TUDOR ROSE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21867, 21 August 1936, Page 8

TUDOR ROSE

TO THE EDITOR O# ThR PRESS Sir, —There must be a veritable mountain of prejudice in this country against British films. Last week the finest British production, ever released in New Zealand ran only one, in Christchurch, and the night I tended there were not above; 20U people in the theatre. The sooner that the New Zealand exhibitors of British films realise the importance of publicity the sooner will they be doing justice both to the industry and to the regular picturegoer. I write solely from the angle of the picturegoer who wants to see the best; and does not want to miss the best. And I nearly missed' “Tudor Rose.” “Tudor Rose” was not only the finest picture England has produced, but it also outclassed any American ..production on similar lines. Here- was a picture that really captured—and sustained —the atmosphere of the period.' From the first scene—as effective as any I have seen—in which the dying Henry splutters out the •mccessions to the throne. unt : l the final scene in which Lady Jane goes to her death, there was not a false note or a laboured scene in the whole picture. Everything' th°t one come to p,’SOciate with British films—the stilted player, the weak dialogue, the bad ph-ef'-graobv the incornnptentdte' , '' +; on —were entirelv absent from "Tudor Rose.” The elder Seymour I think, stole the honours, but the whole cast was so good that my choice must be purely a personal one. Had “Tudor Rose” been hailed as an American production, or had the exhibitors adveH’ c ed it to the extent that American productions are advertised. I am certain that the picture would be showing stiP in Christchurch. It was only necessary to educate the picture-going public up to its presentation; its merits would have done the rest. Long before the “Mutiny n f the Bounty.” the “Bengal Lancer.” and other American triumphs reached here, we were prepared for them. We knew when these pictures went into production, who were acting in them, and the successes attending their premiere showings in America and England. , But “Tudor Rose” came on us unheralded and unsung; we knew nothing of its character, of its cast, or of the very high quality of its production. And so.it rah only one week and thousands of picturegoers missed one of the finest pictures ever shown in Christchurch. If Exhibitors want to remove that mountain of prejudice against British films they will have to do something more than just sit down and let the films speak for themselves.—Yours, etc., G R B August 20, 1936.