A GREAT ACTOR

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21294, 13 October 1934, Page 8

A GREAT ACTOR

ARLISS IN A NOTABLE FILM I Uy JOHN STORM.I Though it is a popular actor's finest characterisation, that is not the sole reason for the immense appreciation that has been shown on both sides of the Atlantic for "The House of Rothschild." I think one of the many outstanding merits of the picture is that everyone can understand and sympathise with the story of loyalty toan adopted country, though everyone may not feel the subtlety of production underlying its straightforward simplicity. It is a picture correct in detail, a simple chronicle, yet more concerned with atmosphere than with cither detail or narrative. . "Disraelie" was a screen classic, it is true. It offered the great "Dizzy at his dizziest—brilliant satirical, statesmanlike, and gallant. When we had seen George Arliss in the well-known stand-up collar, oily curls, and longtail coat, and had heard him deliver his gems of wit and statecraft, we felt we had seen Disraeli himselL, and that the great actor could go no further. But in this picture lie has really gone further. He conveys an atmosphere as well as a compelling personality. It is not only the man, Nathan Rothschild, we see, but also the problems that have surrounded his race for centuries. «As the masterful, idealistic, and subtle prince of bankers, George Arliss seems to carry these problems about his person as he might carry a pen or a pencil behind the car. There is an amazing jauntiness about him. He seems to infuse the same high spirits into cacli of the characters he plays. It is a view of life and an attitude of mind. Even though it is the spirit' of the actor himself bubbling up through the character he has assumed, this airiness delights us. The part of the Prussian -adventurer, "Baron Lecrunz," virtual dictator of anti-semitic powers and secret leader of anti-scmitic feeling, has something in it relative to the moment. A writer in a contemporary periodica! puts ihe point. .. . This method of using historical subjects to point a current moral is so aptly handled in the production that it adds definitely to the dramatic interest of the film."

Helen Weslley, of the New York Theatre Guild, and George Arliss, as Meyer and Gudula Rothschild, scurry round to greet the tax-collector. With Ihcir three elder sons they hastily make a transformation of their house for the worse, while the two younger ones sit by the small fire and "look hungry." The pantomime of preparation is carried oul with deftness and spirit, but there is a note of bitterness behind all this deception. The old Jew is shortly seen giving his last parting advice to his sons. Briefly but impressively he gasps out his hope that they present a united front to the world, that they may form a joint organisation strong enough to "trade with dignity." and so to "walk the world with dignity," and strike a blow for the freedom of their race.

Thenceforth the picture follows out the policies in high finance and the doings in the intimate home circle of Nathan Rothschild, chief of Ihe brothers, now established in London. His pretty daughter Julie, and Wellington's handsome aide fall' in love, and add picturesque interludes to the story. Florence Arliss, as Hannah, Nathan's wife, contributes a feeling of peace and security in the midst of all stress. The most fastidious critic could not And a fault in Florence Arliss. In the scenes with Metternich, Tallyrand, and the Prussian, Baron Lecranz, the great financier really does "trade with dignity." Indeed he is able to "walk the world with dignity." The same at the moment could not be said of these political conspirators. The stock market buys and sells nations. Napoleon makes and breaks

ihem. The great financier holds everyone in suspense. Intrigues and strategies cloud the issue. Nevertheless, it finally amounts to a tussle between the two forces—Napoleon and the wars he makes, against the peace of Europe and the bank of Rothschild.

When we have watched George Arliss as Nathan Rothschild, with a flower in his coat, a top hat on the back of his head, and a nonchalant air standing beside a pillar in the stock exchange for what seems hours, risking the entire fortunes of the London banking house, we realise he stands there to save the credit of England. When we see him unroll the tinv note Hl:-t ly' '--> i->"(•<■-,•' nnst an<£ special messenger to him, and see the mad excitement when he shouts the news it brings, we know that he has saved England's credit. His enemies confounded, the "Iron Duke" slapping him on the back, his fascinating Hannah at his side, he is duly honoured with a title. The picture ends in a rich and sumptuous court scene m tcchnicolour, in which the peers and ;>er:resses crowd ••ound England's adopted son and latest baron.