Famous Love Story In “Java Head”

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 65, 18 March 1936, Page 11

Famous Love Story In “Java Head”

JOHN LODER AND ELIZABETH ALLAN ARE CO-STRRED

(Kosy: Screening Saturday)

One of the greatest casts ever assembled in a British picture is 7 that in the A.T.P. production “Java Head.” The principal players are John Loder, Elizaoeth Allan, Edmund Gwenn, and Anna May Wong. The picture treats a famous love story from the pen of one of fiction’s masters.

John Loder is fast establishing himself as one of the foremost and most popular of the screen’s leading men, and his excellent performance in “Java Head” has done much in this direction. Critics the world over have hailed' Loder ’» portrayal of “Gerrit Ammidon” as worthy of the greatest merit. Loder first acted for the screen in Germany after his release in that country as a prisoner of war. Later he returned to England and crossed the “Big Pond,” where he appeared in several Hollywood productions. Back in England once more the handsome young player was eagerly sought by film producing organisations, some of his more notable screen appearances being in "You Made Me Love You,” “Love, Life, aud Laughter,” and “Sing As We Go,” both with Grade Fields, and “The Private Life of Henry VIII.” Elizabeth Allan’s appearance in “Java Head” was only made possible by courtesy of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, to whom sho is under contract. Miss Allan was holidaying in England when Basil Dean, A.T.P. producer was seeking an artiste for the much coveted role of Nettio Vollar. Negotiations were made with both the charming star and M.G.M. —well, she did the part. This is the first instance, Mr. Dean suggests, in w'hich a star of Miss Allan’s calibre has been temporarily released by a leading American company to appear in a E 'fish film. Edmund Gwenn, lovable old actor, can always be relied on for a good performance, with the result that he is one of the most popular artists on the screen to-day. All picturegoers will remember his delightful characterisations in “Good Companions,” "I Was a Spy” and “Tell Me Tonight,” and we need no greater testimony to his role in “Java Head” than the fact that it is worthy to rank with these great performances. Anna May Wong, the last of tho famous quartette of stars in “Java Head,” is no stranger picturegoers cither, she also having taken prominent parts in screen productions from studios on either side of the Atlantic, but it is by her life-like portrayal of Taou Yuen, Gerrit Ammidon’s alien wife in “Java Head” that Miss Wong’s screen value will in future be assessed, as the lovely wife in a strange land with strango customs, lighting for her husband’s happiness, she is delightful, uuforgcttable.