DE LUXE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 80, 28 December 1935, Page 4

DE LUXE THEATRE

De Mille’s “The Crusades” This week's feature at the De Luxe Theatre, possesses all the magnificence of presentation and grandeur of conception always associated with the works of Cecil B. de Alille. “The Crusades” is less an attempt to present on the screen an accurate historical document than an effort —and a successful one —to capture on a big canvas the spirit of the Great Crusade and trace against its mighty background a royal love story with King Richard the Lion-heart as the central figure. The story is told forcefully, crisply and well, but it is with the background that De Alille has risen to new heights and achieved a spectacle of immense power and impressiveness. Glimpses of the remarkable scenes created before the camera will remain in memory long after the story has been forgotten. This represents realism in film work and camera wizardry that carries the audience into the battle itself, among the trampling hoofs of the war horses and amid the flashing broadswords of the West and the darting curved blades of the East. The story of “The Crusades” opens with the capture of Jerusalem and the extermination of the Christian population. While men are flung to the dungeons and women sold as slaves their Hermit leader defies Saladin and sets out upon his pilgrimage to Europe to gather a mighty Christian host. Armies spring up behind him on his way to England, where Richard the Lion-heart answers the call. At Marseilles Richard, while wating to embark his troops, is obliged to marry Berengaria of Navarre as the price of that kingdom’s assistance in provisioning the English army. Impatient of the bargain he sends bis sword to the altar, but repents when later he sees the great beauty of his bride, whom he carries with him on the crusade. The royal lovers are not reconciled and united until Berengaria has been captured by Saladin and freed after an extraordinary example of generosity on the part of that potentate. The closing scenes of the picture are of remarkable beauty and tenderness, contrasting with the martial violence of what has gone before. As Richard, Henry Wilcoxon has probably the most important role of his screen career.