FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 35, 10 February 1940, Page 7

FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

TEXAS DRAMA AT PARAMOUNT

The dramatic. story of the-fight that delivered Texas from ,the domination, of Mexico and brought it within the .United States of America is-vividly told in "Man of Conquest, ' whictt opened yesterday at the Paramount Theatre. Coming at a time when; New Zealand, in celebrating the Centennial, •is honouring the stout hearts .ot pidneers, this' outstanding production- is particularly apt. .It shows .the courage of those men and women who pioneered another and possibly far more difficult country. ' True, the -United States was to the north, but Mexico was just accross, the border,^complete with an army ready to enforce any decree that might please the Mexican generals; and it was when they., did. march that the Texans, under General Houston, showed, their worth. But the story is not merely one of Texas; it is of a brave adventurer-who had dedicated his life to the freedom that now lies as the base for democracy. No' happier choice could have been made for < the title role than ■ Richard Dix, one of • the screen's "tough men/ heroes who seems to have lost none \6Z that virility that brought him such* ■long-standing popularity; • - ~ " ,*: _'.'" For some time Sam Houston, • hadbeen living with the Cherokee Indrafts, loved and respected by them, but when he returns home and learns that Wash-' ington', has been burned by the British, h€ imihediately joins' the. army;;6f(Andrew Jackson for one of-the ntostjfamous > battles of. American ;historjr.' Frdra that time on Houston is made 7 Hardtalking and hard-acting as the toughest of his elector's, he is twice' returned as Governor of Tennessee; butTwhen his gently-nurtured wife, unable to. stand the rigours of pioneer campaigning, leaves, him-on the crest of- his career, he returns to his- Indians, to. get Justice for them as they are forced from their territory to make room foi* American expansion. The. price he paysTfor'that justice is to leave the Indians, at: the behest of Jackson, now President.; of the United States. ? -,-A 7 V: 17 "Houston's adventurous blood 'leads him to Texas. - eager to deliver that State from Mexican domination.'But the would-be deliverer has a hurdle to clear in the peace-loving colonists in Texas, and it is when they "finally realise that fighting is inevitable sthat the story moves to a full-blooded climax of old-time warfare. 7 w ; The producers have done a Cgre^t job 'in so realistically capturing^ tile tense atmosphere'of early and troubled America, and no better cast could haye been chosen to carry the difficult roles. j Richard Dix is excellent, adding to .a [ reputation that has never been weakjened by inferior-parts. Gail Patrick; I makes a thoroughly charming reason ! why Houston should go to Texas in the ! first place,; and then there is Edward I Ellis as the grim and honest Jackson, JGearge Hayes as the right-hand man of : Houston, and other players who -aije stars in their own right. "Man of Conquest" is an action film that has rarely, been exceeded for sheer merit.

The second full-length feature on'the programme is "Wolf Gall,""the;screen version of Jack London's exciting story of radium mine intrigue. ' ' .