DRAMA OF CONTRASTS COMING TO LIBERTY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18544, 18 August 1928, Page 10

DRAMA OF CONTRASTS COMING TO LIBERTY.

Youth married to middle-age. May wecjded to December —can such a union be successful? Can the wedding ring bridge such a gap of years? And can a great love be expressed in terms of cruelty and selfish jealousy, the jealousy that hides a woman from the rest of the world, and forbids all platonic intercourse? Katherine Burt, a well-known American novelist, has answered these pertinent questions in her novel, "The Branding Iron.” which comes to the screen under the title "Body and Soul.” The Liberty Theatre next week features this picture, which has Aileen Pringle, Lionel Barrymore and Norman Kerry as the dramatic triangle in this vivid love story, that was very nearlv a tragedy. The story is told with deal of womanish colour and woman’s sense of what is dramatic and what is not; but it carries a tremendous punch in every scene and in every title; has suspense' and interest in every moment, and, whether one agrees with the idea or not, and whether one thinks that such a drama smacks 100 much of the theatre, "Body and Soul” will remain to the end a picture of absorbing interest, and of a skilful delineation of the human heart, and the strange ways it has of expressing its divers emotions. It has the story of a woman who married an elderly man out of something like gratitude, a crazy proceeding; and of her eventual encounter with the one man who must appear some time. In this instance he simply appeared too late, particularly too late for the husband, consumed with stupid jealousy of his young and lovely wife. Away up there in the Swiss Alps, where the world is cold but where passions rur hot, there was played out a drama cf hate and love, of a man’s better self warring against the other, and of the mental turmoil of the woman constrained to make a verdict —December or May? Quite a natural, feasible story, superbly acted by Barrymore and his associate artists, and artistically presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The three principals, Barrymore, Kerry and Miss Pringle, give faultless performances in roles of deep emotionalism. "Body and Soul” will certainly be a motion picture with a wide appeal to the public. Neil Hamilton, who had a leading role in "Beau Geste,” plays the main part in "The Shield of Honour,” the supporting feature on the programme This is a good, thorough story of a branch of secret public service, which looks like a police force equipped with aeroplanes, for the purpose of bringing to book invisible criminals. And, as in everything else in this naughty world, to the victor the spoils. It is full of brave deeds, through air pockets of adventure, a tail-spin of thrills, a nosedive into love. And Dorothy Gulliver is the girl who brings the gallant one down with a single glance. Mr Ernest Jamieson’s concert orchestra. will play the following programme; Overture, "Bronze Horse” (Auber), "Oberon” (Weber), "PreludiurrT (Chopin). "Yalse” (Louis Gamme). "Gems of Offenbach” (Ansell), “Ballet Music” (Delibes). "Lucia di Lamrnermoor” (Donizetti), “Egmont” (Beethoven), "Sweet Rosie O’Grady” (Nugent), "Dew, Dew, Dewy Day” (Sherman). Box plans are at The Bristol Piano Co-., where seats may be reserved.