"AS YOU DESIRE ME"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 12

"AS YOU DESIRE ME"

GRETA GARBO AT ST, JAMES' Miss Greta Garbo, who needs no introduction' to the film-goers of Auckland, makes her reappearance in '-'As You Desire Me," which will commence a season at the St. James* Theatre to-day. It i« the screen adaptation of the play by Luigi Pirandello, which caused much dis- , cussion when it was produced last season in New York. Miss Garbo's dramatic r ability has never been displayed to better advantage thaij in this production, in which she adds another triumph to "Susan Lenox" and "Mata Hari." "As You Desire Me" tells the story of Zara, a singer in a Buda Post cabaret and protege of Salter, a perverted novelist, whom she loathes, and from whose cruel and hypnotic influence she longs to escape. The opportunity offers itself when Zara is mistaken for the long-lost wife of an Italian count, Bruno, who lbegs her to return home. Thus begins a strange masquerade, which' is complicated when Bruno's sister-in-law, in an attempt to gain the family fortune, makes every effort to reveal Zara as an impostor. The battle of wits by which Zara retains her position and the difficulties she encounters in playing the role of the wife she is supposed to be, make this picture probably the most outstanding in which the distinguished Swedish actress has appeared. The leading male part in the picture is taken by Melvyn Douglas, who was cast with Ann Harding in "Prestige" and Gloria Swanson in "To-night or Never." The depraved novelist is portrayed by Erich von Stroheim, who appeared recently in "The Lost Squadron," and among the other celebrities are Owen ?;• Moore, Hedda Hopper, \yarburton Gamble and Albert Conti.