IMMORTAL SHAKESPEAREAN ROMANCE

Evening Star, Issue 22721, 7 August 1937, Page 23

IMMORTAL SHAKESPEAREAN ROMANCE

‘ROMEO AND JULIET* FOR EMPIRE A work of wonderful expression, embellished with all the elements of appeal, with mingled charm and thrill that demonstrate again the great art of the motion picture, Shakespeare?s immortal ‘ Romeo and Juliet,’ brilliantly woven for the screen by Irving Thalberg, opens at the Empire on Friday. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s ‘ Romeo and Juliet ’ is one of the most brilliant films of its kind that has come from the studios of America. Not only is ‘ Romeo and Juliet ’ a triumph in historic presentation, but it is also a triumph in personalities. Performances by the principals shoulder each other for mention. Norma Shearer’s Juliet is warmly real. She attains dramatic heights which she has rarely reached before. Leslie Howard’s Romeo compares more than favourably with any of his pustifiably famous previous portrayals. John Barrymore’s Mercurtia amply confirms reports of its excellence, and Basil Rathbone’s proud, ruthless Tybalt is a sound, dramatically powerful characterisation. These are the players who, with exceeding skill, have made the classic acceptable, appealing, significant to all manner of people. The production has been so contrived that it can face the critical attentions of the erudite and still, by the untramelled manner of its telling I .' deliver in full its large dramatic content to those who know little of Shakespeare. Among the love sequences five stand out as especially notable. They are the meeting of the ill-starred lovers, the famous balcony scene, the marriage chamber sequence, Juliet’s soliloquy as she contemplates the death potion, and the memdrable denouement in the tomb. Contrasted with these, and shrewdly ranged between them, are the duels street clashes, and personal conflicts which the production has m common with the most modern screen successes. There is a vibrant, vital contemporary quality in the photoplay which makes it an experience of adventure, a story of thrill and suspense no ma ,^ er f faimliar one may be with the faith-fully-recorded plot of the classic. ‘Romeo and Juliet is a production that should not be missed.