RIVOLI THEATRE.

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

RIVOLI THEATRE.

Two Splendid Films,

Whenever Paramount have a screenplay demanding particularly virile treatment, they call in Henry Hathaway for the job of director. His success with "Lives of a Bengal Lancer and "Souls at Sea" showed that there was no one better qualified to handle adventurous themes, and now his latest assignment, "Spawn of the North," confirms that opinion. This new attraction, which opens on Monday at the Rivoli Theatre, is a drama of life in !the raw among the salmon fishermen of Alaska at a time when piracy of their hard-won catches was rampant. For protection, the fishermen banded together, took what law there was into their own hands, and ruthlessly exterminated the pirates. That is the general theme of "Spawn of the North," and Hathaway has treated it as a saga of brute force, sparing few details of ruthless physical violence in his determination to provide the audience with fast-moving and exciting entertainment. The fights are probably what you will remember this picture for; but "Spawn of the North is not simply "strong-arm stuff. It has its moments of romance, comedy, technical interest, scenic grandeur—and even of sheer poetic beauty. 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 'Algiers, which is the associate film. 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. Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, and Joseph Calleia head a large cast.