"LES MISERABLES."

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19251, 5 March 1928, Page 6

"LES MISERABLES."

HUGO'S REVOLUTIONARY ROMANCE. LIBERTY THEATRE, TO DAY. Among the world's greatest works ot fiction is Victor Hugo's stiring story, "Les Miserables," a dramatic romance of that period which immediately preceded the French Revolution, with the end of the tale set in the very midst of that seething and vitrolic era. Being an excellent bit of "copy" for the dramatist and the film producer, it is only natural that "Les Miserables" should not be neglected, and to-day there will be presented at the Liberty Theatre, the second screen version of this great work. The evening session will commence t at 7.30 again this evening, the theatre opening at 6.30. Search the world's history, its countries, and its periods, and there will not be found a more thoroughly absorbing era than that in France towards the close of -the eighteenth .century. Then there was seen the novel, spectacle of opulence and elegance on the ono hand, and profound misery and poverty on tho other; then there were seen men and women of fine minds and alluring personalities, from the terrible Robespierres and Dantons and Murats to Madame Rolands, Marie Antoinettes, and Princess de Lamballes. Romantic if you will, certainly gorgeous and splendid, you meet Jean Yaljean, the very antithesis of Versailles, creatod by Hugo for his "Miserables," and taking his place as ono of the great figures of fiction. In this period, and with this vastly varying types peopling the drama, is' laid "Les Miserables," now as thrilling and arresting a picture as it is a book, as revolting in its cool, determined presentation of the Revolution as it really was. as entrancing in its kindly delineation of human nature, as human in its loves and hates, its revenges and its sacrifices. The story concerns, as all the world knows, mainly Jean Valjean, a gigantic fellow from the slums and the prisons, his early career of petty crime and his eventual reformation, his befriending of Cosette, his eternal pursuing of his enemy, the politician Javert, and his part in the Paris riots. Like all French creations, the story is never dull; always there is something immensely interesting happening; always some plot or intrigue is holding the reader breathless; the abandonment of the rioting rabble bring before the eyes very concisely what the French Revolution was; the love affair of Cosette, a child of the people, and the aristocrat Marius, is delightful in its simplicity; truly "Les Miserables" is a story of many moods, and all so well told by the screen. The picture is produced on an enormous scale, realism rubbing shoulders with the spectacular. Made in France, played by French players of international fame, the picture breathes the very spirit of the original; the old Master would be satisfied. Outstanding among the players is the Valjean of Gabriel Gabrio, eminent among the actors of his country; Jean Toulout has tho part of the villainous Javert, while Cosette is taken by iflle. Sandra Milowanoff, of the Moscow Art Theatre, the remaining members of the long caste also performing their parts-with distinction. Mr Ernest Jamieson's Concert Orchestra will play the following programme of appropriate music:—Overture, "Euryantho" (Weber), "Second Symphony" (Mozart), "Barque Tragique" (Ackerman), "Vasco de Gama" (Urbini), "None but the Weary Heart" (Tsehaikowsky). "Fingal's Cave" (Mendelssohn), "The Fortune Teller.'_ by request (Herbert). "Othello" (Verdi), entr'acte, "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" (Nugent), arranged by Jamieson, "Robespierre Overture" (Litolff), "Marche Militaire Francaise" (Saint-Saens). The box plans are at Tho Bristol Piano Company, where scats may bo reserved.