NEW FILM FOR CIVIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23055, 4 June 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

NEW FILM FOR CIVIC

No one has depicted the life of the American country-bred child with more truth and charm than the humorist, Mark Twain, and in its translation to the screen medium his "Adventures of Tom Sawyer," which will shortly be shown at the Civic Theatre, has lost nothing of its freshness and interest.

In the title role the newcomer, Tommy Kelly, makes an astonishing success. It is impossible to deny the exactness of his personification, and it is probable that none of the child players at present in films'could have bettered his performance. Ann Gillis, also now to the cinema, is a delightful Becky Thatcher, with hor child's whims and caprice, and the two manage to invest the film with the authentic touch of juvenile romance. There are five othpr children in the picture, and none of them falls short of the high standard set by the leads. Cora Sue Collins as Amy Lawrence, Becky's rival, David Holt as the selfrighteous Sid, and Jackie Moran as the famous Huck Finn, are perhaps the most impressive in their roles. Among the adults, May Robson as Tom's Aunt Polly is another who fits perfectly into the part. Filmed throughout in technicolour, the picture has real beauty as_ well as brilliance of cnsting and direction, and by these qualities will delight as many grown-ups as children.