Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 23 July 1927, page 7


CLAMOUR OF. THE SOUTH SEAS Australian Movie Co. in. Fiji Hollywood Stars Arrive (By Percy L. Curtis). Steel guitars were strumming their fascinating tunes suggestlng the soft caress of tile Pacitic Breeze, and the dreamy nights on the velvet seas that wash the shores of the South Sea Isles. Thle plaintlve notes of their haunting melody rang out appealingly, then died lazily away as if brushed by the night wind on Its cool, sequestered course. Is land of swaying palms and dusky mai-dens, where the very music sounds the lure and appeal of the tropics. It was the evening of Norman Dawn's arrival in Suva, Fiji, to film "Conn of the Coral Seas," the title of which has been de finitely changed to "The Adorable Out cast," as "Conn" was accepted merely for a working title until something was found to more romantically suggest the theme of the picture. The company were glad to set feet on terra firma after five sailing days from Sydney. They are all Australians, and delighted with anticipation of their .six weeks' stay on this location. It is new to most of them, and of consequent interest to anyone making a first acquaintance with the langourous beauty and roman tic appeal which have always been asso ciated with the tropics. The screen is making folk familiar 'with the beauties of strange lands, and the customs and mannerisms of distant peoples. Its popularity rivals literature with the masses, and with picturesque celluloid glimpses of colourful sunset and moon light shining down into silvery seas, the movies have certainly done their share of adding to the stranger's long ing to see the Pacific. Dawn's players should appreciate the opportunity which their work has provided on this 'trip to satiate the curiosity which literature and the screen have stimulated. On arrival evening they had the novelty of being entertained at a Sa moan wedding feast, and strange were the costumes worn, while natives went through a series of grotesque dances which absorbed much of the performer's physical energy. A long feast tollowed, the menu including pigs, roasted whole, Taro (breadfruit), and many other appetising dishes which the company ate more for fear of offending. The novelty of acting for the movies is spreading to prominent personages. Twenty-five of Suva's wealthy com mercial magnates took part as. beach combers in a wild chase through tropical palm groves on a recent Sunday. Each one signed for his day's pay as an "ex tra." and collectively they handed over the total of their earnings to the Suva Old Men's Home, which benefited 'by £25. Strangely enough one of the beachcombers was a cousin to authoress Beatrice Grimshaw, from whose story the film is being adapted. The natives as weil as the whites at Fiji aia fol lowing the companiy's movements each day on location, despite Dawn's last minute secrecy as to their destination. This is being observed so that the company may proceed with the shoot ing of scenes without the players' at tention being abstracted by crowds of curious onlookers apt to get in the way and hinder the producer's progress. There is little time to listen to the music of the surf breaking on the coral reefs while they are workng from day light to dark, Sundays included. Glimpses of Fiji's varied scenic at tractions will make a beautiful back ground to surround the dramatic and comedy elements of the pictures.' On their way to shoot one of the big scenes they passed through the finest drive out from Suva to the look-out at Taniavua village and Sawani Road, from which is seen a magnificent panorama of land and sea extending from Mavua to Na kulau. The company are happily sta tioned at the Grand Pacific Hotel, set in spacious grounds where huge palms stir lazily In the tropic breeze. The "Matt. Gabbett" of "The Term" has an other man-eating role as that of the cannibal chief in "The Adorable Out cast," and the art of make-up has work ed transformation in appearance which is hard to penetrate. Edith Roberts. Edmund Burns, and Walter Long, three stars from Holly wood under engagement to Australasian Films Ltd. arrived at Suva by the Sonoma on May 17, and com pleted the personnel of the com pany. Throngs greeted them at the wharf. where Miss Roberts, beautifully frocked in Fifth Avenue's latest style, became the centre of in terest with women folk. The dainty. star was born and schooled in New York City, and commenced her movie career at the age of ten years, playing "little girl" parts with Universal Films. Her first leading role came at the ten dler age of thirteen. For the past four years she has been free-lancing very profltably. and her present engagement to Australian Film is by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Unlike many other stars, when sh' comes to Sydney next month, she will be In the zenith of her career. Among many pictures In which film fans have seen her either starred or co-starred are in cluded "On Thin Ice." with Tom Moore: "Seven Keys to Baldpate." with' Doug Ias McLean; "The Age of Innocence," with Elliott Dexter: "There You Are," with Conrad Nan ;: "Twenty Dollars Per Week." with Ronald Colman and George Arllss: and Cecil B. Do Mille's big spectnsiular production "Saturday Night." Her role in the picture which has necessitated her visit to Australia wlll be that of "Luva." an adorable outcast. Eddie Burns is the real matinee idol type, winning the affection in the flap per's heart. which the late Wallie Reed enjoyed. Burns has a fine and hand some athletic appearance, and staged a genuine first-class thrill as the' "Son oma" pulled into the wharf at Suva. In a fashionable Hollywood bathing cos tume he dived overboard and proceed-ed to swim to the wharf before .the boat tied up, despite the fact that the waters are known to be heavily infested with sharks. An 'tly Providence takes care of tile daring, nevertheless he was hauled back under instructions from the captain. and appeared grleved at the intervention for his safety.. Burns is a Philadelphian. and was a member of the Philadelphian Stock Company before he went into thecelluloid game. He has appeared in many wonderful screen roles. among the most memornable being his part, opposite Gloria Swanson In "The Humming Bird " with Mae Mur-ry in "Jaazamanla" opposite Constance Talmadge in "East is West." with Bebe Daniels in "'Thle Tanicure Girl." and his wonderful characterisation in Zane Grey's "Forlorn River." The Holly wood Athletlc Club, of which he is a member, claims him as a horseman, swimmer, and a golfer of note. His present engagement in Dawn's local pro duction is by special arrangement with Producers' Distributing Corporation. Walter Long, Cecil B. De MIlle's lead ing character man, and a real deep-eyed screen vlllalin, stepped off the boat in a vivid coloured shirt and a huge hat intended to beat off a tropic sun. Born in New Hampshlie, he is of English descent, his ancestors numbering among the first settlers of Massachusetts. Eighteen years it Is since his first screen vehicle, prior to which he played on the legitlinate stage with Holbrook Bllnn and H. B. WVarner. Long has the advantage over man actors in having worked under the direction of the screen's nost successful directors, including D. W. Griffith, Cecil B. De Mille, Fred Niblo, James Cruze, Eric von Stroheim,. King Vidor, and others, while he has played also with Film dom's greatest stars, naming Mary Plickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, the late Rudolph Valentino, Colleen More, Lillian Gish, and Thomas Meighan. In March of this year he was snowbound tor two weeks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, fifty miles from the nearest town, wilile making the picture "Back to 'God's Country," the screen version ofit James Oliver Curwood story starring Rene Adoree. It Is. claimed, that the ex-treme hardships which Walter Long

endured through this trip temporarily unhinged his mind. Lynn Reynolds was the director whose suicide occurred the night the company returned home from location, and Irving Willatt had to finish directing the picture. Follow-., ing this tragic fatality, Long relin-quished a long-term contract (of which only eighteen months was completed) to accept the part of "Fu..ey" in the second celluloid entertainment which Dawn is making for Australasian Films, and his appearance in the cast of "The Adorable Outcast" is by an arrangement with Cecil P. De Mille. Immediately the s tars had got their land legs again, Producer Dawn took his company to Bau. the old capital of Fiji, where King Ratu Popl assem bled three thousand natives to dance in full war dress, and stage a big na tive .battle in which huge sets eighty feet high were to be burned down for a spectacular scene in the picture.