“ CARMEN ” IS FINE PICTURE NOW AT CRYSTAL PALACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18545, 20 August 1928, Page 7

“ CARMEN ” IS FINE PICTURE NOW AT CRYSTAL PALACE.

The Cast. Carmen Dolores Del Rio. Escamillo Victor M’Laglen. Don Jose Don Alvarado. Michaela , Nancy Nash. Captain Morales .... John Bastian. All this week, at Crystal Palace Theatre, the " Carmen ” season will prevail, a festival of drama and music calculated to appeal to the cultured tastes of local audiences. This “ Carmen,” based on the opera by the Frenchman, Bizet, and the original novelist of the story. Prosper Merimee, is a triumph of screen art as applied to the transplanting of grand opera on to the silver sheet. All the art and beauty of the operatic version are retained in this version, with the added advantages that must necessarily come in a film edition. To make the whole season more attractive a special grand opera orchestra is playing with the production, which will be under the baton of Mr Alfred Bunz. playing the Bizet score, as well as Spanish and Basque traditional airs and melodies Also, a brilliant atmospheric prologue will be staged, in which Carmen. Esca--millo and Don Jose, appear in songs and arias from the opera. Miss Olga Wackcd, the brilliant Christchurch soprano, will play Carmen, while Mr C. R. Williamson will be Don Jose, the soldier, and Mr R. Allison will appear The story, which has been immortalised on the classic stage, and now on the. screen, is the story of a gipsy charmer of Seville. Carmen, the cigarette girl, and her triumphant, wanton way with the hearts of men. Any such story, in any clime, would be naturally fraught with drama of an exceptionally vivid standard, but put such a situation among the Southerners, and you have a particularly highly coloured romance, a romance that is, moreover, essentially a love tragedy. On the screen, while still retaining its fine, operatic qualities, already enhanced by the music, it is infinitely more human than the Bizet version, which concentrated, after all, on the musical aspects. It is the story of the Spanish Camille, but a strong, wayward Camille, tossing her conquests aside as soon as her eyes fell on the gorgeous person of Escamillo, the toreador. Raoul Walsh, the producer of this picture, has speeded up the alluring, piquant theme; in parts he has allowed a humorous element to creep into the story. The picture is sumptuously produced, mounted in true Spanish as Escamillo, the toreador and Sir Cyril Poulton in "Dance Carmenesque.” fashion, and preserving throughout its atmosphere of carnival mood, Seville and the tavern and the smugglers’ inn being in festa mood all the time. And the acting is magnificent. Dolores . del Rio is Carmen, a glittering, fiery, heartr less creature, who wears her voluminous laces and mantillas with an intriguing air, no legs so than the rags of her days as a quarrelsome cigarette girl. That episode in the cigarette factory when Carmen cleans up a fellow worker for an unfortunate interest in one of Carmen s lovers, is a great piece of work, not without its lighter side. Del Rio can, it appears, fight just as well as she can make love and dance and steal the hearts of the Seville garrison. And at the end, when this being with the heart of a child, the body of a wanton and the soul of a woman fell before the frantic revenge of Don Jose, the spurned soldier. the bewildered audience is in doubt whether to applaud the action of the soldier or to mourn for the wayward and.lovely gipsy. Victor M’Laglen, as the toreador, duplicates his Captain Flagg by giving a forceful, hard and virile performance. There is little polish about this bull-fighter, but he is a fine person to look at, has a way with the sen.oritas and pleases Carmen, so he served his purpose on this planet well. Don Jose’s part is taken by the Spanish actor, Don Alvarado, who gives of the rather weak soldier an attractive portrayal. Nancy Nash is the wistful Michaela, and invites much sympathy for that neglected young woman. For the rest the cast is admirably chosen, particular attention going to the chorus, carnival crowds, bullfight audiences and all the other adjuncts to the correct and conventional “ Carmen.” But this “ Carmen ” can hardly be called conventional, for it is so much more heady and romantic than any stage version, and so much more spectacular. The film censor recommends this picture to adult audiences. Patrons of Crystal Palace arc advised to book seats at The Bristol Piano Company, for there is a heavy demand on the booking and the season is strictly limited.