THE CONQUERORS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 644, 23 September 1933, Page 2

THE CONQUERORS

SPECTACULAR FILM DEVOTED TO ROMANCE OF GREAT NATION. Packed in an array of twelve mod-est-looking tin cans lies a. treasure, representing a vast amount of cash and of human endeavour. Into these humble twelve containers representing a vast amount pf cash and of human endeavour has . . been crammed the work of 5000 m,en, j women and children who worked many i days toward making "The Conquer- ' ors," the mightiest of all present-day motion pictures, which opens on Monday at the Majestic Theatre. The work of th'e humblest carpenter to the highest exe'cutive is inscribed on strips of celluloid contained in those cans. And long before the film was ready to whirr through the c'ameras, many writens, techlnicians, hifctorians and other speeial|ists spent moinths in preparation. For six months these experts scanned the pages of history, seeking out the colourful highlights to inject into RKO Radio's spectacular saga of history. From 1873 to 1932 — every breath the world has breathed in its fight for growth and commercial developrhent ; — iis portrayed by "The Conqueror," • with fidelity to the romance and growth of a great nation. William A. Wellman, the director, did not make "The Conquerors" within the confines of studio walls. Twice he took his crew and company to northern parts of California to photo!graph in their own settings, some of 1 the stirring incidents in the produc-

tion. At Coopertown, Wellman photographed a duplicate of the first train

that ever travelled west. At Stockton, California, the director employed more than 500 men and women to participate in the canal boat sequence. Each sequence in the picture, which treats of the three major depressions that have visited the world only -to release. their clutches in thq fac.e of an eve.r-rising pro.sperity, has been accorded the sam© faithfulness'of expert casting and- production. An entire city, showing its growth throughi the years from 1873 to 1932, was built and rebuilt during the filming of the picture which co-stars Richard Dix and Ann Harding in a cast of great names. This was the city of Fort Allen, Nebraska— the little, town >t0 which ! Roger and Caroline Standish, played by Dix and Mjiss Harding, travelled' iby sta'ge-coach on their honeymoon. It was there that the couple, entranced by the romantic and commercial prospects of the- western frontier, ■settled to make their home and rear their family. It was there that Roger founded the first bank and, with Caroline,- succeeded in having the railroad brought through the city in which th'ey believed. To show the various stages of development in the town during the span of sixty years, more than four hundred carpenters were constantly kept busy building and rebuilding the structures that made up the city. ' _ From the ends of the country/- the director and his staff sent research w-orkers to -ferret out old buggies, old pianos and other authentic articles of distant1 periods. And now "The Conquerors," resting bjetweep screenings in- a dozen film cans, makes its debut before the ' public.