MARIE DRESSLER FILM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 7

MARIE DRESSLER FILM.

" POLITICS " FOR ST. JAMES'. Everyone who remembers "Mm and Bill" or " Reducing" will want to see Marie Drossier's performance in " Politics," the riotously funny farce-melodrama of a small-town election, which wilt succeed " .Bad Csill" at St. Jnines' Theatre to-morrow. Miss Dressier again finds admirable support in the more boisterous episodes in Polly Moran, the leader of a band of feminine reformers determined to stamp out vice and graft in their neighbourhood. , V ,i u; „ Ilattie Burns (Miss Dressier), tho hearted, sharp-tongued landlady whose work is never done, is forced by an excited crowd of women into standing as Mavor. Shocked and frightened by the accidental shooting of a gnl in an attempt to do away with a member of a speakeasy gang, tho women set about thciv self-appointed task of ridding the towi. of its lawless element. Suspicion of tho murder is fastened by his false confederates on the boy theyTiad planned to kill. Hidden by Hattio's daughter,, he is discovered and uctr&ycd to the police, and Hattic learns that the young people arc lovers. Michael Orme says: "In this scene Marie Dress'er's acting is superb, the pathos of her husky voice, her puzzled eyes, her heavy movements from which all vitality seems to have been reft away by shock, being poignantly contrasted with tho farcical comedy, that precedes and follows the incident. For the rest, her dry,, forthright humour has all tho vivid warmth that is as much tho product of personality as of technique. ' Besides Mits Moran, the supporting artists include Roseoo Ates, the stuttering comedian, who is very funny hs her self-effacing husband; Karen Morlev, tho ingenue of " Never tho Twain Shall Meot" and '"J ho Sin of Miule'on Olaucfrt" ; William Bakewell, tho sensitive voting actor of " All Quiet on the Western Front" and " Tho Bat Whispers "; a"d John Miljan, well known for * miccession of gangster portrayals. Tho director was Charles I'. ner, who filmed "Caught Short" and Reducing."-