Cinema Reviews

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22004, 30 January 1937, Page 7

Cinema Reviews

CRYSTAL PALACE

DRAMA AND COMEDY

' A drama of jewel thieves, full of incident and excitement irom start to finish and a farcical light-hearted comedy make up the programme at the Crystal Palace Theatre this week. “15 Maiden Lane” star’s Claire Trevor and Cesar Romero, and “Back to Nature,” with a large and well-chosen cast of players, deals with the amusing adventures of the Jones family on a camping holiday. The entertainment in “15 Maiden Lane” does not consist only in the excitement caused by a gang of jewel thieves and their associates being tracked to earth. It has the added attraction of subtle and effective acting, by Claire Trevor in particular, and it offers the pleasant suspense and satisfaction ff seeing the most dangerous situations averted by a hair’s breadth through coolness and presence of mind. Jane Martin (Claire Trevor), the niece of the president of a jewellers’ indemnity corporation, certainly needs all the presence of mind at her command when she undertakes the task, in which the police have failed, of breaking up a racket of thieves and receivers of stolen diamonds. Cesar Romero, as the leader of the gang, is a fascinating jewel thief, and one is kept wondering throughout the film whether Miss Trevor is reciprocating the feeling he obviously entertains for her, and it so what is going to happen when she has to give him up to the police. She convinces- him, in a happily appropriate introduction, that she steals diamonds too, and for a time pretends to work in with him in a partnership heightened in entertainment value for the audience by the breathless moments when her real identity is almost revealed under the most dangerous circumstances. Romero plays the part of a man who shoots when he suspects.

The tension is relieved by smart and sophisticated amorous fencing between the two, in which Miss Trevor shows considerable subtlety in keeping the confidence of her temporary confederate while giving the audience an indication of what her real feelings are. Another interesting episode is the American third degree questioning of a Criminal by the police, an ordeal which makes one wonder what chance an exhausted man, if innocent, would have of not giving in when gazed at for hours by a ring of detectives alternately shouting at him and maintaining a stolid silence at his protestations that “they ain’t got nothing on him.” The film has a most interesting feature, too, in the authentic scene showing how large diamonds are cut. “Back to Nature” is a comedy of a broad type, but with a little satire and thoroughly amusing throughout. Mr Jones is to attend a chemists’ convention and give the- presidential address, and his family decide that he shall take them with him in a motor trailer. Their adventures are not only very laughable but very exciting at the end of the picture.

MAYFAIR

“THE BRIDE WALKS OUT”

Prom the English and American studios come many humorous films, and each country has a humour which Is essentially its own. The English tvpe is represented by films such as “The Ghost Goes West,” and as a typical example of the bright humour from the other side of the Atlantic may be taken the film at present showing at the Mayfair Theatre. This is “The Bride Walks Out,” with Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Young, Gene Raymond, and Helen Broderick in the leading roles. There is some of the eternal triangle about the picture, but this is never allowed to deteriorate into tragedy or stiff drama; rather it is skilfully used to give Robert Young a chance to display his whimsical humour to its best effect, and with Helen Broderick and her equally daft screen husband, Ned! Sparks, to fill in the gaps between his foolery the film moves through all too quickly. Miss Stanwyck is, not given much chance to show her worth in a humorous vein, but she is in charge of the romantic side of the film, and although she has hardly been ideally cast, there are no faults to be found with the way in which she gets through her part. She is a very charming actress and would attract attention for her beauty even were she not so capable. Gene Raymond also is allowed little opportunity to show* his talent in a humorous role, but what humour his part contains gives the impression that if he were allowed to have a fully gay role he would be able to carry it out with success, and his acting in this picture does not fall far below the standard set by Miss Stanwyck. In one scene, especially, with Miss Stanwyck and Miss Broderick together in a lift after celebrating the arrival of a new year with several bottles of champagne, provided by the charming Robert Young, the picture really reaches a high level of mirth. The action, the dialogue (and there is not very much), the slightly disordered dressing, and the very atmosphere of the two actresses could not -have been caught better. It would not be overstating to say that it is%the best characterisation of synthetically happy people that has been seen on the screen for a very long time. It is certainly the equal of the excellent performance given by Luise Rainer in “Escapade.”

Among - the short features is an American picture of the thermal wonders of Rotorua. The film, however, may not please New Zealanders. There are two interesting newsreels.

OTHER THEATRES

“The 39 Steps,” starring Robert Donat, heads the new programme at the Metro Theatre.

“Naughty Marietta,” starring Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy, is having a return season at the Tivoli Theatre.

The principal attraction on the new programme at the Liberty Theatre is “Drake of England,” with Matheson Lang, Athene Seyler, and Jane Baxter. On the same programme is the-film “At the Bottom of the World.” “Dodsworth,” starring Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton, is the attraction at the Plaza Theatre.

“Craig’s Wife,” starring John Boles, Rosalind Russell, and Billie Burke, is the new film at the Regent Theatre.

The attractions at the Theatre Royal are “Hollywood Boulevard,” starring John Halliday, Marsha Hunt, and Robert Cummings, and “Mr Cohen Takes a Walk,” with Paul Graetz in the leading role.

