"SPORTING LIFE."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18671, 21 April 1926, Page 6

"SPORTING LIFE."

1 FAMOUS DRURY LANE DRAMA. GRAND THEATRE, MONDAY. The London stage has always been justly famed for the variety o£ its fare, the brillianco of its presentations, aud the excellent histrionic ability of its artists, and perhaps the best of all, the entertaining melodramas that attained the zenith in and popularity was "Sporting Life." which thrilled anil delighted London back in the 'eighties. This play was, perhaps, -one of the most cleverly-conceived dr»mas_ ever written, an ordinary enough plot being garnished with a bewildering serie3 of breathless incidents, and a gorgeousness offsetting which brought to "Sporting Lifo" the applause which greeted its nightly appearance. This play has now been transferred to the screen, and Monday will see its first presentation at the Grand Theatre, with Bert Lytoll and Marian Nixon- in the lending roles. Bert Lytcll can be trusted to make a signal success of -any character, and as Lord .Woodstock, the most sporting of all sporting peers, ho gives a convincing portrayal in a difficult part. Although "Sporting Life" is melodrama, it is intelligent, plausible melodrama, the clever, intriguing, fascinating kind that was a feature of Drury Lane in th 6 old days. This play established a record in many phases of the theatrical world, not the least sensational of them being when the critics sat on tho edges of their seats and cheered; The picture naturally gains considerably in interest and suspense, the film offering wider •fields for the exacfefpresentationof .the, story. That.which is uriljwfistionably the mdst spectacular horse-race ever run for the screen takes place in "Sporting ,Lifo" at Kpsom Powns, with some of the finest horses in England appearing therein. The box .plans open at The Bristol Piano Co. to-morrow.