ARLISS AS RICHELIEU.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 216, 12 September 1935, Page 9

ARLISS AS RICHELIEU.

COMEDY-ROMANCE OF HISTORY.

Any film in which George Arlies appears is necessarily dominated by the performance or tlie great star, yet there are a number of features in hits latest production, "Cardinal Richelieu," which is to be shown at the Ivegent Theatre tomorrow, that prevent this from being by any means a "one-man show." The film is at once spectacle and entertainment, with supporting performances from an exceptional cast (which includes Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold, Douglas Dumbrille, and Francie Lister), in a. dramatic and action-filled story. The reign of Louis XIIL of Frances when Richelieu was the power behind the throne, is one of the beet-dreeaed periods in French history, and one of the most romantic. This was the time when all who professed to be gentlemen wore swords—and knew how to use them—when man's hands rested on their sword-hilts, ready to draw at the slightest provocation when the musketeers of His Majesty and the Guards of the Cardinal were forever measuring rapiers on duelling ileitis.

' "Thie is a cloak and sword romance with a difference—the difference, if you like to put it that way, between Mr. Arliss and Douglas Fairbanks, writes Mr. Goudon Minims. "The scene Iβ ■seventeenth-century France, the Court ot Louis XIII., with the scheming ot the Queen-Mother Mnrie do Medici, and the counter-plotting of the Cardinal. Even the Cardinal's spiritual master, the Pope, must take second place when [-"ranee's solidarity is endangered. But his Eminence the Cardinal has a human and tender si'le; his interest in the romance between his ward (Maureen O'Sullivan) and her noble lover (Cesar Romero) proves that. Jhe supporting cast, is excellent. Douglas Dlinv brille in particular, is as line n villain us ever stepped out of a period romance Set in an age of colour and adventure, the story moves fast, and is filled with exciting incident."