Dick Foran in “Treachery Rides the Range” is the principal attraction at the Majestic Theatre. Richard Arlen and Sally Eilers in “She Made Her Bed,” and Jack Haley, Mary Boland, Neil Hamilton, and Patricia Ellis in “Here Comes the Groom,” are showing at the Grand Theatre. ■

AVON

“SWEET ALOES”

“Sweet Aloes,” the new picture at the Avon Theatre, is bound to prove popular and in most minds its popularity will be associated with the name of Roland Young, who makes what would otherwise bo an average film an excellent piece of entertainment. “Sweet Aloes” was originally a stage play and ran for more than a year in London. It was also produced on Broadway and had a considerable success there.

Kay Francis, as beautiful as ever, fills che part originally played by Diana Wynyard. It is that of an English girl, Belinda, who falls lightly in love With an English aristocrat, already married, and has a child by him. She is persuaded by her lover’s father, Lord Farrington, to hand over herein! d to the Farrington heir and his wife, who will never have a ch'ild of her own. This is rather an improbable situation, but more unlikely things have happened in real life. Roland Young, as Tubbs, a platonic friend, acts throughout as a sort of confidential adviser, and his quaint, hesitant shrewdness wins the immediate sympathy of the audience. Belinda is persuaded to go to America, where she marries a rich young man, but is unable to forgot her child. Her husband (George Brent) is worried, not knowing the cause of her unhappiness. Tubbs, whose main business in life seems to be to play the part of a good fairy to people with problems, brings the young Lord Farrington, who has suceeded to the title, with his wife and child, to America, and brings them face to face with Belinda at a party. After a strained beginning, the situation ends happily for all concerned. Belinda’s unhappiness, the despair of specialists, is removed when she finds her child in the hands of a charming and sympathetic woman, and her relations with her husband take on a new meaning.

la the rest of the programme there is an excellent cartoon and a good news reel.

STATE

“THE CHAMPAGNE WALTZ”

When Paramount decided that a tribute to its founder, Adolph Zukor, would be a simultaneous, release throughout the world of one of its best productions, it could not have chosen a better film than “The Champagne Waltz,’’ which entered its second week at the State Theatre yesterday. Since Paramount first came to the screen 25 years ago, the productions have steadily improved in every phase of the art. and in “The Champagne Waltz." the almost impossible has been accomplished, and the patron leaves the theatre with a sense of great satisfaction in the though' that American jazz has not killed the waltzes of other years. It would seem impossible to harmonise the noise and banging of modem jazz with the delicate strains of the old waltzes, but Paramount has succeeded in doing this with the greatest waltz of waltzes, “The Blue Danube.” And Gladys Swarthout, who thrilled so many with her singing in “Rose of the Rancho.” is the link. She has issued a strong challenge to those featured in the greatest musical romances of recent years, and she improves with each production. In the heart of Vienna, Franz Strauss carries on the beautiful palace of waltz founded by his father after he composed his masterpiece, and Gladys Swarthout, his granddaughter, sings many beautiful songs. But American jazz with all its cymbals and drums arrives there, in the heart of Vienna, and without appreciation of their own music, the crowd deserts Strauss and goes to the jazz hall where Fred MacMurray leads the band. Love is a serious business and it drives him out of the city of waltz back to America with prosperity far from his roach. The palace of waltz is ruined, however, and Strauss and his granddaughter turn to a humbler occupation. In America, Mac Murray conceives the only way of repairing the damage he has done to two lives, and the musicians from Vienna go to the other continent. It is there that jazz and true waltz are so remarkably blended, and no scene gave more satisfaction than the final one, in which a massed orchestra of about 200 instruments, partly wind and partly string, plays “The Blue Danube.” The instrumental music itself is sufficient in entertainment, but appreciation of the whole programme is doubled by the singing of Gladys Swarthout, whose solos are too few.A section of the supporting programme is devoted to a most interesting review of the development of motion pictures, tracing the growth of Paramount, for whose jubilee no better programme could have been selected.

CIVIC

“THE SONG OF FREEDOM” About 18 months ago that famous negro actor and singer, Paul Robeson, was reported to have announced his intention of seeking seclusion from the white race by going back to his people in Africa. This, it would seem, has suggested the story of “The Song of Freedom,” the picture which opened its second week yesterday at the Civic Theatre, with Robeson taking the main role. The theme is magnificent for the use of Robeson’s brilliant talents, and he has the support of a strong cast. The story is, in certain respects, a biography of Robeson. Something of his own. remarkable rise to fame on the stage is conveyed in the story of John Zmga, the London dock worker whose voice brings him a dazzling career. And at the height of his fame, Zinga, too, finds his heart turning to his kinsmen in Africa. The picture is in no small sense a portrayal of a strong psychological urge, and Robeson’s acting, with its so very clear sincerity, is the ideal medium for conveying the conflict that is developed in the renascence of deeprooted racial instincts.

The subject is not easy to handle, but the director has done his work ably, bringing the story to a strange climax. Zinga obeys his impulse to return to his people, temporarily forsaking his career to establish his kingship over the people of a lonely island oiT the African coast. How he convinces the incredulous and hostile natives of his right is told stirringly. In these scenes there is strong dramatic value, and the director has made the most use of the tense struggle between the superstitions of the natives and the enlightenment that Zinga can give them. Excellence of characterisation is not confined to Paul Robeson. As Zinga’s wife, Elisabeth Welsh gives an unusually sound performance, and Esme ■Percy, as -lie impresario who discovers Zinga and prepares him for his career, has a temperamental iole which produces most of the humour. Robeson’s sinr 'ng, is, of course, the outstanding feature of the film. , The reproduction is as good as could be desired according to present-day standards, and Robeson sings more often than in any of his other pictures. It may be added that every song is welcome.