OUTSTANDING FILMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 63, 11 September 1937, Page 7

OUTSTANDING FILMS

KILLARNEY AND THE

DERBY

"WINGS OF THE MORNING"

From Dorm Byrne's "Destiny Bay," and from incidents in • other tales he wrote, the film "Wings of the Morning," now at the Plaza, has' been evolved, and, rifling England and Ireland, the producers have included Killarney, the Derby, the singing of John McCormack, Steve Donoghue himself, green fields and streams and graceful horses—and romance. The leading roles are taken by the American Henry Fonda and the new star Annabella, and the action at one point turns upon the Spanish war which is apparently still raging some ten years hence. From this remarkably international aslembly there has emerged an unusual film, strikirtg because of its attempt to recapture the soft and rich colours of the Irish landscape, because ■of the Maze of Derby Day and not least because of its presentation of a new star. Annabella is wonderful. She has been seen on the. London stage and there made her. conquest; on the screen she is bewitching, accomplished, and never less than French. That is to say she is provocative, lovely, roguish, sparkling, and-(as it is reported) the bestdressed woman on the films. Through this straightforward story she goes with her own grace of mind and movement, a vital and colourful vision, and capable of greater things than she is asked to do. She appears in two roles, first as the wife of an Irish peer who marries her because she is a bewitching gipsy, second as her own great-granddaughter, betrothed to a Spanish nobleman and escaping from that riven country to Destiny Bay, where her great-grandmother and all of life's excitement and love are waiting for her. Resolved into its simplest terms, the problem presented to the youthful Kerry whom she finds there is to win the Derby, the ambition of his life, or to win the girl. It is on the success of the horse Wings of the Morning that the dowry of Marie depends, and when the.race takes place the great-grandmother is dying, a circumstance which jeopardises everything, for it is a rule of the race that the owner must be alive when the Derby is run. This, leading to its strange procession of gipsies on the course, and its sudden turn of events which leaves Marie free to seek out Kerry in Ireland, is a striking finish to the picture. At every point the_prod U ction is careful, the colour is brilliant, the cast is of proved ability. The. role of the great-grandmother, Marie also, is played by Irene Vanbrugh, the part of the ill-fated peer is Leslie Banks s, and Stewart Frome, Harry Tate, and Helen Haye all contribute to the success of the film. John McCormack sings several favourite Irish airs, and the introduction of the famous jockey Steve Donoghue, with the picture of the remarkable race he rides to. win the Derby from another horse trained by Kerry, give the final touch to the race scenes. The colour alone will serve as an attraction to many; its contribution to the charm of Annabella is merely one of its virtues. , The supporting programme contains newsreels, a cartoon, and an excellent comedy starring Buster Keaton.