RICHARD BARTHELMESS BACK

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 225, 22 September 1932, Page 3

RICHARD BARTHELMESS BACK

"ALIAS THE DOCTOR" AT REGENT. Surrounded by a powerful cast, in a powerful and novel story, Richard Barthelmess will next be seen in Auckland at the Regent Theatre, where "Alias the Doctor" opens to-morrow. It is an adaptation of a Hungarian stage play—one of the best vehicles Dick ever had. Sharing honours with him arc Marian Marsh, Adrienne Dore, Norman Foster, John St. Polis. George Rosener, and others. The plot is intensely dramatic. The scenes are skilfully worked up from one high point ito another until the final smashing climax which is full of suspense and gripping power. Lighter moments relieve the tension and strengthen the succession of highly dramatic situations. It is a splendid production, capably acted in all roles, directed by Michael Curtiz, and is almost kaleidoscopic in its scenic changes. It shows in rapid succession a Bavarian farm, university classrooms, students' quarters, campus students' drinking places, etc., a prison, Vienna at night, and the city's great sanatorium where the hero becomes the leading surgeon. Unlike anything current in the "movies" to-day, Dick plays the role of a surgical genius who longs to get away from the profession aud back to the farm lie loves. Marian Marsh is part of his "back to earth" life, his medical career which he undertakes with an "alias" in his title keeping him away from Miss Marsh, who plays the role of his stepsister and sweetheart. "Alias the Doctor" is heralded as one of the finest "hits" in Barthelmess' long career.