BRITAIN'S BEST PICTURE

Evening Star, Issue 21634, 1 February 1934, Page 12

BRITAIN'S BEST PICTURE

LONDON PRESS PRAISES 1 ROME EXPRESS ' Following tlie first trade showing- of 1 Home Express,’ the first film to be produced at the new Gaumont-British studios at Shepherd’s Bush, the London Press unanimously hailed the picture as “ the finest British film yet.” There are many interesting and striking features about the 1 Rome Express ’ which places it on this pedestal. In the first place, it possesses the strongest all-round east ever assembled for a British talkie. The array of players includes Conrad Veidt, Esther Ralston, Gordon Marker, Harold Huth, Joan Barry, Donald Calthrop, Hugh Williams, Cedric Hardwioke, Frank Vesper, Elliot Makeham, Finlay Currie, and Muriel Aked. The film was directed by Walter Forde, who until a few years ago was a slapstick comedian, still remembered in London music hall circles by his straw hat and Oxford “ bags.” He began at Bradford at the age of ten as a juggler’s assistant. Ten years ago he was throwing custard pies in comedies at Hollywood, where his father is still a gag-man.” Now, as the director of ‘ Jack’s the Boy ’ and Rome Express,’ he earns over £IO,OOO a year, 'and the latter picture has put him at the head of British directors. The story of. ‘ Rome Express,’ which will commence its local season at the St. James Theatre to-morrow, was written by Clifford Wray, who used to write that world-famous comedian, George Robey’s, best songs. One of tire most remarkable of the many technical achievements in the film is the reproduction of the landscape flying past the windows of the train in which the drama takes place. The pictures were taken on an actual journey from Paris to Rome and were photographed into the film by being projected on a ground glass screen against which the studio action was played, thus giving the desired effect to the audience of being actually aboard the wonder train. A reconstruction of the Gare de Lyon was made in the studios, complete with coaches, an engine which belched steam and smoke, and all the impedimenta of a great terminus. This reconstruction was an achievement in itself. The vast set was thronged by a jostling crowd of passengers, porters, railway officials, and the human flotsam and jetsam -usually found frequenting a big railway terminus. Grave-faced nuns rubbed shoulders with Sengalese soldiers, English and American tourists patronised bookstalls displaying alluring literature, and poilus in sky-blue larked about with midinettes, embarrassing the routine duties of a consciously important station staff. A hubbub of voices, the hiss of escaping steam from the huge Continental locomotive (the especial pride of the studio property departmentj, and the general clamour attending the departure of the Borne express brings the real atmosphere of one of the world’s greatest railway stations to the screen.