DE LUXE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 16

DE LUXE THEATRE

* “Mutiny Of The Elsinore” And “Carnival Queen” The British production "Mutiny of the Elsinore," at the De Luxe Theatre; is not a picture to be recommended to timid souls, but anyone with a taste for battle, murder and sudden death will probably enjoy this version of a story by Jack London even though it is .mpossible to take it very seriously. Once the ill-fated windjammer Elsinore is under way with a motley crew there is hardly a scene which does not include a full quota of violent conflict, including the murder of the captain. the hurling of a madman overboard,

a terrific storm, s first - class mutiny and the drenching ol one of the mutineers in sulphuric acid. That is about all there is to it so far as plot is concerned, except that the hern is an author (not very convincingly played by Paul Lukas), who has gone on the voyage to secure local colour and finds his desire

more than gratified. Obviously, there must be one woman aboard for him to fall in love with, and she is the captain’s daughter (Kathleen Kelly). This sanguinary melodrama is most notable for some of the lurid but well-acted character studies among the crew —particularly Michael Martin-Harvey (seen here with Dame Sybil Thorndike’s company some years ago) as the loathsome little Welsh sea lawyer, William Devlin, as the sexcrazed maniac, Lynn Harding, as the burly chief mate who believes in flogging the crew on any' provocation and eases his soul with gramophone music, and Clifford Evans, as head of the mutineers. The second feature, "Carnival Queen,” is a fairly amusing comedy, presenting the exploits of a weak-witted society girl who inherits a carnival troup(> and joins it in order to be near the manager (Robert Wilcox), whom she loves. A false note is struck near the end by the introduction of crook melodrama, but there are some laughs in Dorothea Kent’s brainless antics.