‘EMMA’ HEADS OCTAGON'S PROGRAMME

Evening Star, Issue 21722, 17 May 1934, Page 12

‘EMMA’ HEADS OCTAGON'S PROGRAMME

MARIE DRESSIER’3 FAMOUS ROLE The art of being able to sway the •motions of thousands belongs to lew artists of the screen to such an extent as it does to Marie Dressier. This sixty-one-year-old figure has demonstrated time and again that she possesses ability to make an audience “ enjoy crying as well as laughing.” Her latest production, ‘Emma,’ in which she jgives the most outstanding performance of her career, will open a season at the Octagon Theatre to-mor-row. In this film pathos, comedy, and tragedy are blended in such proportions as to make perfect screen entertainment, which is enhanced by the sheer simplicity and appeal of the story. ' The story deals with an engrossing phase of the “ stepmother problem,” with Miss Dressier playing the role of a devoted family servant who mothers the children of a rich inventor as though they were her own. Her subsequent transition from housekeeper to stepmother gives rise to a number of dramatic problems, which reach a climax in a sensational courtroom sequel. Miss Dressier, whose peerless talents in the straight dramatic field were first made apparent when she played the drunken haj; in ‘ Anna Christie,’ which was succeeded by her remarkable performance as the disreputable, waterfront woman in ‘ Min and Bill,’ has an even more forceful and stirring role in ‘ Emma.’ Eay Wray, the busiest player in Hollywood, is at the same time one of the most popular. She has done admirable work in such productions as ‘King Kong’ and ‘Below the Sea,’ and is currently emoting in the Columbia picture, ‘ Once to Every Woman,’ the other attraction. The film is the long-heralded screen version of the widely-read ‘ Cosmopolitan ’ magazine novelette, ‘ Kaleidoscope in K.’ Ralph Bellamy appears opposite Miss Wray in the 'leading male role with a large cast in support. Among these are such finished stage and screen performers as Walter Connolly, Mary Carlisle, Billie Seward. The story concerns the dramatic entanglement of the lives of a number of people in the love affair of Miss Wray and a brilliant young surgeon.