AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 177, 29 July 1938, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

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EMBASSY. Ethan Wilkins Walter Huston Jason Wilkins lames Stewart President Lincoln ... John Cariadine Mary Wilkins Beuljh Bondi George Ames <juv Kibbee Annie Hawks Ann Rutherford .Director: Clarence Brown. 31.G.51. To speak "Of Human Hearts" as a simple story might convey an impression that it is just one of those pictures that one looks at. likes and then forgets. There is more to it than that—but it is *-till just a simple story, so glowingly enacted that it has more to it than nine-tenths of modern him productions. In fait it is simple drama, relieved with comed>. touched here and there with romance and beauty, marked with a little tragedy—but to that fact has been given sinceiity of production, care in the selection of cast and an understanding of treatment that makes "Of Human Hearts" stand forth like a single star in a clouded sky. Baldly, the central theme is of a minister and his family in a little Ohio township in the middle of the nineteenth century; the minuter a poor man. but carried on firmly on his self-appomted load bj his own inward and physical strength. Th;.t role in the hands of Walter Huston stands out as the focal point of the eaiher scenes, but the minister dies. His son, Junes Stewart, a rebellious, ambitious youm; man, had run away from home eai Her than that and attended a medical school. Xow lie called upon the mother for money to assist him while he was earning distinction as a surgeon in the Civil War. For two years the mother. Beulah Bondi, hears nothing of him. and at last, thinking him dead. :-hc wrote to President Abe Lincoln seeking the whereabouts of his g: ave. Stewart is called before Lincoln, reprimanded, and sent home. To that central theme with its simple thieat are added many other themes until the story expands in full bloom with each character clearly outlined against the circumstances that affect them. Just a story "of human hearts.'' but it glows with the pulse of life, sincere and helpful. To get tiiat sincerit;' or treatment a very careful cast selection was necessary, and it can be said truthfully that in that Clarence Blown, who directed it, could hardly have improved his choice. John Carradine in the role of Lincoln. for instance, gives a masterly presentation: his development of the part of the most colourful figure in American politics is live and gland—as should be the picturised character of one who is not only an historical figure, but the personification of the character of a nation. So, too. have the other characters been treated with vitality. From the child roles played by Gene Reynolds and Leatrice Joy Gilbert (daughter of the late John Gilbert)) to those of Miss Bondi, Huston. Stewart, Guy Kibbee, Charles Grapewin, the late Robert McWade and the others it is a perfect cross-section of life, in a story that can be welcomed and loved. There is a splendid supporting programme, with one of the features a presentation of the second 'Hungarian Rhapsody" in geometric design and colour. It is something new and surprising in picture entertainment. CITY SHOWS. Picture programmes are showing at city theatres as follows:—Civic: Adolphe Menjou and Kenny Baker in "Goldwyn Follies." Embassy: Walter Huston in "Of Human Hearts." Majestic: *' i The Devil's Party" and "Reckless Living." Regent: Frank Morgan and Florence Rice in "Romance For Three." Mayfair: "Command Performance" and "Dusty Ermine." St. James: "Test Pilot," with Clarke Gable. Spencer Tracy and Myrna Loy. Strand: William Powell and Annabella in "The Baroness and the Butler." Roxy-Tivoli: "Flight Into Nowhere," with Jack Holt, and "The Sheik Steps Out." State: (Symonds Street 1: Ronald Sinclair in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry." Star (Newton): "King Solomon's Mines" and "Change of Heart." Prince Edward (Newton): "The Barrier" and "Night I Club Scandal."