ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 116, 17 April 1939, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. “JEZEBEL.” “Jezebel” wasn't written for Bette Davis. But it might have been. It's the story of a fatally fascinating woman, who lived and loved recklessly. Few actresses would dare to play such a role, but Bette Davis was delighted with it, and she plays it as no other actress of to-day could. In “Of Human Bondage,” in which she played opposite Leslie Howard, she gave a brilliant and merciless characterisation of Somerset Maughan’s beautiful and vicious Cockney waitress. In “Dangerous,” which won her the Academy Award for the year, she played a drink-sodden limply who ruined the lives of all her lovers. “.Marked Woman” showed her as a hard-boiled night club hoste&s, part of an underworld mob. But these characters wore heroines of sweetness and light compared with .Tube. the “Jezebel” of proCivil War New Orleans. Heartless, selfish and spoiled, she defies all the traditions of the day—sends away the man she loves because of a silly whim. Next she proceeds to break the heart and spirit of another dashing cavalier. 11 is life ends in a duel fought over her. When her former beau marries another woman, she exerts all her ol 1 charm to win him away from bis wife. That's (be kind of gal “Jezebel” is. And that’s the kind of acting that Bette Davis excels in. In “Jezebel” Henry Fonda and .George Broilt play opposite Miss Davis. METEOR THEATRE. “DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.” Now showing at the Meteor I hea-lre for a three-day season is “Dead Mon Tell No laics.” Not long ago a film called “Night Must Fall” created quite a sensation in tlm motion-picture world. In the first plate it introduced an entirely new technique both from an acting ami a production point of view. On top of that, it was a gripping psychological drama of a type rarely seen on the screen before. “Night Mu.-t Fall” was a stage sensation long before it. was adapted to the screen. Ii was written by a very gifted English actor-dramatist. Emlyn Williams. a young man who, while at present not very well known in this part of the world, is easily one of the greatest character-actors of the clay. Not only did he write “Night Must Fall.” but be originated the never-to-be-forgotten part of Danny, the cunning murderer, which was played on the screen by Robert Montgomery. it. was after seeing Williams's amazing performance in the London stage l part, that Montgomery was determined to play the role on the screen. This is a long way of going about telling you that Kmlyn W illiams appears in another extraordinary role, reminiscent of his “Night .Must Fall” part. in the new British Empire Film's sensation. “Dead Men Jell No Tales.” the screen adaptation of Francis Reeding'* thriller, “I he Norwich Victims,” which was previewed last week to an intensely interested audience. This is, without doubt, one of the most extraordinary and gripping psychological murder dramas yet produced.