Marlene Dietrich appeared in Shanghai Express, which Josef von Sternberg directed for Paramount. Despite its authentic-looking settings and beautiful photography, the Chinese considered it a misrepresentation of Chinese customs.
Edgar Rice Burrough's character Tarzan made the sound films with Tarzan the Ape Man. The title role was played by Johnny Weissmuller, formerly a swimming champion, who so succeeded in identifying himself with Tarzan, in the minds of the younger fans, that he could play nothing else. There have been a number of sequels, and they have all been popular.
About as handsome a trio as you'd care to meet were Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, and Miriam Hopkins, as they appeared in the sophisticated comedy, Trouble in Paradise. Ernst Lubitsch directed it for Paramount in 1932.
Founded in 1927, with its membership comprising producers, directors, actors, writers, technicians, and executives, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents series of annual awards for distinguished achievement in the motion-picture field. The bronze statuettes, or "Oscars," as they are irreverently called, that symbolize the awards are highly prized not only in themselves, but also because an Oscar is a very hand thing to have around when discussing salaries and contracts. Helen Hayes won the award for the best performance by an actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, while Fredric March received the corresponding award for actors for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the time, Miss Hayes was working in A Farewell to Arms, under Borzage's direction.
The screen version of Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms was as successful as the stage adaptation had been. Credit for its faithful picturization goes both to the principals and to its director, Frank Borzage. Gary Cooper as Frederic Henry, Helen Hayes as Catherine Barkley, and Adolphe Menjou as Lieutenant Rinaldi. All three gave superb performances. It was produced by Paramount in 1932.
Jesse L. Lasky left Paramount in 1932 to join forces with Fox. Here he produced a number of pictures that were a credit to his taste. The first, Zoo in Budapest, released in 1933, with Loretta Young and Gene Raymond, was particularly notable for some beautiful photography by Lee Garmes.
More than a dozen screen writers and more than half a dozen directors, including Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Norman McLeod, and James Cruze, worked at concocting If I Had a Million. Paramount produced it in 1932, with an all-star cast that included Gary Cooper, George Raft, Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Jack Oakie, and W. C. Fields. It was something of a hodge-podge, and ushered in no new era in picture-making, but it was undeniably entertaining.
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