AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1937, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

EMBASSY THEATRE. Said the critic of the New York "Literary Digest" regarding the English production of "Kenibraridt, now screening at the Embassy Theatre, Auckland: ••The compare of Chariot Laughton's achievement* for the wiee eye of the cinema camera, increases with every ►lingular portrait he attempt). Having vaulted every role of consequence from amorous King Henry VIII. to sadistic Captain Bligh of the tragic Bounty, he now dons the velvets and neuroses of Keuibrandt. The result is u performance of great lustre, possibly his best. Laughton's Rembrandt is a brilliant feat of acting, and dominates the entire picture. He is its theme, ittt reason and its motive. It is alive with opportunity for Lα ugh ton, and in it he gives startling evidence of his magnificent depth as an actor. England, which m to say Alexander Korda, is not above a bit of pocket-picking from Hollywood. In 'Ruggle* of Red Gap' Laughton, as a gentleman's gentleman, recited the Gettysburg Address with powerful impact. Most critics centred their reviews on that achievement. The reviews trickled through to London, ergo; it was decided to have Master Laugh ton recite in 'Rembrandt.' Thie time he recites the 23rd Psalm with uuch poignant force that audiences forget their curbed emotions and weep. It is a heartbreaking moment in a Klin which needed an emotional storm just at the time the scene provides it. The plot picks up Rembrandt at the time of In* first wife'e death, makes an episode of the romance with his housekeeper and plunges the painter into the great affair with Hendrickje, the peasant girl. The last scenes show the Flemish master in his old age, facing the last days and bitter poverty with mellow philosophy." ' MAJESTIC THEATRE. Versatile plot, exciting adventure and an engaging love story are features of the ('live Brook-Victoria Hopper film "Lonely Road," showing currently at the Majestic Theatre. The immaculate Clive in seen in a role which offers opportunities rarely met with in his earlier characterisations. In one sequence, for instance, he engages in a rough-and-tumble fight for life with members of a giinrunning gang, revealing a versatility hitherto hidden behind the suave Brook exterior. Victoria Hopper has never been seen to greater advantage than in her role of the dance hall partner, a part which give* her opportunity not only for acting, but for wearing of smart dreseee. The . tory deals with the adventures of' an ex-commander of a British submarine (Clive Brook), now an agent of the Secret Service, and the entrapping of an unsuspecting lorry driver in the meshee of a gunriinning plot. It is the several interests of the commander and of the young driver's sister (Victoria Hopper) in the fate of the victim that bring about the romance which runs through the story. The support includes Nora Swinburne, Malcolm Keen. Ethel Coleridge, Charles Farrell and Frederick Peisley. AMALGAMATED THEATRES. To-morrow'e film programmes at Amalgamated Theatres, Ltd.'s houses in the city will include the following:—Civic, "Reunion." the quintuplets' second film; Plaza, "The Magnificent Brute" (Victor McLaglen); Roxy-Tivoli, "Guns of the Pecos" and "Hollywood Boulevard"; National. "Flying Hostess" and "His Night Out"; Strand, "Rainbow's End" and "Millions." HAYDN'S "CREATION." A performance of Haydn's "Creation" will be given in the Town Hall this evening by massed Methodist choirs (300 voices) in the Methodist Conference Musical Festival. Soloists will include Miss Winifred Hill and Messrs. Ltvlie Russell ami Robert Simmers. Conductor will be Mr. Alfred Bryant, and organist Mr. Edgar Randal.