THE CINEMA AS AN ART INCENTIVE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 23 May 1936, Page 9

THE CINEMA AS AN ART INCENTIVE

The power of the cinema as an educator has long been admitted even by its deadliest enemies, and the quantity of useful information it dispenses is nothing less than colossal. Such being the case, let us for a moment consider its value in relation to Art. Even in this period when Mammon is to a great extent the god pursued by all, the love of the aesthetic remains. It seems the inborn characteristic of mankind. And what has the cinema done for Art? Has not the motion picture opened to millions new vistas of knowledge and beauty? It has brought the glories of an alpine sunset —the mysterious charm of the Orient —the multitudinous wonders of Nature into the lives of the .people —people, let us say, who would, by reason of their environment, not otherwise have been enabled to enjoy in their full significance reference by Zane Grey, of

“these great open spaces” of America, nor yet to that “Ne’er, Ne’er Land” of which Australian authors have made as familiar. They sec in the ci,nema that which authors rcsired to convey—Nature in all its innate glory. But the cinema does not stop here. In its presentation of subjects, both those of a typical nature and those in regard to drama, it presents its scenes in a superb setting which can only indicate a love of the beautiful. For we. arc given the opportunity to see. the work of great artists and to preserve for posterity the histronic art which they display. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Shirley Temple in “Curly Top” One of the happiest pictures of Shirley Temple’s career is “Curly Top.” In “Curly Top,” a charming story of a little girl who captures the heart of a

lonely bachelor and makes both their dreams come true, Shirley has two new songs to sing and several new and intricate dance routines. In this comedy-drama, John Boles is east as a bachelor who adopts Shirley and her big sister, Rochelle Hudson. His generosity takes them from the drab j and dreary atmosphere of an orphanage to the sunny summer surroundings of ■ a palatial home in Southampton. There the romance of Boles and Rochelle Hudson flourishes under the childish guidance of little Shirley, who sings, dances, and laughs her way into i their hearts.