PATRIOTISM AND DUTY

Evening Star, Issue 23501, 15 February 1940, Page 8

PATRIOTISM AND DUTY

FILM SAGA OF BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN Selfishness, patriotism, duty—these are words commonly in the mouths of Britishers to-day, and for that reason alone the picture which will open its season to-morrow at the Regent, ‘ The Sun Never Sets ’—should register an instantaneous appeal. It is on those sentiments that the film is based. It is the British Empire on which the sun never sets. It is to the British Plmpirc that an English family have owed loyalty for tradition-filled generations. On this basis it is easy to see that the picture will ho packed with drama, packed with action, packed with thrills; and because of the present international situation these thrills will have _ a deeper meaning. The Randolph family is the family who have this tradition. It is life blood to the elder brother, Clive (Basil Rathbone), and to deepen this family tie he toils unwearyingly in outposts of the Empire, lonely and unimportant. To John, the younger brother (Douglas Fairbanks, jun.), the call is not so strong. In fact, when the call does come he is a failure on the African Gold Coast. More than that, he is responsible for his brother’s demotion. These are scenes in which the atmosphere is electric. The audience will feel with the family that John is a waster, a failure, and a disgrace. But this is not the climax of the plot. When John discovers that, unless lie acts, the Empire, and with it civilisation, may fall, he realises that he, too, is bitten with the sense of tradition. He. too, must act. Act he docs, and he carries the audience with him on a whirlwind of drama, thrill, and grim determination. His activity now is in proportion to his lassitude before. It is impossible not to he deeply moved by this film. Various scenes from the war form part of the supports. These in themselves will serve as a fitting prelude for the main picture. The lovely isle of Bali, where, so travellers say, are the loveliest women in the world, will be shown as an educational and beautiful travelogue, while a Mentone musical and a most amusing cartoon, ‘ Crackpot Cruise,’ will round out a very entertaining programme.