SETBACK TO POETRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

SETBACK TO POETRY.

MANY FILMS POSTPONED. It would seem that the poetic film will not come into its own so quickly as was anticipated. British producers who, a few months ago, were full of plans for filming Shakespeare are holding their hands until, presumably, they have seen what sort of reception is given to Norma Shearer's "Romeo and Juliet," and Elisabeth Bergner's "As You Like It." Even the romantic, swashbuckling period prose drama is having a rest, and there is a tendency to turn to modern subjects, either of a compelling character, such as "Things to Come" and the adaptation of the Cronin novel "The Stars Look Down," or ever, with a frankly melodramatic twist or a vein of satiric comedy. It is significant that Alexander Korda has postponed, after months of pre-

paration, his rhymed verse production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," with Charles Laughton in the lead, in favour of a modern social comedy of London life, in which Mr. Laughton will appear as a solid ex-Guardsman type, who spends his days in a West End club and his nights at the "Midnight Follies." The script is being written by Frederick Lonsdale, and the film, it is said, will rap the knuckles) of all fashionable London. Mr. Korda, who m6st certainly has a flair, thinks the stage is set for a return to English comedy.

Idiosyncrasies of fatuous directors: John Ford chews a handkerchief; Lewis Milestone waves a baton; Robert Florey brings his collection of pipes to the set; James Cruze always wears a white cap; William Dieterle flaunts white gloves; King Yidor is never seen without his sandals; Ray McCarey thumps a cane; and Mitchell Leisen is a thing of beauty in hot weather shorts.