ROMANTIC MUSIC MELODRAMA

Evening Star, Issue 21582, 30 November 1933, Page 11

ROMANTIC MUSIC MELODRAMA

‘ LOST CHORD ' SHOULD BE ENJOYED ‘ The Lost Chord," written round Sir Arthur Sullivan’s world-famous melody, will no doubt prove popular with St. James Theatre patrons. The story is a romantic melodrama, and concerns David Grahame, a young composer (John Stuart), who travels to Italy to rescue the child of the woman he loves from the villainous Count Zara (Leslie Perrins). hi the banqueting hall of the count’s Italian castle they fight a duel, in which ho is fatally wounded, and David loses the use of his right hand. In the meantime, however, the count’s mistress (Anno Grey) has carried off the child, and the young composer’s journey has been in vain. When Madeleine (Mary Glynn) finds that her child has been irretrievably lost to her, she finds solace in an old convent, where shortly afterwards she dies in David’s arms. Twenty years later the girl has grown to womanhood, and is now on the stage. David finds his former passion for the mother awakened by the daughter (Elizabeth Allan), who she so closely resembles, but renounces her to his nephew, Jack Hawkins, with whom she is in love. David, however, gets back the use of his hand and finds solace in his music. Apart from the principals already mentioned, ‘ The Lost Chord ’ boasts an exceptionally strong cast. Incidentally, ‘ The Lost Chord ’ is the last British film Elizabeth Allan made before her departure for Hollywood. Tudor Davies, the famous operatic tenor, will also be seen and heard for the first time in a film in this production, in which he sings the great song as well as modern compositions by W. L. '■ I'vtel. Billy Mayerl, the well-known English jazz pianist, is also an interesting member of the cast.