basic necessities; to mak a car. metals, wood, glass, fabric and rubber are needed; but according to a statement recently issued from Pavimount's Hollywood Studios, there is no limit to the materials necessary for mak-ing a picture. Camels from tho Sahara, totems from the Arctic, castles on thc Rhine, the African veldt or the Australian hugh, articles, peoples, customs, native to every.land under thc sun arc either broughtto thc Paramount studios or tho studios go to thpin.- ' Paramounts Hollywood is a maze of organisation. Hundreds of sub-sidiary concerns operate outside the stu-dios, and their business is to supply every want, anticipate every need. A director making a Foreign Legion picture can have an army of legionaries, fully equipped, with uniforms, correct in every detail, rifles, swords and equipment, within a day

if necessary. |

. fpIIESE arc some impressions of movie j -*- stars one night at the Coconut Grove, Hollywood. Miss Bebe Daniels, in yelI low chiffon velvet evening ensemble, sewn with brilliant pearls and embroidery. Mr. George O'Brien escorted the dainty bru-nette. Miss Olive Borden, who looked like an old-fashioned valentine in white or-gandie with tiny puff sleeves and many insets of fragile lace, with ribbons and corsage bouquet of lilies of the valley and white camelias, and her black hair hanging over her shoulder in ringlets.

Mr. Richard Barthelmess and his new wife were the centre of a knot of friends; with Misses Jacqueline Logan and Alma Rubens, both ali in white, with white er-mine and fox wraps, in the flower-banked lobby; Miss Irene Rich, in orchid chiffon, with many tiny pleatings and with a cor-sage of orchids, sat with her husband, Mr.

j David Blankenborn, and her small daughI ter, Frances Rich. Miss Madge Bellamy, I her hair done high in small ringlets over

the head, with a fluff of white lace as she passed on the arm of Mr.' Paul Bern, and Miss Lilyan Tashman looked like ' a French doll in her smartly made, sniig-fitting gown of Dresden taffeta, whitè with printed bunches of red roses grouped over the surface of the silk, and a long tie of self material falling from a huge bow perk-ed on her left shoulder. Miss Norma Shearer, with her husband, Mr. Irving Thalberg, made all the girls gape witli ber new frock straight from Paris, iu metal cloth over red satin.

TTHAT bright and engaging actress, Miss -*? Betty Ross Clarke, whose striking per-formance in "The Ghost Train" will be recalled by local theatre-goers, has been engaged by the Messrs. Fuller to re-appear in Sydney. She will be seen in the Ame-rican comedy-of which various details have been given in this column-called ' "The Baby Cyclone," also in a piece called "The Storm." The titles of the two plays would suggest that American dramatists have lately been affected by meteorological disturbances. Curiously enough, Miss Clarke speaks of also appearing -in a re-

vival of "Rain."

ACCORDING to present arrangements.

Margaret Bannerman in "Other Mon's Wives" will be a Christmas attraction in Melbourne. The beautiful Canadian actress is at present in New Zealand, enjoying a remarkably successful tour.

"(^JJIÏCUS Rookies" is the title of the ^ main Attraction at Boris Regent Theatre next Saturday. If you've ever car-nied water for the elephants or cleaned your father's boots to win your way under thc "big tent"-or if your memory of glamor-ous circus days is simply that of a delight-ed spectator-then come prepared to en-joy long, loud, lingering laughs-at thc expense of Karl Dane and George K.

Arthur.

From opening scene to final fade-out, the picture moves with lightning .speed, and comic adventures and thrills crowd each other to a breathless climax. "Circus Rookies" was directed by Edward Sedg-wick, who was responsible for "Slide Kelly Slide" and many other successful mot iou pictures. With his unusual deft skill he has managed to combine a little romance and many amazing and comical happenings with excellent results.

Louise Lorraine plays the leading femin-ine role, and appears as a charming little trapeze artiste, while Sydney Jarvis and Fred Humes are included in the supporting

cast.

FOURTEEN years ago, two" men, with

the idea of making pictures, rented an old barn that nestled among the green meadows of Hollywood. Recently a wobbly old structure was removed with extreme care from one corner of a studio and placed in another position. It was the same old barn that'was used in the pro-duction of the first picture of the infant organisation that was to grow into Para-mount Pictures. The picture was called "The Squaw Man," and in the years that followed there was a gradual addition of various buildings around the barn. Soon the studio gr.ew too big for the ground on which it stood, and it was moved to an» other part of Hollywood. The barn went

too.

Now it has to make room for the latest development' in the field of motion pic-tures, a sound projection room in which the new sound pictures will be seen and heárd by the executives of the studios and the actors.

/"^ECIL B. De Mille and his entire per* ^ sonal stall' are now established at the Culver City Studios of Metro-GoldwynMayer and will shortly commence work on a new production, the title of which has not yet been announced.