TIVOLI THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 7

TIVOLI THEATRE.

Double-feature Programme,

English versions of Continental films and plays are seldom conspicuously successful, because it seems fatally easy to lose the mood and spirit of the original. No such drawback is apparent in the United Artists' release "Algiers," which opens on Monday, at the Tivoli Theatre. This film is taken from the highly-successful French production, "Pepe Le Moko," and, although no direct comparison is possible because "Pepe Le Moko" has never been shown here, the French original can hardly have been richer in atmosphere and dramatic colour than the English translation. "Algiers" is an engrossing tale, forcefully told, brilliantly acted, and splendidly mounted. The originality of "Algiers" lies mainly in the fact that it treats crime as something far more terrifying to its perpetrator than its victims. The setting is the mysterious, labyrinthine, cosmopolitan Casbah (or native quarter) of Algiers. This is the hiding place of Pepe Le Moko, Parisian jewel thief and fugitive from justice. So long as he stays within this prescribed area, Pepe is safe from the police, and the chief cook in his own thieves' kitchen. But once let him venture outside the Casbah, once let him obey the longing for Paris that is in his blood, and his doom will be sealed. "Algiers" does not waste time in sentimentalising over the plight of its leading character. Instead, Director John Cromwell has concentrated on building up a feeling of cumulated suspense, and his handling of such incidents as the death of an informer and Pepe's final break for freedom are memorable. Even more memorable is the acting of Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Joseph Calleia, and Gene Lockhart. The contrasting romances of two beautiful sisters during a family's struggle for happiness form- the basis of "Mother Carey's Chickens," RKO Radio picture, which is the second film. Marking a definite deviation from the current screen melange of thrillers, madcap comedies, and heavy dramas, "Mother Carey's Chickens" is a rousing and entertaining picturisation of the immortal family portrait by Kate Douglas Wiggin. The down-to-earth sentiment and rich American lore which endeared "Little Women" to millions of screen-goers are prominent in "Mother Carey's Chickens."