PRINCE OF WALES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 208, 27 April 1932, Page 3

PRINCE OF WALES

• VISITS BRITISH FILM STUDIOS AT EALING ALL DEPARTMENTS INSPECTED For the first time recently the Prince of Wales inspected in detail a British film studio. He visited the Associated Radio Pictures headquarters at Ealing, going for one hour and staying for two. He saw every department at work, and was obviously delighted with his visit, even when a "criminal," shot "dead" by "Sherlock Holmes," fell from the roof of -the studio at his feet. The last scene of the "Sign of Four" was being made, with Ahthur Wontner, Ian Hunter and Isla Bevan. The setting was a storehouse by the Thames, where a des'perate band of criminals had taken refuge, with Holmes hard on their heels. Sickening Thud! We had seen the criminals run to hiding. W^ e saw the arrival of Holmes. Then we heard a shout, "Look out, Mr. Holmes!" We saw Holmes fire at the girders of the studio, 40 feet above our heads, and a "body" crashed with the wellknown sickening thud on a heap of crates a few feet from the Prince. The Prince of Wales then fold Basil Dean that he knew "The Sign of Four" well; that he thought it a fine story, which should malce an excellent picture. The Prince next saw the opening seenes of "The Impassive Footman" shot on the promenade declc of a liner. The leading players in the scenes were Owen Nares and Betty Stockfield. Clifford Pemher showed the Prince a new invention on which he had been working since 1920, when he was art director for D. W. Griffith in the film "Way Down East." This is a method of projecting a film through a paper screen so that it forms a living background to a new film. This was the first time the device had been used, and the Prince described the effect as "most realistic." Edgar Wallace's Film The Prince showed his enthusiasm for films in the make-up department, where he asked a number of questions and expressed the opinion that the make-up of Frederick March in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was overdone. . He stayed for some time in the eutting room, and asked Mr. Dean, the producer, why it should he necessary to shoot 80,000 feet of film to get 7,000 feet of finished picture. He asked a number of questions, too, about the making of "Escape, the exteriors of which were shot on Duchy of Cornwall land. The Prince later saw the last reel of "Nine Till Six," in which he specially commended the work of Elizaheth Allan and Louise Hampton. He saw also a film in which several famous stars welcomed him. The picture was prepared hy Edgar Wallice in Hollywood just hefore he died. As he came away this was the Prince's tribute: "With such equipment it should he possible to make films worthy of being seen in every country in the world." Mr. Dean expressed afterwards the hope that the Prince's visit would attract such attention to British pictures that at last they might he weh eomed in the United States.