ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1933, Page 11

ENTERTAINMENTS

SPLENDID CHARACTER ACTING. BARRYMORE AT. THE OPERA HOUSE Few people have ever F ~ bted Lionel Barrymore’s genius as a < “er actor. 'He can be relied upon to give a feeling interpretation to parts of a widely' varied nature and therefore no surprise was caused by his delineation in the film of the Daniel Pardway of Lester Cohen’s popular novel. The picture, which was called “Sweepings,” opened a three-night presentation at the New Plymouth Opeia House last night before a good audience. Though he is the chief personage Barrymore’s performance alone was not the sole reason for the film’s excellent reception. All the other parts are taken well and the film story as a whole is executed in a thorough and satisfying manner. The story is that of a man who rests the whole foundation of his life squarely upon his faith and hope in his children, only to tottei* to a grand but pitiful ruin as each in turn fails him. After the death of his wife, whom he has sacrified to his ambition, Daniel Pardway’s life is bound up in two interests, his store which he founded in the ashes of the Chicago fire, and his four children, whom he hopes will some day become his partners in the store. But his success is his family’s ruin. The manner of his fall is best left to Barrymore’s own telling in the medium he has succeeded in using so well—the screen. The children of Pardway are played by Eric Linden, William Gargan and Gloria Stuart in a good workmanlike way. The supports to the Ahn are splendid..