TWO NOTABLE FILMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22099, 3 May 1935, Page 14

TWO NOTABLE FILMS

GALA PREMIERE

ENGLAND'S PAST RE-CREATED

JUBILEE WEEK PICTURES

A gala premiere at the Civic Theatre last night introduced two notable English films which could not have been presented at a moro fitting time than the eve of the King's Jubilee. One, "The Irou Duke," with George Arliss in the title role, is devoted to the man who was accepted as the saviour of England during one of the most stormy periods of her history; the other, "Twenty-five Years a King," is a documentary and fascinating record of the service of a man who, little more than 100 years later, stood as the nation's head during an even more fateful and troubled time in its history. "The Iron Duke," Arliss' first important English picture, gives hiin a difficult task. It is a credit to the actor's individuality that in a role for which he is not by nature ideally suited he should give a performance which dominates the whole film, Ihey were stirring days, when the Congress of Vienna was disrupted by the unexpected escape of Napoleon from Elba and his triumphant rallying of the weakened forces of France. The producers have given the picture a broad scope of action and an almost terrifying gallery of eminent personages. Louis Xvlll., Castlereagh, lilucher, Talleyrand, Marshal Nov, the King of Prussia, the lsar of All the Russians, Mcttcrnich, are all recreated, and, with no stint to its settings, the film giv<3a an intensely vivid picture of the past. Arliss as thu Duke Perhaps Wellington is not quite the bin if arid devastatingly frank old cynic, the inflexible Tory, and the impenetrable tactician, as historians have presented him, but he is at least Arliss in his most likeable style. Under the more austere official part he played the film gives an intimate and pleasing vignette of the Duke as a man. 3 here is a slight but pleasing story of Lad.y Frances Webster's youthful infatuation for the veteran hero, the attempts of the Duchess d'Angonleme to work up an innocent flirtation into a scandal of national magnitude for her own ends and the Duke's kindly but astute victory over his unscrupulous political op-

poncnts. _ _ . i The famous 13aii before W atcrloo, the groat battle itself, performed in the grand style, with cavalry charges. British squares and hand-to-hand warfare, Wellington's impassioned plea tor leniency toward the vanquished, these are some of the features of a picture which is on an epic scale. In such a tremendous cast, some of the players stand out with particular clarity. Such are Allan Aynesworth's Louis XVIII., Franklin Dyall's .Blueber, and Gyles lsham's Castlereagh. Gladys Cooper makes a suitably unsympathetic and unscrupulous Duchess d'Angouleme, and Lesley Wareing is seen in the role of Lady Frances. " Twenty-five Years a King " In contrast with a reconstruction of the past, "Twenty-five Years a King'' stands in the bold contours of actuality. The newsreel was well established when King George came to the throne and in consequence the film brings into vivid life again scenes which are now truly historic. It begins with the funeral of King Edward, at which the Kaiser was one of the chief mourners. All the pomp and circumstance of the Coronation, the great Durbar at Delhi and the Investiture of the Prince of Wales, follow. Through these and subsequent pictures the King and Queen are always, of course, the focal point of interest. The races just before the war have a dramatic significance, although the hats worn by the ladies occasion smiles to-day. Then the pageant, of events takes on a more sombre hue with the Great War, the General Strike and the King's illness. Public rejoicings at the happy termination of this, the weddings of the Duke of York and the Duko of Kent, and a brief review of outstanding national events right up to last year conclude a film which is a worthy treatment of an impressive subject. Sir Austen Chamberlain provides an admirable spoken com-

mcntarv. The theatre was crowded last night, anions those present being Archbishop Averill, Commodore the Hon. E. R Drnmmond and Lady Drummond, Sir

George and T.ndv Richardson. Commander B. R. Willett. Lady Mackenzie and Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie.