WHEN HOLLYWOOD TURNS TO SHAKESPEARE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 26

WHEN HOLLYWOOD TURNS TO SHAKESPEARE

:" Prizes were offered recently by the '"Manchester Guardian" for an advertisement of a Hollywood production of "King Lear," or "The Merchant of Venice."

■;;'■ ;•'lt is not impossible that within a year, or so bne^or all of these. Shakes•'pearean plays 'will have taken, a new aease of life and'popularity through the '■screen," commented the judge. jS"Othello" in particular provides as ..good a scenario.as-any director could V,;yWsh.for —perhaps it is too good, for the 3 openings it offers are without number. •.it-1 is an-historical film—the Renaissance in Venice, with doges, generals, ..^councillors, • opportunities for naval -'■battles' on the Ben-Hur scale, and «J- - affrays. If this was not '"enough, there.is always the possibility '?bf incorporating a few scenes- from "-Othello's early life, and it was surpris--'ijig that nobody mentioned among the ; attractions the sight of "anthropophagi iand men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders."

• • "The Merchant of Venice" has many : of the same attractions, and, although some directors are not above drastic ..altering -of plots, it is superior to "Othello" inasmuch as it provides a happy ending.' ■ . The chief point about advertisements for films is that they should thrust home their message with a series of vigorous blows. They need not be particularly specific, but they cannot be purely vague. These are examples of good openings for "Othello," which realised the rather epigrammatical style which'is, considered; correct:—----i . . ■ . Shakespeare. ' i •' Puissant' God - of. Scenic .Art,- •■"■. : Hollywood's Ace Director, bring' you "XIGGER HONEYMOON." ; Julius K. "Trinkeisen,, ■■ ..

Don't miss this stupendous drama of Race•hate. - Don't miss the mightiest herd of sheep and goats ever assembled for any picture. Don't miss the strange figure of Tondeleyo Clamorously nittlnE thru "NIGGER HONEYMOON." "Never the twain shall meet"—these cruel words are carved across the bruised hearts of those broken by the relentless Law of the Ages. When white maid weds black man . . . there's dark doings ahead. . . . Grim tragedy came to proud Othello and lovely Desdemona—inevitable tragedy deepened by jealousy, the Price that must be paid by all who dare to love beyond their race. He wss a Moor, and are Moors dumb I Led armies and best friend led him. A wow in the field but a sap in the boudoir. Found out wife was innocent after he'd smothered her I The first prize went to: — Do you want mystery—thrills—suspense? You get them all in "The Merchant of .Venice." Do you want romance? Three glamorous love stories are woven into the plot of "The Merchant of Venice." Do you want laughs? There are uproariously comic situations in "The Merchant of Venice." The stnry of a woman whose great wealth and greater beauty brought men from the ends of the earth to be offered a strange choice 1 Of a man who would sacrifice eyerything-even life itself—for friendship's sake lOf a villain UJaseT'on thVplay^by William Shakespeare.) The second prize to— All Next Week. "Black Passion" (from the play "Othello," by William Shakespeare). Positively the '.Screen's Highest Achievement. See at this Theatre the devilish triumph of savage levies— burning: looting: ravaging. The Moor of Venice o'ershadowing Christendom; implacable; colossal—yet giving all for love. Passionate ■in life arid death,;, he yearned for a woman only to mourn her. ...„. Dripping with spectacle these eternal emotions will grip you. Cast of 50,000. One• week pnjy. Definitely no one under 16 years admitted, .. And Full supporting programme, Including the . Mammoth Organ.