OPERA HOUSE.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 10565, 19 April 1928, Page 6

OPERA HOUSE.

- -mfUSfrpß ■•THE BELOVED ROGUE.’’ A game of wits, with death as the penalty for failure and liberty the reward for success, is indulged in hv John Barrymore in one of the most entertaining scenes of his first United Artists picture “The Beloved Rogue.” The film is based on the life of France's famous vagabond poet. Francois Villon. Villon, banished from Paris after a long series of escapades ranging from petty thievery to a public insult to the powerful Duke of Burgundy, courts the noose by returning to Paris. Captured, he is taken before King Louis XI. to receive the death sentence. Louis taunts Villon, suggesting that, since he is such a man of rare intellect, he may be able to foretell the time of his death. The -scapegrace poet says he can do so, stating, “It is written in the stars, mv death occurs just twenty-four hours before your own.” The king is torn between his impulse to disregard the poet’s intimation and the fearful influence of his superstitions. The outcome of this odd situation, where a poet of the people, on the point of being sentenced to death, dares to match his wits against the strange mentality of a half-mad king, is one of the most surprising highlights in “The. Beloved Rogue.” This Barrymore screen triumph, in which the noted star is supported by C'onrad Veidt, Marceline Day and a strong cast, is now "screening at-the Opera House with the prospect of setting new records.