PARAMOUNT THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 255, 24 July 1937, Page 16

PARAMOUNT THEATRE

* “Moonlight Sonata” As an opportunity to see tin' great Paderewski and hear him playing, the United Artists' production, "Moonlight Sonata,” which began yesterday at the Paramount Theatre, should be welcomed by all lovers of music. Yet it cannot be so strongly recommended to the ordinary seeker of entertainment. for in striving to achieve a specialised musical appeal and at the same time be attractive to tlie great mass of the public, the picture has fallen between two stools. This seems to be the almost invariable fate of any attempts by the cinema to exploit famous personalities from other spheres. The Gigli picture, - Forgot-ATe-Not,” which was seen last year, is a case in point. Indeed, I can remember only one such production—“ The Prizefighter and the Lady,” starring Max Baer—where the method was successful. And that was a fluke.

Accordingly. “Moonlight. Sonata” is a musical romance of sharp and unnatural contrast. The 25-minute recital by Paderewski which opens’ the picture is excellently recorded, and admirers of the popular classics (he plays Chopin, Liszt, and the first movement of the Beethoven sonata which gives the film its title) will think the price of their seats well spent on this’ sequence alone, for if i s a musical feast probably without parallel in the history of the cinema. But unfortunately this recital is the prelude to a mawkish story of troubled young love (between Charles Farrell and Barbara Greene) that is an inadequate vehicle for the star’s genius. After the long opening concert. Paderewski plays once in the middle of the story (his own minuet) and again at the end, and he appears as a benevolent and venerable personality whose music helps the love-making; but he is not at ease when he is taken off the piano-stool and called upon to act. Much more successful is the talkie debut of the veteran actress. Marie Tempest. who adapts her stage technique admirably to the demands of the screen. Her portrayal of a Swedish noblewoman has charm, dignity and a provocative undercurrent of mischievousness that is wholly delightful. The thinness of their material gives Charles Farrell and Barbara Greene (who photographs badly in close-up) little chance to be any more than just adequate as the young lovers, but a sound performance comes from Eric Fortman as the villainous “other man.” The settings in and around a Swedish castle, and in a great concert-chamber are most attractive.