OUTSTANDING FILM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 697, 25 February 1933, Page 25 (Supplement)

OUTSTANDING FILM.

Marie Dressier Gives Great Portrayal in “ Emma.” “ Grand Hotel,” the fine talking picture version of Vicki Baum’s novel of the same name, will be shown at Everybody’s Theatre for the last time to-night. „ Marie Dressler’s great film, Emma, will begin a return season at Everybody’s Theatre on Monday. In Marie Dressler’s work the public have come to look for something out of the way, and her latest picture certainly provides unusual entertainment of a very high order. Her type is unusual, and naturally her genius is not suited to the ordinary run of film story. 4 Emma was specially written for her by Frances Marion, who has suceeded in making a tale which is forceful by virtue of its simplicity and faithfulness. Incidentally, the picture is exceptionally well filmed and staged. The story is simple in the extreme, and its simple plot makes great demands on the talents of Marie Dressier, who occupies the centre of interest practically continuously. Marie Dressler’s part is that of Emma, the servant of the family of an inventor. She mothers his four children, mothers the inventor and his wife, and is generally the hub around which the whole household revolves. The inventor prospers, and twenty years after the opening scene ! Emma is still the commander of the | household, now a very substantial I establishment. Emma decides to take her first holiday for thirty years, but the inventor, appalled at the thought of the house without her, decides to marry her. The family is by this time filled with high social ambitions, and when the father dies, leaving all his I fortune to Emma, they attempt to get

the will upset by proving murder against Emma. The denouement is characteristic of Emma, and makes a most satisfying ending to a thoroughly sound picture. Marie Dressler’s work is superb. She never for an instant falters, and carries her part throughout with a natural grace and vivacity that immediately place her far above the average run of actresses. Box plans at The Bristol.