The New York herald., 1921-09-18
High Lights and
ShadOwS on Mems
of the Screen
Making Movies in England Is
Listed Among the Hazard
GUS Occupations.
BY FRANK VREELAND.

I\/I England is coming to be
listed among hazardous oc-
cS.e7<ions. with the director. not the
stuntster hero. taking all the risks
with no insurance. That is because
there are numerous drawbacks to
film making calculated to make pro-
particularly the red representing the
British Government, which In a way
isn't swallowing the movies easily.
According to reports which have
come here from London, the British
Government refuses permission to
movie directors to use any public
building or park for their own dark
purposes. perhaps because the Gov
ernment is in a quandary as to
whether the late war is really over or
is preparing for the next European
family quarrel.
At any rate, the producers aren't
happy at being looked upon as an
alien enemy with an axe and camera
to grind. This attitude does not ada
to the good humor Of the American
directors and actors who are over
there now trying to file away England
on the films according to American
systems, especially since in their ma
tive land millionaires have often been
glad to turn over their estates for a
murder or some other high class movie
crime. and have even accepted IS for
acting as an extra and looking like a
millionaire.
AS it is, despite the threat Of impris-
onment. the Americans In order to
shoot some Of the scenes which had
TO be taken in public locations of Lon
don, have flown in the face Of fate and
shot them with prayer that the po-
lceman on the beat would be paralyzed.
But taking scenes under such condi-
tions. with the director in mortal dread
OF being arrested at the moment that
he Is urging the star to register cour-
age, is much like making hit and
run play-there's no time for art. And
London boobies have a way Of not
knowing when they're being bribed.
When the pictures are taken that only
lays them open to whole swarm OF
other evils that make them suggest the
prehistoric days Of the films. The Eng
lish sunlight has inspired the pens Of
numerous poets, but 1t arouses no fer
vor in a cameraman. English land
scapes are beautifully soft and rounded,
just as though they had been thor
oughly massaged. but the sunshine has
q faculty of making their name mud on
celluloid-it lacks the Los Angeles power
to 'jell'' properly. Fogs have a way
of dropping In on the film companies
Informally.
The laboratories and the methods of
developing also make the directors old
before their time. Half Of the film sent
to laboratories, 1t "a said. Is ruined
Producers are forced to retake scenes,
half of the picture usually gong into the
wash again. If the materials that caught
the blight comprised interior sets, and
these mountings have been KILLED" ac-
cording to custom. ana their component
parts scattered by the property man,
those sets must be reassembled and the
actors emotions wound up again.
Again. English actors. with a few ex-
ceptions. seem to be where American
actors werc ten years ago in their
aloof attitude toward the cinema-they
just slip into the pictures occasionally
to keep their facial muscles in train
ing. Not many Of the distinguished ac-
tors abroad regard films seriously, or
make any effort to study their require
ments, so that often a director has to
try out four or five players in a prin-
cipal part-and then the most satisfac-
tion he can get out Of the final selec-
ton is to tear his hair. Even being
minor type on the screen doesn't
seem to come easily to British stage
folk.
All these burrs are generally consid-
cred in film circles to be turning the
British movies into a case of arrested
development. Small wonder Is ex-
pressed that leading producers are de-
serting the British movie field. and that
others are trembling at the shadow OF
American pictures across British
screens. One leading film reviewer, in
critfcising a recent homegrown film
with one Of England's prettiest and
most popular actresses starring in 1t,
indicated that 1t was good fashion
parade and that for action It could be
beaten by molasses. Quite sagely he
opined that the way to beat the Yanks
at their own game was to learn their
own game.
The difficulties attendant on film
producing In London would seem to
nave driven the staff of the Famous
glayers-Lasky British Company to
drink. That is. they are seeking SOL
ace In tea. All the American exec
utives and players over there have ar
quired the habit OF reporting promptly
at four o'clock for teacup practice. and
Thomas Geraghty himself, In charge of
production. is said to hit UP the orange
pekoe frequently.
Rudolph Valentino, who played SO well
In THE Four Horsemen of the Anoc.
alypse" and THE Conquering Power"
that one forgave him his patent leather
hair, has left Metro to try George Med
ford's cigarettes In the Medford pro-
duction of Moran of the Lady Lefty"
the story written by Frank Norris long
before the movies had taken to literature
in a serious way. In this picture. which
rs being made for Paramount, Valentino
Will play the lead under the spell of
Dorothy Daiton's dimples.
Miss Dalton, who has just been
putting her mother and father through
their PAGES on the boardwalk at Atlantic
City. following their trip here from
Chicago. has sailed forth from her homo
In New York to Hollywood for her first
showdown on the flms In half a year.
She is going west for only one picture,
ana there is a prospect OF her return
TO the speaking stage, II her present
plsns don't become warped in the Cali
fornia sunshine.
S~vufsh films brought over here re-
Gently. are reported in the trade to be
selling as briskly as peanuts In circus.
About thirty IN me oyor <ha bort,ou ocd