OLD LONDON

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 68, 11 June 1927, Page 23 (Supplement)

OLD LONDON

Evidence was given before the Royal Commission on picture shows at Melbourne by Sir Victor Wilson, the president of the Motion Picture Distributors. The witness estimated that the amount of capital invested in picture shows in Australia was £25,000,000 and the annual attendance 150,000,000. Sir Victor denied that Americans had a stranglehold on the industry. There was not the slightest difficulty in showing good British or Australian films.

Buster Keaton recently went shopping for trains. Not toy ones, but real iron horses weighing many tons each. Keaton needed the trains for his first United Artists’ picture, “The General,” a comedy spectacle with a Civil War background. When he found three of the type he wanted, he rebuilt them Into replicas of engines that snorted over the rail during the 60’s. He also acquired many old freight cars and passenger coaches for conversion into period trains. Although primarily planned for a comedy only, “The General ” is technically accurate from an historical standpoint.

Not for many months have picturegoers been offered a picture in the cast of which such a popular quartette as William Haines, Claire Windsor, Harry Carey and Claire McDowell appear. The screen offering is “A Little Journey.” the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production to be released shortly in Auckland. Claire Windsor gives a good performance as Julie Rutherford, “a newly-poor” girl. William Haines, has a part perfectly suited to his talents. He has been making rapid strides since playing in “Brown of Harvard,” and has already won a tremendous following. Harry Carey, the Western star, plays the part of a millionaire with suaveness and charm. Claire McDowell has an important part.

When Marcus Loew, president of the Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer organisation, arrived in Los Angeles recently, he was met by an assemblage of stars and film executives. Following the general hand-shaking, Mr. Loew asked if Jackie Coogan had come to the station. Then to his amazement Jackie spoke up. He was standing right beside the producer all the time, but, no one recognised him with his hair cut and his cap on. This little star’s hair was cut in “Johnny Get Your Hair Cut,” a race-track story, which marks Jackie Coogan’s transition from babyhood to boyhood.

Henrik Sartov, former professor of Physics in the University of Rotterdam, was responsible for the photography in Lillian Gish’s “The Scarlet Letter.” This expert has been Miss Gish’s protographer for several years, and has been successful in obtaining many remarkable camera effects. The Photography in “The Scarlet Letter” is beautiful in the extreme, having the Quality of an oil painting, especially in the effective close-ups of Lillian Gish, who plays the part of Hester Prynne. the Puritan maid who loved, and defied an intolerant world. Lars Hanson Karl Dane, Henry B. Walthall, and other well-known players are included in the cast. Victor Seastrom, director of many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor successes, makes this picture a truly artistic achievement.