"MAN OF ARAN "

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21906, 15 September 1934, Page 12 (Supplement)

"MAN OF ARAN "

PRIMITIVE ISLAND EPIC I The Ganmoni-British picture, " Man : of Aran," which Fox Film is distribut- | ing in Australia and New Zealand, is unique in that it shows the realities of life in a primitive Httle community I hitherto known only to the inhabitants j of a portion of the west coast of Ireland and to perhaps half a dozen scientists and literary men. This is the i more astonishing when it is realised that Aran is only a 15-hour journey | from London. The critic of the Times, compliments the director, Robert Flaherty, on hav- f ing " succeeded in making something [ better than a plot out of the pattern ; of events." A man, his wife and son and their friends going about their ordinary work —fishing, farming and the like. Such is the main theme of the j picture. But the fishing is in seas unbelievably wild. The farming is in soil ' patiently " made " from seaweed, sand and precious wind-borne dust, laboriously collected from rock-crevices into | which it has fallen. There is tense drama in the pursuit and difficult capture of the great bask- f ing sharks —the largest in the world, j There are breath-taking moments in } the dangers faced and overcome by the i islanders in their light craft among j mountainous seas and submerged rocks, j There are scenes as romantic and wildly beautiful as anyone with the tang of | the ocean in his nostrils could possibly I wish. The photography is magnificent, f