High Pressure (Warner Bros.) (1932)

PUBLICITY ADVANCE STORIES — REVIEWS — FOLLOW-UP STORIES — FEATURES — SHORTS — SCENE CUTS your L. story This story contains complete information about “High Pressure” and is known to showmen as a “routine story.” A brand new William Powell — a smooth and delightful comedian — is revealed in ‘‘High Pressure,’’ the Warner Bros. production which opens Next yes. athens = eee Theatre. It is a story of slick stock promoters and their fast-stepping ladies and presents Powell in the most dynamic characterization of his career. He has some of the attributes of a Ponzi and of Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford, but is more of an irrepressible and irresponsible nature, boyish, loving fun, pleasure and luxury, and altogether lovable himself, despite his many delinquencies. It is a role that reveals the poised and heretofore villainous Powell as a high class comedian. The story deals with characters who are generous and good hearted, but so irresponsible and. so anxious to get rich quickly that they scale pretty close to the border line of the law. The fast and furious sequences of “High Pressure’ are laid in Manhattan—in gorgeous skyscraper offices— in Harlem night clubs—Turkish baths — speakeasies — thronging streets — and the pier of a great ocean liner. Credit for the breath-taking tempo of “High Pressure’ goes to Director Mervyn LeRoy, who recently did ‘“‘Little Caesar,”’ ‘‘Local Boy Makes Good’’ and “Five Star Final.” The picture is realistic in the extreme, being a slice of life taken from the heart of Manhattan with its luxury loving promoters, and its vast horde of suckers taken from every walk of life; the rich and the poor, the wise and the gullible alike. Without doubt the Powell fans will universally applaud the choice of such a vehicle for their favorite, a drama that will make audiences gasp with excitement and surprise. The production has been richly and accurately dressed as to setting, and the Powell support is superb. Evelyn Brent, Evalyn Knapp, George Sidney, Guy Kibbee, Harry Beresford, John Wray, Luis Alberni, Charles Judels, young Ben Alexander, Allison Skipworth, Harold Waldridge, Bobby Watson and Frank McHugh stand out in the cast. Besides, a wealth of beauty is provided by the Misses Brent and Knapp, Polly Walters, Lilian Bond, Marion Byron and several other Hollywood peaches. The production was adapted to the screen by Joe Jackson from a novel by S. J. Peters. Page Five | your ye story Powell and Brent ReUnited For First Time Since ‘‘Interference”’ Back in the days when the talking picture was.a squawking baby — remembered vividly by Hollywood as the “bark ages’? — William Powell and Evelyn Brent were co-featured in an early speakie, ‘“‘Interference.” Today they are reunited in a picture for the first time since that film. Powell, remembering the pleasant association, made early use of the privileges accompanying his new stardom at Warner Brothers, and asked for her as his leading lady in ‘‘High Pressure,’’ MOWsal= tess. 6 ae Theatre. “The talkies have changed some, since the days of our first, haven't they?”’ Bill commented the first day of production, and Evelyn, looking around the spacious sound stage, agreed, ‘‘Rather!’’ ““ ‘Interference’ was made in a stage that compared favorably in size with a bandbox. No one except actors, director and crew were permitted entrance. Not even the executives were admitted while actual recording was in progress. Now visitors at the studios are frequent. “While the improvement in the Vitaphone since those early experiments has been almost unbelievable,”’ Powell says, ‘‘I think the greatest step forward has been in the way directors have been able to adapt it to motion picture needs. In less than five years, they already feel perfectly at home in the new medium. “ ‘Interference,’ you remember, was a famous stage play. It was transferred to the screen almost intact— they practically shot it as it was produced on the stage. The whole action took place on two or three small sets.”’ ““ “High Pressure’ is based on a fulllength novel. Our sets not only include lavish office buildings and apartments, speakeasies and hotels, but mammoth out-of-doors shots, such as was required for a long sequence in which | hunt for Miss Brent all along the wharf and piers just before she sails from New York for South America. Thousands of people milling around, the lapping of the water, shouting of porters, whistling of boats —these do not stop the powerful ear of the mike now from recording each bit of dialogue. ‘Interference’ was a wonderful picture, but to compare it with ‘High Pressure’ is like lining a 1915 Haynes alongside a 1932 model Cane Besides Powell and Miss Brent, “High Pressure’ features Evalyn Knapp, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Hall, Lilian Bond, George Sydney, Alison Skipworth, John Wray and Polly Walters. Mervyn LeRoy is directing, your 4 rd story Powell Says Marriage Will Not Interfere With Friendship For Barthel-mess And Colman What William Powell, who is starring in “High Pressure’ at the ..... Theatre, cannot understand is (a) why people should think his marrying Carole Lombard would break up the palship of Richard Barthelmess, Ronald Colman and himself; and (b) why should the fact that three men like and respect each other be of public moment? It is the environment, perhaps, that has made these three outstanding male stars and their friendship the wonder of the colony itself. Because of it, they have been called the ‘Three Musketeers,”’ high-hat, highbrow, snobbish and aloof. Their tennis battles, their fishing trips and their boxing bouts have become legends. Others of the colony — some of them stars as important as they— have tried to pierce their exclusiveness and have failed. Interviewers and photographers have stormed their fastnesses in vain. And that anyone in should flee publicity and the opportunity to talk about themselves seemed prima facie evidence that somebody in the trio must be daffy. Yet, it was hard to believe that three such strong personalities as Colman, the taciturn, Barthelmess, the strong, and Powell, the suave, could be that way. Their bankrolls would be sufficient testimony to their clear and purposeful thinking. Hollywood So it must be something else that . would account for their shunning of the crowd. The answer probably lies in the single word—Understanding. A clue to this mental kinship may lie in this remark from Powell: “1 think our friendship lies in the fact that we speak the same language —vocal or silent. When we converse, there are no awkward pauses. But even when we sit for hours before a fire—none of us saying anything— the thing is understood, there is no wondering of what the others may be thinking; there is no straining to make conversation when there is nothing to say.” He spoke of the great test of friendship between himself, Barthel mess and Colman—that business of being able to sit together for long stretches without speaking. “ve wondered,’ he volunteered, “what makes three individuals as congenial as we have been. On my side, | can find the basis in my gratitude to both the boys—to Dick especially. He first got me interested in pictures; he gave me my first good part; he followed that up by getting other people interested in my work —he’s been tireless in his efforts to see that | got the breaks. “I’m not an especially keen observer of psychological affairs, nor do | like to talk too much about a matter as dear to me as this three-way friendship. But, | would say, if forced to an analysis, that understanding of each other and the ability to be in tune, conversationally or otherwise, plus the willingness of each to go to Hell, if necessary, for the other two, is why our friendship began and is. | cannot understand how marital happiness can conflict with this comradeship.” Supporting Powell in “High PresSUles2 ate thes See ee Theatre are Evelyn Brent, George Sidney and Evelyn Knapp. your Ah... story Mrs. Powell Okays ~ Bill’s Latest Role Carole Lombard, who, in addition to being William Powell’s bride, is his severest critic, believes his portrayal of Gar Evans, blue sky stock promoter in “High Pressure’’—his second Warner Bros. and Vitaphone starring vehicle, which comes the =<). ere Theatre tomorrow—to be by far the best of his career. Mr. Powell and Miss Lombard were married several months ago, immediately following the completion of his “The Road To Singapore.’”’ The lovely screen actress was on the WarnerFirst National lot as an interested onlooker, whenever absence from her own set was possible. She especially likes her husband’s role in “High Pressure,’ because it gives scope for his genius for comedy, unlike the majority of his previous roles, which have stressed the melodramatic. Powell, himself, is rather inclined to believe that she is right. Critics who previewed the picture are sure she is. Those who support the star in this breath-taking travesty on the gentle art of bucketeering are Evelyn Brent, George Sidney, John Wray, Guy Kibbee, Evalyn Knapp, Polly Walters, Frank McHugh, Luis Alberni, Ben Alexander, Harold Waldridge and an army of extra characters. The inspired direction is by Mervyn Le Roy, who recently did ‘“‘Little Caesar,’ ‘‘Local Boy Makes Good’? and ‘Five Star Final.”