"STAGE MADNESS."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19062, 26 July 1927, Page 13

"STAGE MADNESS."

ROMANCE OF A DANCER

FIXE PROGRAMME AT CRYSTAL.

Jjove, humour, pathos, and a touch of tragedy are the principal ingredients of "Stage Madness," the William Fox production which heads the bill at Crystal Palace Theatre this week. The story is based upon the romance of a celebrated French dancer who placed her hopes of a career before her duties as a wife aud mother. The opening episode is in Paris, where Marcia Ferrand, about to quit the stage for domestic life as the wife of an impoverished artist, gives a farewell dinner to her companions. Pierre Doumier, a famous impressario, tries to persuade the beautiful young dancer not to abandon her stage career, but his pleadings fall on deaf ears, and Marcia marries the artist, and leaves the 'ballet. Husband and wife live by the sea in beautiful surroundings, but after the first few months of honeymoon, Marcia finds life growing dull. She misses the excitement of the footlights and the .plaudits of audiences, and when Pierre later appears on the scene during the absence of her husband she accepts bis offer to return to his Parisian ballet as leading dancer, leaving her home and infant child in the care of a nurse. On her return home after her reappearance on the Btage sho finds her husband and child have disappeared, leaving no trace of their whereabouts. Time passes, and Marcia becomes famous, but always she seeks her child. By a strange turn of the wheel of Fortune her daughter becomes associated with her as a solo dancer, but it requires a murder charge aud many thrilling and dramatic episodos to unravel the tangled skein before Marcia again finds happiness in her husband's arms, and learns that the girl she has learned to love is her long-lost daughter. "Stage Madness" is tensely dramatic in parts, and is produced on a lavish scale. The cast is a strong one, being headed by Virginia Valli and Lou Tellegcn, with Tullio Carmenati, Richard Walling, Virginia Bradford, and Tyler Brooke as excellent supports.

Prior to the screening of "Stage Madness" a talented corps de ballet, und,er the direction of Miss Iris Montgomery, presents a brightly coloured terpsichorean introduction, which creates just the right ntmosuhere for the picture which follows. During the dancing interlude Miss Nancy Hume presides Bt the piano, assisting the Symphony Orchestra, under Mr A. J. Bunz, which provides the accompaniments for the dancers.

Included in a fine supporting programme is the first of a series of pictures depicting episodes in the lives of the great Music Masters. The first picture of this series deals with the events which led Mendelssohn to write his immortal "Wedding March." A charming romance attaches to the incidents which led to this composition, and the audience is treated to one of the best pictures of its kind yet screened in Ohristchurch. Topical gazettes bring the news of the overseas world to the screen in a realistic manner, and a mirth-provoking comedy provides a capital foil to the big dramatic feature. The orchestral portion of the programme is, as usual, of a high standard, comprising classical and popular numbers, with a representative selection of works from the pen of Mendelssohn —the last-mentioned being skilfully fitted to the Mendelssohn picture.

The same programme will be presented all this week, the bos plan being at The Bristol.