NEW YORK IN THE NINETIES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21258, 1 September 1934, Page 8

NEW YORK IN THE NINETIES

"THE BOWERY" AT THE I THEATRE ROYAL \ I'KEYIEW OF NEW FIL.M Historjcal films are the vogue to-day, ; but an historical Mm of a new kind \ is "The Bowery," which wiil be ; screened at the Tliealre Royal to-day. i The period of the film is the "naughty j 'nineties," the scene is the wild quar- j ter of New York known as the | Bowery, and the heroes are the actual j characters who helped to give the j Bowery its reputation of 30 years ago. j It is a remarkable film in every way, ! full of broad humour and unsentimen- ! tal drama, recreating the wild flavour I of those days in that Dlace and giving no concession to modern conventions. Wallace Beery, a fine actor, always plays a striking and effective part, ably j supported by George Raft, Jackie : Cooper, and Fay Wray. ' Chuck Connors (Wallace Beery) , reigned in real life for years as king i of the Bowery, until he was supplanted by the gay Steve Brodie ! (George Raft). Rulers of the Bowery i in those days ruled by their reputa- ; tions alone, and were likely at any , moment to be replaced by some new ; popular idol. Row Brodie, by his j daring leap from Brooklyn bridge, brought about the fall of his enemy, ! Chuck Connors, is the story of the film, j Extraordinarily clever scenes show j th«* amazing life of the Bowery, with j its saloons, its peep shows, prize fighters, tramps, and millionaires. The life of the times is built up with very great skill and effectiveness, by clever photography, and still cleverer direction by Raoul Walsh. Wallace Beery'.s acting as the illiterate "Gentleman" Connors, keeper of the Dowery's biggest saloon and mortal enemy of the gay. devil-may-care Steve Brodie. his only rival, is outstanding. If is probably one of | the most effective performances of his career, combining strength and realism to an extraordinary degree. As Brodie. "the man who never took a dare," George Raft gives an almost equally striking performance. His spectacular leap from Brooklyn bridge brought him fame and the leadership of the Bowery for a time, until his final furious battle with Connors, in which he was defeated: but in the end he and Connors are reconciled and desert the Bowery to fight in the Spanish-American Avar. i How much of "The Bowery" is. i strictly historical it is dithcult to say. ] Chuck Connors and Steve Brodie were j certainly very real persons. Brodie certainly did offer to leap off Brook- j lyn bridge, though he may have used i a dummy, a point about which the picture is non-committal. Certainly, many of the scenes have a strong basis j of fact. The appearance of John 1. , Sullivan, the famous boxer, in a match in Connors' saloon is founded on fact, and the famous exploits of the temper- ' ance tighter, Carrie Nation, are the basis for another incident. Whether : these facts are historical or not, how- ( ever, the picture does bring to the screen something of the wild and roystering life of New York in the', 'nineties. . i The- supporting programme, too, m I its wav offers excellent entertainment, j First and foremost, rivalling the main , picture in importance, is Walt Disney's ; successor to "The Three Little Pigs." j "The Big Bad Wolf is the story of , Little Red Ridinghood and her grandmother, suitably annotated and cor- ■ reefed into Silly Symphony form. The; colour is as delicious and the music as entertaining as in all the Silly Sym- ; phonies, and the battle between the! wolf and the eldest little pig I'- as, exicting ■■'■■ anything Disney has done. ; Also on the supporting programrnr is a novel kind of travelogue taking the ! spectator on s li'miorou. visit to China and Japan. The scenes shown are interesting cid the accompanying; dialogue is thoroughly amusing.