HAYWARD'S PICTURES.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14656, 9 March 1918, Page 7

HAYWARD'S PICTURES.

"THE FLAMES OF JOHAKrNIS."

Theatre-goers will remember the sensation that the talented actress Nance O Neil caused when she presented Sudermann'siamous play "The Fires of St John, ' or, as its original title is "The .1 lames of Johannis." Sudermann presented a remarkable play of human passion set amid simple surroundings but with a plot of powerful drama and tragedy, and Nance o'Neil was truly wonderful as the "child of calamity." In the screen version the play has been strengthened to a remarkable degree, and it was found possible for Miss o'Neil to portray the two greas parts of mother and daughter—the drunken gipsy and tragic girl. It is difficult to believe that the hideous unkempt outcast and the sad-faced girl are played by the one woman, but thp genius of Nauee O'Neil enables her to do this with magnetic force ai;U personality. The production las bof-n given every benefit of artistic- direction in the suiting, nnd the settings for the scenes, in i'aefc. the beautiful photography is a .distinctly strong point in the picture.