“EAST LYNNE” CONTINUES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1931, Page 27 (Supplement)

“EAST LYNNE” CONTINUES.

So very popular has “ East Lynne ”, which is screening at the Crystal, proved with the public, and especially , ® womenfolk of Christchurch, that it nas been found necessary to extend its season for a second week. This Fox talkie version of the famous play is in excellent, with a cast that is really brilliant, and it well deserves the enthusiastic reception accorded to it. fj} 1 } , Hardin S Plays the heroine, Lady tn^ bel, char »uiog and unutterably f ad ’. wlt h every attempt at happiness bitterness and disillusion'2?®?** £ or l rad has the part of Robert Carlyle, the self-centred lawyer, husband of Lady Isabel, and he acts the priggish role to perfection. The other leading male role is enacted by Brook, as Captain Levison. so tender and attentive at first, to fall •away from grace as lie becomes “ a man without a country.” Brook makes , splendid job of his part. As the overbearmg, sour, Puritanical sister-in-law Isabel, Cecilia Loftus has a difficult part, and so well does she act that she earns the thorough hatred of aadienc e in her attempts to restrain Aif ht of “ the social butterfly.” Reryl Mercer maintains the high standard she set in “ Three Live Ghosts,” as Joyce, the faithful nurse who lets child Isabel her love for her A word must be said about the costuming and the photography. Ann Harding invests the frocks of grandmother’s day with all their old dignity and grace. Frills and flounces, neck pendants, charming little hats, and curly all are there. The photography is excellent, with much subtle work that might go unnoticed by the casual viewer of the picture. ‘ East Lynne ” is a very comprehensive play, and much more complicated than the average modern production, in it there are love interest, mother love, the eternal triangle,” society and meddlesomeness. “BODY AND SOUL.” Unusual interest centres In the new picture. Body and Soul," whfch is oausp S soon tD T® Crystal Palace, because it stars the new find Elissa d?ve d loneJ a i kine ‘ p L cture Production has developed so much along the lines of sai??; drama that a seafeh has neceasauiy set in for actresses of great emotmnai power—women capable of giving reality an<i naturalness to the very tense situaLoms that screen drama delights in. Some of these “situations” aave been obviously beyond the capacity of certain old “ silent ” stars, who have either sacrificed restraint in a vain effort to “ shake things up ” or v 10 ’ ®*' ring ’. in tho other direction, have fallen into flatness. Of Elissa Landi it can be said that she has the magnetic quality that holds an audience without effort. There is p ° labouring to produce an effect, but the effect is there. She is subtle with- °* *L nvitln& the accusation of subtlety; at the same time, there is something elusive about her—something clearly felt, but not obtrusive. Passion as presented by Landi cannot tax the credulity—though this is frequently the case when poor actress and a poorer director come together. The cast is not oniy headed by players of personality like Landi and Charles Farrell, but is composed of capable support players. Jarrell Is a flying officer who, against orders, * flies with his nervous chum (Watson) when the latter loses his life in carrying out an order to destroy a German balloon. In Watson’s interest, Farrell seeks out Watson’s mistress in London, and meets Watson's widow, who poses as the N mistress. This lady is played by Landi. Although he wrongly believes her to have been Watson s paramour, Farrell is fascinated by her, and this is where Landi’s art has its opportunity. Both are accused of spying, but the denouement is that Mrs Watson reveals her rtdentitv, and the real spy is the mistress (Myrna Loy).