‘LITERARY DIGEST’S' TRIBUTE

Evening Star, Issue 21285, 14 December 1932, Page 12

‘LITERARY DIGEST’S' TRIBUTE

‘BIRD OF PARADISE'PRAISED When a recognised magazine of the calibre of ‘ The Literary Digest ’ devotes the greater portion of its letters and art section in a recent issue to a symposium of tributes by various wellknown critics to ‘ Bird of Paradise ’ it can be taken for granted that this picture must rise head and shoulders above the ordinary run of films. Stating that the climax in romance and beauty was thought to have been reached in ‘ Tabu,’ the 4 Digest ’ goes on to say that ‘ Bird of Paradise ’ has brought' together more South Seas glamour and adventure than any of its predecessors. It then quotes Richard J. Watts, jun. of the New York ‘Herald-Tribune,’ who-writes: “ It is Dolores Del Rio, the exquisite Latin, who plays the tragic Luana of the story. In ‘ Bird of Paradise ’ her dusky, alien beauty fits in so effectively with her role that she is more admirable than ever, and succeeds in providing more loveliness for the film than even director and cameraman managed. Sherman, the famous critic of the ‘Morning Telegraph,’ writes: “‘Bird of Paradise ’ adds emphasis to an oftfeiterated statement that the cinema will reach artistic appreciation only when the directors achieve that distinction through a proper blending of the visual, the musical, and the dramatic. King Vidor has taken pictorial beauty, rhythmic appreciation, and a sense of the dramatic, combining' these elements into a motion picture of rare and exciting quality.” ‘ Bird of Paradise ’ had its local premiere at the Regent Theatre on Friday. The play is a simple story of a love that transcends all religions and laws. There is an intangible something to this tragic story of Luana, who falls hopelessly in love with a white man, and as hopelessly sacrifices that love, that demands a‘setting in sympathy with the sublime character of her sacrifice. The barbaric beauties of the primitive Hawaiian mating dance were caught in all their splendour. Amid a circlet of flames, Miss Del Rio undulates in the silent night—a pathetic pawn of custom, waiting for some man to bravo the fire and carry her off. As Luana, the native princess, Dolores Del Rio is perfectly cast. She gives a performance rich with a haunting overtone of tragedy. Joel M'Crea is plausible and likeable as the American playboy who would go native. His splendid physique puts him at ease in the exciting water action where he fights with a shark. He registers equally well in the delicatelyhandled intimate love scenes. The cast also includes John Halliday as a drywitted yachtsman, Bert Roach as a comic, and also among the yacht’s passengers are Creighton Chaney’, son of the late and great Lon, and Richard (Skeets) Gallagher.