THE MAJESTIC

Southland Times, Issue 25308, 11 June 1935, Page 5

THE MAJESTIC

Now Showing: “Great Expectations” (Henry Hull, Phillips Holmes. Jane Wyatt. Florence Reed, Valerie Hobson). Commencing Wednesday: "Smiling Through" (Norma Shearer. Leslie Howard. Fredric March. O. P. Heggie, Ralph Forbes, Beryl Mercer. David Torrence). . Commencing Saturday: "Murder in the I Clouds" (Lyle Talbot, Ann Dvorak, I Gordon Westcott, George Cooper). | Coming Attractions: Double Programme. "Secret of the Chateau" (Claire Dodd, . Alice White. Osgood Perkins, Jack Larlie. Clark Williams); “There’s Always To-morrow” (Frank Morgan, Blnnie Barnes. Lois Wilson, Alan Hale, Elizabeth Young. Louise Latimer). All lovers of Dickens will heartily enjoy the thrill of seeing a Dickens story come to life in “Great Expectations,” now at the Majestic. Nothing in the whole range of Dickens surpassed this great story of love, intrigue and adventure, either in perfection of technique or in mastery of all the resources of the novelist’s art. Swinburne once said- of it: “To have created Abel Magwitch is to be a God.” Henry Hull, who portrays the role of the convict, “Magwitch,” gives one of the most startling characterizations ever seen on the screen. The character, “Pumblechook,” enacted by Forrester Harvey, is actually better, more droll and truer to imagination on the screen than in' the book. “Joe Gargery,” the village blacksmith (Alan Hale), is quite the most lovable character, with his simple and delightful philosophy. Of all of Dickens characters, “Joe” is one of the most attractive. The little boy, “Pip,” played by George Breakston, is a splendidly drawn picture of childhood and no doubt Dickens drew upon his own experiences to show us so clearly little Pip’s view of life. The thrashing little “Pip” administers to “Herbert Pocket” (Jackie Searl), and the result later on, of cementing a great friendship, is one of the finest bits of sentiment. Then, too, there are “Jaggers” (Francis L. Sullivan), the inscrutable lawyer, “Sarah Pocket” (Elly Malyon); the mean and lowly relation; the halfwitted “Miss Havisham” (Florence Reed) and “Estella” (Jane Wyatt), her ward, brought up to make men love her and lay that love at her feet, only for her to scorn it.

“Smiling Through” was one of Miss Jane Cowl’s most lachrymose vehicles back in those immediate post-war days when tears were tears. The fact, therefore, that the film turns out to be a genuinely effective romantic drama in this more cynical age, is a proof of an admirable production and some good acting. Norma Shearer, in the dual role of Moonye-en Clare, the little Irish girl, keeps the double role from drift-

ing off into either pathos or feebleness. Fredric March, always one of the best actors in the cinema heads the male cast with Leslie Howard, who in his characterization of the lover of Moonyeen, who becomes the embittered guardian of her niece carries the pathos of the flashback episode brilliantly. As director of Miss Shearer’s production of “Smiling Through,” Sydney Franklin is repeating the service he performed in Norma Talmadge’s silent

production. “Smiling Through” comes to the Majestic on Wednesday, and should be as popular as it was in August, 1933.

“Murder in the Clouds,” the new First National mystery thriller, comes to the Majestic Theatre on Saturday, with Lyle Talbot, Anh Dvorak and Gordon Westcott heading the all star cast. It is an exciting melodrama of the air, written by the noted magazine writers, Roy Chanslor and Dore Schary, concerning a plot of Internationa* conspirators to steal a secret formula for high explosives from the U.S. government. Learning that the formula is being shipped from the West Coast to the War Department in Washington, by plane, the band of spies blow up the ship thousands of feet in the air. This leads to a thrilling hunt for the air robbers in which ships are shot down in flames as their occupants leap for their lives. There also is a stirring romance in which two air pilots battle for the love of a girl. Her kidnapping by the conspirators involves more exciting incidents that wind up in a crashing climax.