"THE OUTSIDER."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 12

"THE OUTSIDER."

FILM DRAMA AT REGENT. " Great works of art come without warning, and frequently take (he critic by surprise." Thus does Mr. G. A. Atkinson, former film critic for the London Daily Telegraph, preface his enthusiastic review of " The Outsider," the uncommonly fine English drama of quackery in the medical profession, which will follow " Children of Dreams" at the Regent Theatro to-morrow. He goes on: " Unless mv judgment has gone entirely astray it seems to me that in one aspect at least ' Tho Outsider ' is the greatest work of screen art I have ever seen. That aspect is the joint performance of Miss Joan Barry and Mr. Harold Huth, and as they hold the screen for about twothirds of the drama it may be said that their performance constitutes all that matters in tho production. Mr. Huth, as those familiar with Dorothy Brandon's play are awaro, appears in the role of an egotistical quack who persuades tho crippled daughter of an eminent physician to submit herself to his cure in order that her father and tho faculty may he put to confusion. '1 ho man needs tho advertisement and the stricken girl will go to any extreme in order to recover normal health. The quack is convincing, up to a point, but, he has all the flamboyance and atmosphere of the charlatan. . . . "The director, Mr. Harry Lachman, has built up a love story of extraordinary charm and beauty. You can feel the magic and the poetry of it mounting up until it comes from the screen in a warm glow. Here is a love story that does veritably come to life. Can any fundamental human emotion break through all that mechanism and entanglement of electrical science? The acting of Miss Barry and Mr. Huth in 'The Outsider' answers that question. They snared me and I am certain they will hold spellbound the average cinema audience, ' fed to the teeth' with the stream of cynical corruption that has poisoned for so long tho entire enter tainment. " There was romance in the air when they made ' The Outsider,' and it may well prove to be a turning point in film production."