OUTSTANDING FILM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 563, 17 September 1932, Page 25 (Supplement)

OUTSTANDING FILM.

Barrymore Brothers Star in “ Arsene Lupin.”

" Doctors’ Wives,” starring Joan Bennett and Warner Baxter, will be shown at Everybody’s Theatre for the last time to-night. Thrilling mystery, sophisticated humour and the engaging rojnance of a master criminal and the feminine spy who is hired to track him down, are expertly blended in “Arsene Lupin,” which commences a return season at Everybody’s Theatre on Monday. In this film, John Barrymore and his brother, Lionel, make their first appearance together on the screen. The principal characters of the thief, Arsene Lupin, and the detective, Guerchard, are already familiar to readers of Maurice Le Blanc’s mystery stories, but in the portrayals of the Barrymores they receive an added fiesh-and-blood reality and contrive to be as intriguing and entertaining representatives of the hide-and-seek school of mystery drama as has been seen in the talking films in several seasons. The story is filled with unique situations. There is a dramatic episode in which the spy attempts to besmirch her honour in order to create an alibi for the thief; and there is an engrossing sequence in which the grim detective is faced with the choice of releasing Arsene Lupin or losing his daughter, who has been kidnapped by the thief’s henchmen. Further thrills are provided bv the daring theft of the famous painting, “Mona Lisa,” from the Louvre, and an hilarious moment when the police detectives mistakenly arrest their own chief as a result of the j machinations of the wily Lupin. The acting of both John and Lionel Barrymore, it is hardly necessary to say, is practically flawless, it being well-nigh impossible to think of two other performers who could handle their respective roles anywhere near as well. Box plans at The Bristol.