WORKS OF ART IN FILM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 878, 23 January 1930, Page 14

WORKS OF ART IN FILM

VALUABLE FURNISHINGS IN “THE SWAN” Art galleries and private homes known to possess genuine French Renaissance furniture and paintings were combed of their most valuable exhibit pieces by United Artists for the rich collection of furnishings and decorations used in filming an alldialogue adaptation of Ferenc Molnar’s stage success, “The Swan,” with Lillian Gish starred. Pieces that were the pride of' cabinet-makers during the Napoleonic era; paintings by Fragonnard, the master portrayer of women’s loveliness, and other contemporary works of art are being used in giving to “The Swan” the charm and beauty of background which signalised Molnar’s stage presentation in its showings throughout the civilised world. Though “The Swan” is by no means a period picture (on the contrary, its setting is strictly modern), Paul L. Stein, director, considered the French decorative style the only suitable one to convey the sophisticated elegance which characterises the story. Planned months ahead in every detail, “The Swan” promises to bring to the screen a new sense of richness in pictorial effects. Its magnificent furnishings, gleaned from the richest homes and the most exclusive art shops in the vicinity of Hollywood, will set a precedent in elaborate set decoration. “The Swan,” which sponsors Miss Gish’s debut in talking pictures, is a romantic comedy-drama with Rod la Rocque, Conrad Nagel, Marie Dressier, O. P. Heggie, Albert Conti, Edgar Norton, Billie Bennett, Phillipe de Lacey, and Bryon Sage in the supporting cast.