"SPORTING LIFE."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18672, 22 April 1926, Page 7

"SPORTING LIFE."

FAMOUS DRURY LANE DRAMA. GRAND THEATRE, MONDAY. The London stage has always been justly famed for the variety of its fare, the brilliance of its presentations, and the excellent histrionic ability of its artists, and perhaps the best of all the entertaining melodramas that attained the zenith in fame and popularity was "Sporting Life," which thrilled and delighted London back in the eighties. This play was perhaps one of the most cleverly-conceived dramas ever written, an ordinary enough plot being garnished with a bewildering series of breathless incidents, and a gorgeousness of setting 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 Lytell and Marian Nixon in the leading roles. Bert Lytell can be trusted to make a signal success of any character, and as Lord Woodstock, the most sporting of all sporting peers, he gives a convincing portrayal in a difficult part. Although "Sporting Life" Is melodrama, it is intelligent, plausible melo-' drama, the clever intriguing, fascinating kind that was a feature of Drury Lane in the 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 the edges of their seats and cheered. The picture naturally gains considerably in interest and suspense, the film offering wider fields for the exact presentation of the story. That which is unquestionably the most spectacular horse race ever rim for the screen takes place in "Sporting Life" at Epsom Downs, with some of the finest horses in England appearing thorcin. The box plans open at The Bristol Piano Co. to-day.