ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 23848, 20 June 1939, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE “MARIE 4 — “Marie Antoinette,” which is proving to be a great attraction at h the Regent is one of the greatest pictures yet made in Hollywood—or anywhere. It is a great spectacle which shows history in the terms of the human beings who compose it, with their desires, ambitions, feelings, loves and hatreds, joy and misery, wisdom and folly, all laid bare by the dramatic ability of the [men and women' presenting them. Yet the story deals firstly and chiefly with the personal life of Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who marries the Dauphin of France. She is first seen as a young girl filled with delight when she is informed that she is to become a queen some day when her husband-to-be shall have ascended the throne. Norma Shearer enters into the gaiety and childish joy of Marie Antoinette with youthfulness and freshness and gradually she ages with the years. But her joy Is imed into misery for at least the first two years after marriage, as no children bless the union. For this the king’s mistress, Madame du Barry (Gladys George) sneers at her, and her court life is one of slights and indifference, if not hatred. Marie falls in love with Count Alex de Fersen (Tyrone Power). But the death of the king that night makes Marie and the Dauphin Queen and King of France. The lovers decide to nart, and later on two children, a boy and a girl, are bom to the royal pair. Disruption and ruin set in with the revolution. Norma Shearer has never, in her list of triumphs, made a more remarkable recreation of a character, and she carries her audiences with her in every moment. Next to her performance comes that of a newcomer, Robert Morley, as King Louis XVI. In a subtle and consistent presentation, Morley proves himself an actor of the first water. John Barrymore, as his grandfather, Louis XV, is first class. Tyrone Power, as the lover of Marie Antoinette, will deeply attract and entrench himself more firmly in the hearts of his fans. All minor roles are excellently filled and acted by a cast of well known players, each one superbly cast. Box plans for the season are at H. and J. Smith’s, Rice’s Regent shop and the theatre. /