REGENT THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 155, 29 March 1937, Page 5

REGENT THEATRE

"Beloved Enemy”

Alter the dazzling success of Merle ■ • ••tphxi I A IP’CI iliul -LllCbt! ÜberoD in ±ne laiik ai« o t Three,” it must have been (hflicuh o 1 nd a film that would maintain and cicn enrich her reputation; for the quality of early InuitM’ l audiences far more critical ul "hat L. lows. But there is no i• 7 ' climax in “Beloved Enemy,' wbltdi opt ied a season at the Regent Ibeatie on Saturday. Against U>e stormy baca<.round of the Sinu lent rebellion 11 l.v land Merle Oberon and Briani Aherne enact their tragic love story "it 11 “A reeklessness of sentiment that is com pletely memorable. The tllem * \,>ud th' between two people that goes b J <- limitations of reason and P r ® J . utl1 j C ®. ~7 never been mure beautifully to ' ll ’;A ’ the quiet certainty of it (I ' V ’Y%> . rehe ' importance the bitterness ot the icbeilion going on around the two lot eis. let it is the rebellion that tiuallj scpaiatcs them. Aherne is the leader ot the biun Feiuers’, a gay, courageous will-o-t ewisp who slips from the clutuh . PqJ.*!® English soldiery as easily as quic-Ksin ci slips through the fingers. He hates them fanatically, but when he meets by chance the lovely daughter of. an LnJiMt diplomat sent to mediate in the tioubic, racial feeling fades into the background. But the girl, when she discovers his identity, proves herself as staunch a patriot as he, and betrays him to bis enemies. He escapes only by a dai m, climb over the roofs of Dublin ; but then love is unshaken, and deepens with each dangerous and troubled meeting, forbidden by their friends in either camp. Llie last tragic scene when he listens to her plea for pence and makes a compromise with the English, only to be killed by the fanatics among his own follow ci*, are poignant in feeling and movingly played. Aherne’s Irish accent is a delight. the unusually strong supporting east me nites Karen Morley and Ila Mould, the Dunedin boy, who makes a promising debutin the excellent programme of "shorts, a farcical Mickey Mouse colour cartoon is the highlight.