"CARMEN."

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19388, 14 August 1928, Page 13

"CARMEN."

GRAND OPERA SEASON.

CRYSTAL PALACE THEATRE. Commencing next' Monday, the management of Crystal Palace Theatre will present "Carmen," the famous opera of Bizet, based on the novel of the' same name by Prosper Merimee. Mr Alfred Bine will conduct the grand opera orchestra with the opera, which will consist of twenty-four" sola artists, and a prologue wjll be staged prior to the presentation. The prologue will, of course, 7 be "en costume,' 1 and will of Carmen, Esoamillo, and Son. Jose, acting and singing from the work. m his newer, more vivacious, more eminently acceptable "Carmen" is tna fruit of long hours Bjpent by artists, historians, and those versed in all tb«- colourful lore of the Peninsula. Gipsy life, with its primitive instincts, has gone to make this Carmen a creature of disturbing. beauty and wanton manners, with a childlike heart beneath all her coquetries and infidelities. It ia a drama which is staged with all the careless extravagance of a true Spanish festa; warm, with. the heady warmth of those Southerners; a greatly enlivened "Carmen," which makes every conventional production of the opera seem but 'a mildly exhilarating affair. Where Carmen's ■ twin loves in the opera, Don Jose and Esc'amillo are but the result of woman's proverbial mobility of emotion, in the soreen opera they are a result of wapton cruelty, the .innate instincts of the 'siren to create havoo wherever she goes. And Dolores del Rio does it all with so much artistry, so much gusto and temperament, that one can scarcely blame the soldier and the toreador for throwing their reputations and their lives to the four winds. Some critics have regarded this "Carmen" as a broad burlesque, as a comody. But no matter how much the action-of the drama, is accelerated, Carmen" can never be anything else than a tragic love play, a fatalistic romance, that brings its own reward. What makes this picture bo remarkable, so outstanding from its fellows, is, no doubt, the bold and decided acting of Dolores del Rio, Viotor McLaglen, and the direction of Raoul Walsh. These three people were associated in What Price Glorv," and the world's picture patrons know what that alliance resulted in. And the manner in which eld Seville is brought to the screen with its bull-rings, its squares, its papulation of beautiful j women and brave men, must, be a further factor -in this picture's attractiveness. As a last remaining aspect of .brilliance among so much beauty and drama, there is the quarrel in the cigarette factory between Carmen and a fellow-worker over the affections of some cavalier. This quarrel is a most realistic, vicious affair, speedily ovex for the unfortunate girl who to oust some man from Carmen s full life The whole picture is exceptionally artistic, vrnd. Mid sufficiently sophisticated *or the New Zealand Censor seeing fit to recommend it to adult audiences. With del Rioand McLaglen there are Don Alvarado as Don Jose, and Nancy Nash as Michaela. Dorothy Sevier also plays on important part.' The box plans for a gala season will open at The Bristol Piano Company on Thursday morning.