Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 8 September 1940, page 10


Modernised Plaza Will Open

Next Friday

£15,000 Spent On

Extensive Alterations

Above: Fred MacMurray and Alice Faye in "Little Old New York," at Ambassadors Friday. Right: Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable in a scene from "Gone With the Wind," which will have its Perth premiere at the Piccadilly and Metro Theatres on Friday. Lower: "She loves us, she loves us not" .. Mac Murray, Jean Arthur and Mel-vyn Douglas in "Too Many Husbands," coming to the Theatre Royal.

FIFTEEN thousand pounds has been spent in far reaching modernisation and extensive remodelling of Hoyts Plaza Theatre, Perth, during recent weeks.

The new Plaza Theatre, which will open on Friday with RKO-Radio's mammoth production of Hugo's novel, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," will be a place of entertainment rivalling in smart-ness and comfort the most advanced motion picture theatres

overseas.

Redecorated and refurnished throughout, a special feature will be the ultra-modern air-conditioning plant guaranteed to keep all parts at a scientifically predetermined even temperature both summer and win-

ter.

Way back tn 1925—when erudite film critics referred to movie fane as cinema patrons, when jerky pro-jections on the screen mouthing dumb dialogue was followed by

cryptic subtitles intended for box ofhce pull—was Lon Chaney seen in Victor Hugo's gruesome study in the macabre, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

Tasty meat for the story-pickers was Hugo, leader of the great school of nineteenth century French roman-ticists. They had nibbled with con-siderable success at "Les Miserables," realised that the politico-sociological writings of the Frenchman, studded with heartache slants, made good film script.

They picked a winner, too, in Chaney. Great master of make-up was Chaney, who went to incredible lengths to achieve reality, died at an early age of the self-torture he bad inflicted to make his impersonations the living truth of his art

In the "Hunchback" Chaney used 40 pounds of make-up, put over a per-formance so grimly realistic that people spoke of his name with a shudder, made the Chaney grimace a new form of expressive caricature.

Now into the dead man's shoes has stepped fat, jowled Charles Laughton with a tremendous char-acterization of the deformed bell-ringer who fell in love with a gypsy girl.

in study of detail, the reconstruc-tion of ancient towns and costume re-production, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" vies with the great historical spectacles of the past, "Intolerance," The Ten Commandments" and "Ben Hur."

By the time film executives had fin-ished approving expenditure, the grand total totted up to £400,000.

It took Charles Laughton four hours to use 6lb. of make-up, in which he used a sponge rubber cheek, false eyes, and a hump to be-come unrecognisable.

So grotesque was the final effect that no full-face publicity photographs were allowed to be taken.