"THE VOLGA BOATMAN."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18919, 7 February 1927, Page 7

"THE VOLGA BOATMAN."

MEDLEY OF DRAMA AND SENSATION. ♦ GRAND THEATRE, TU DAY. It 11 all very bewildering. There is so much, to very much U- absorb into the mind aud into tho heart; there is so much to remember, so much to dwell upon, a profusion of emotional colour, stark tragedy intermingled with lilting hnmour, the leves and hates of Hustin.if, plebK'.ifi* aud patricians at daggers drawn—everything lh,;t b "Tho Volga Boatman" quietly enters the mind and remaius there. So much enthusiastic publicity has boen afforded this picturo which is to head the bill at tho Grand Theatre this weok, that words and phrases become warped even in the art of eulogising. Tho picturo is ono which instinctivoly i-ond.l the super-sensitive and the merely fastidious running from its terrible realism. Apart from its exquisite love scenes, thero is nothing tininly or pretty about this sombre and rulhlcsv pugo of peasant life. Russian peasant lifn was never Utopian, and de Millo, the producer, has fearlessly brought this tragic hopelessness vividly and effectively to the screen. Tho utter despair of tho serfs is shown with a touch of veritable genius, and is also tho irresponsible, gilded lives of the aristocrats. There, were no happy mediums in Czarist Kursia, just as thero uro nono in Bolshoyik Russia. Tho Volga boatmen were harnessed to the barges and towed them alow; the ice-bound banks of tho river, tho rhythmical awing of their untamed chant clashing (strangely with tho highbred voices of princes and nobles who gathered occasionally to marvel at such vulgar strength, and to apply tho knout whenever some wretched slave dropped in exhaustion. The rebellion of the thing M immense. It is not only the hands of tho serfs that were raised against an existing order. With Infinito ingenuity, the dirertor shows tho very souls of the pcoplo striviug for selfexpression. The savage weapons they employ revolt tho polished instincts.of happier lands, but despair and suffering lire shown as tho roots of the evil, and at tho end of the picture, with only the stiainc of thr famous song to servo as n reminder of the past, « measure oi understanding and sympathy co towards: tho now powerful peasants. "The Boatman" tells a wonderful story in a wcnderfnl way, a combination which is met with rarely ev<n in- these days. Why reiterate tho drama is thrilling? t-o many pictures ha*o claimed it that the phrase loses all signifiranre. Yet never a moment passes, never a scene is ar|<d but which carries its tingle and its sparkle. ■ Somo pcoplo cannot understand Russian comedy; it is so very close to tragedy, it laughs so sardonically that to some it dr.es not ring true. But the huineur of this piece is finely tempered and infectiously gay. The players in "The Volga boatman" were drawn from only tho most experienced (.rhools of mime. William Boyd plays th 9 title role, nnd therein bounds to univertal eminence. He is a Volga Boatman, consumed witl- bhzinc aud ignorant hatred of the Cher order, dull with thoughts of revenge, until Kate steps in and his whole philosophy is fhattered, wholly throucli a woman's eloquent eyes before a firing sqund. F'.innr Fair as the aristocrat turned woman, and Julia Fa ye supplies piquant rolnur as a Tartar csinn-follower, whose hobbies are the regi-.ru of' her soldiers ami the white nc-r'cs of rnvaiists. Darin; the presentation of "The Volga Boatman" the Quality Orchestra will plr.v incidental music to the drama. "The Song of the Volga Boatman, as sung bv Feeder Chaliapm and the I'on Cossack cin.ir pn-domir.atinr in the F ro ' cramcie. The bo* p'ans are now open at jne Bristol Pin no Co., where .'cats may "e reserved.