"LOVERS AND LUGGERS."

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 27, 2 February 1938, Page 6

"LOVERS AND LUGGERS."

Romance on Thursday Island.

In "Lovers and Luggers," Cinesound's romantic tale of the pearling fleet of Thursday Island, which is to be shown at the St. James Theatre on Friday, Australian talking-picture producers haVe achieved not only a technical and dramatic excellence equalling Holly r wood standards, but have brought to the screen an entertainingly original theme. Briefly, the story is that of cultured Englishmen, a painter and a pianist, who, tired of society life, are provoked by a heartless beauty into crossing -the world to Thursday Island. l there to dive for pearls for her. Between them they find a matchless pearl, but in the process they acquire something which is to them even more valuable—a certain knowledge of their beauty's vanity and worthlessness. In addition the pianist, played by the popular. American actor, Lloyd Hughes, finds for himself a wife, a part which is taken by Shirley Ann Richards. The New Zealand actress, Elaine Hamill, is the cause of all the trouble. The picture relies for its undoubted success upon its absolute lack of artificiality, an effect which is achieved by the simple expedient of. filming practically-all of it outdoors, much of it on Thursday Island. The seascapes and under-water photography are first class, and the thrilling fight to the death between two divers on the sea-floor alone makes the picture worth seeing. All three principals, and, indeed, every member of a moderately-sized cast, do their work smoothly and attractively. Continuity is good, and the film possesses a virtue unknown in many American pictures, that of probability. Yet it is never dull and those few people who are still sceptical about the merit of other than Hollywood pictures should be convinced of their mistake by "Lovers and Luggers." • "