Mary Grows Up

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 31

Mary Grows Up

“COQUETTE” FOR STRAND Pickford Art in Modern Comedy MARY PICKFORD lias surmounted the greatest difficulty of hex- screen career. She has cast aside the shell of a time-worn character and reached fresh popularity in modern guise. Few ai'tists have succeeded in doing this. The new Mary will be seen at the Strand in “Coquette.” comedy drama booked to follow “The Black Watch.” In its reels, the World’s Sweetheart passes from simplicity to sophistication, yet remains herself.

It is an open secret that the renowned Pickford popularity was menaced by the present-day demands of the public. '‘Sweet,’* wide-eyed, and innocent heroines were a drug on the market, and Mary’s curls were out of fashion. A lesser artist would have faded into the shadowlaud of forgotten stars. Not so the lady whose name has been a household word practically since the birth of motion pictures. About a year ago she decided to "come back’’ by making radical changes in characterisation. She bobbed her famous curls and, when talkies began to boom she made preparations for a dialogue production. Soon Auckland will see the result of her effort. Without doubt "Coquette” will be popular. It has been received with enthusiasm in the United States where the Pickford stocks are once more well above par, and it has pleased audiences everywhere. It is probable that the star’s new followers will not be recruited from the same community as in the past, but they should be as numerous as ever. Supporting Mary Pickford in “Coquette” are John Mack Brown, who was her leading man in her previous release, Matt Moore, and other well-known players. The story tells of Norma Besant, small town belle, who delights in her

numerous conquests. There comes a youth from the hills, Michael Jeffrey, who joins the ranks of her admirers without understanding her flirtatious methods. The two fall in love, and are found by the girl’s father in compromising circumstances. Furiously angry Colonel Besant shoots the youth and breaks the girl’s heart. Tragedy stalks through the last sequence, for the girl has lost her lovei’ and the father is on trial for murder. Then, at the end, comes a gleam of sunshine. “Coquette” is a simple yet beautiful talking picture, wonderfully handled, magnificently acted, and perfectly photographed. Mary Fiekford’s work is magnificent in its every mood.

jyjTR. Ci'ick, who had travelled on the x steamer from America, shook hands with Mr. McNeill, and said he was glad of the opportunity of meeting him; and Mr. McNeill briefly responded. The process of recording was quite a simple one. The two men took their places before the microphone in the open air, spoke one or two words by way of rehearsal, received in response a muffled shout of “louder” from a lower deck, where the electrical apparatus was, and then greeted one another in their ordinary, every-

day voices, as though no camera had been there at all. The equipment is of the type used ] in the United States for outdoor work, ; as distinct from that usable only in j studios. It has been brought to Australia by the Fox Film Corporation under the care of Mr. Ray Vaughan, ! a young Sydney cameraman who has spent six months in America learning the technique of recording talking films. He estimates its value at about jr 15,000. It is quite self-con-tained; so that the truck can be driven to the remote regions, where no source of power is available, and its contents used to make talking films there just as easily as in the heart of the city. According to Mr. Crick, his company will concentrate for the present on the production of news reels and short subjects embodying talks by prominent people. “We hope,” he said, “to present the Prime Minister on the screen, so that he may address people abroad as well as in Australia Characteristic scenes of the ‘back country,’ photographed with sound, will give Australia a wonderful advertisement. For the present, our plans to produce long Australian dramas, by Australian authors and with Australian actors, remain indefinite. Everything must have a beginning.”