ANGRY MR. GILBERT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 21

ANGRY MR. GILBERT

“Greatest Lover” Title Annoyed Him PRAISE. FOR MEN STARS “The world's greatest lover? Nonsense! I disclaim that title. Everyone asks me: ‘Do you love playing love parts?* ‘Tell me something about the technique of love making on the films.’ ‘Which film stars do you like to play love films with ?’ ” Mr. John Gilbert, hero of many highpressure love films, beloved of thou-

. sands of flapper I hearts in America j and Great Britain, looked fierce, even terribly angry, in the room of his hotel, in London, where he was staying, when a “Daily Express” representative asked him innocently what love parts he had mostly en-

joyed playing. "A Dramatic Actor” "When people ask me to tell how 1 Play love scenes and regard me as an actor who plays nothing but love scenes,’’ he continued, “I say to them, Do you expect a pianist to tell you why he plays black keys in preference to white ones?’ lam a dramatic actor and I act my parts as they come. If the star who plays with me is a good actress, why, so much the better. But I cannot say which actress is the best to play with. "[ have heen in "Hollywood 15 years and have teen many changes in the technique of film production: Talkies are interesting, but difficult to play. They have yet to be developed, and so has colour production, which will be wonderful when it is natural. Two Best Actresses "I consider the two finest film actresses v.-e have are Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. On the whole, 1 do not consider that women are as Rood actresses as men are actors—especially Englishmen. They are fine nlm actors. The way in which they move and behave wins them success.” Mr. Gilbert was paying his first '’wit to England and was finding the English countryside, the woods and 'he fields of Kent and Surrey, inspiring and romantic places. Last May "the perfect lover” eloped with Miss Ina Claire, a musical comedy star. They chartered an airplane to take them from Los Vegas, where they were married, to Hollywood.