"CARMEN."

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19391, 17 August 1928, Page 6

"CARMEN."

DRAMA AND MUSIC AT CRYSTAL PALACE. AT CRYSTAL PALACE, "Cfaimcn," tfcftt consistently popular grand opera, eomaa to the motion picture screen from an American studio, as intact and as faithful to the qrigipal as it is possible to imagine, just as artistic and aa piquant in it* yp»W»k temper as the opera, and with 4w added advantages of wller action and ®«ra explicit storytelling. Next Monday, Kt'<<?o*t»l *»l»W-'Tl»atre;: "Carmen mil (OBH»8»ee * brief season, ior which the bos Blftsi onpn at Tfe Bristol Piano . Company to»day, fjja f*moua roles are interpreted by M) SgOslSnt CM* oi piay*H' s » tilo Carmen of 0(?|o«# d«J fbfli »*£. ■* nittstorpiece of i&araeter dslinaation. Victor McLaglon as the toreador EboawHo gives- a most virile and. maifcldißß reading of that part, while Don tfcse, tfeat rather weak and enamoured MWiSIi l> wej} 4°no by Don Alvarado.. Apart from WW remarkable - histrionic talent dis'Pl»y«4 i n "Carmen,"'/the work has . been post vigorously directed by Kabul Walsh, iwho, above- all things, specialises in producing an ejftra special heady brand of vintage from the most promising materials. In the Bizet opera, Walsh had material of a particularly sophisticated order, and from what appears on the legitimate stage.as a merely intriguing love tragedy, the career of. an inveterate "vamp," he .has formed* soreeo "Carmen" of colour, warmth, -and lively action. As a result, the New Zealand 4lm censor recommends this picture to adult jlVtdiences. But for all its speeding up of in abeady alluring theme, this "Carmen" remaifls just what ..Prosper Merimee, the original a«*bor, and Bizet,, the operatic sponsor, intended it to be. It remains a musical, gay, fontjiern romance, with just that suffieienw «f tragedy and humour to make it a eynioal, human, glittering drama. Raoul Walsh haa wisely 4ecided to let the romantic, the bumoroiis. elements have full play whenever euoh appears likely; but he has no? tpuohed tfea ending, an ending scarcely taralleled In operatio history ior force, rarjja, apd just deserts. For Carmen was » Nartlees wench, a disturbingly bewW* orpftittie, who set determinedly about t&e winning of any man who might appear insensible to her charms. Prosper Merimee gave he? m»»y (overs; the opera, being Obliged to be niggardly, gave her but two; the screen, with in eye to what the publjc I wants, follows jferimee's lead, and we have j a. merry apeciaele of Carmen in her heydey in Seville. It >8 a beautifully produced picture; with *1) the dignity of opera, assisted by a full opera orchestra of twenty-four solo artists, and a prologue in costume from the work. It ia Seville in festa mood, a carnival background for the romantic adventures of Carmen, the gipsy, the cigarette girl. Easily the best performance is the piece i» given by Dolores del Bio, though McLaglen runs a close second. One reviewer said of hia Eacamillo that it was Flagg, t)'i« marine, dwwed up in Spanish dothes-r----and nothing more complimentary could be said, for a lover is the saffle the whole world over, and both Escamillo and the Marine were hardy fellows, with no culture, but the art of wooing and fighting. Nash i« Michaela, and plays that wistful young woman in graceful manner. The prologue will be played by Miss Otga Wacked M Camen, Mr C. R. Williamson as Don Jose, and Mr Robert Allison aa Escamillo.