A NEW JACK HOLT

Evening Star, Issue 20780, 30 April 1931, Page 9

A NEW JACK HOLT

COMING IN ‘ SQUEALER' TO OCTAGON Let an actor make a lift in a certain role and the chances are that ho will bo kept doing tho same thing indefinitely. This is not usually his fault—it is tho fault of the producers. These moguls of tho movies are—as a rule—not inclined to risk money on innovations. But every once in a while one comes along with the courage of his convictions, plucks the onc-part thespian out of his dramatic rut and gives him a “ break ” that results advantageously for all concerned. Such a “ break ” as this was recently given to Jack Holt—star of nearly a hundred Westerns, and famed for his characterisations of dashing heroes of the great wide open spaces—has boon riding cow ponies and “ shootin’ straight ” during the greater part of his screen career. His indoor parts have been few and far between, and when they did come they were nearly always rough and ready men with noble impulses. Never once was ho given an opportunity to play a man of complex type, who was not morally perfect until ho was cast in ‘ Tho Squealer,’ tho alltalking picture which comes to the Octagon Theatre on Friday. In this role—that of an underworld king—Holt runs tho gamut of human olnotions. A man of great natural ability—who would have made his mark in any line of endeavour —ho plays his lawless game in a way that compels one’s admiration, even it one cannot approve of his actions.