King’s Theatre, Pahiatua

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 42, 19 February 1938, Page 2

King’s Theatre, Pahiatua

•'MAYTIME”

Splendid in every sense of the word is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s first lavish musical offering of 1938, “May time,” witn Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the starring roles, which screens at the King’s Theatre to-day. and Monday. There will be three sessions to-day at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and two sessions on Monday at 2 and 8 p.m. “Maytime” was a musical piece of gorgeous proportions when Rida Johnson Young’s play was on the boards and it closely approaches the status of a musical masterpiece on the screen. The skilful adaption was made by Noel Langley. The songs were written by Sigmund Romberg, composer of the original Broadway score, and also by Herbert Stothart, who has composed the first film operetta, “Czaritza,” which provides a lovely sequence in the picture. Jeauette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy have not been seen together on the screen for a year. They rose to a unique dual stardom in * ‘Naughty Marietta” and then in “Rose Marie.” In the supporting cast of “Maytime,” John Barrymore plays a picturesque role as the temperamental impressarlo, his first since the memorable “Romeo and Juliet,” which was one of the sensational pictures of 1936. There is a newcomer in the cast, Lynne Carver, a delicately beautiful young singer from the Kentucky Blue Grass regions who sings and acts unusually well. She and Tom Brown provide the juvenile romance in the story. In love with Nelson Eddy, a young singer, Jeanette MacDonald, an opera star, actuated by a mistaken sense of duty, marries John Barrymore, the impressario, to whom she owes her career. When circumstances bring her and the singer together again, they realise that their love is stronger than before. Mad with jealousy, the husband kills the singer. The tragedy answers the problem of tha younger girl who is drawn between a choice of love and a career.