“THE SOLITAIRE MAN.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 936, 5 December 1933, Page 3

“THE SOLITAIRE MAN.”

Herbert Marshall Has Lead in Drama for Regent. Warner Baxter and Myrna Boy are the featured players In “ Penthouse,” the splendid drama which heads the hill of fare at the Regent Theatre this week. “The Solitaire Man,” a stirring drama of Continental super-crooks, featuring the English actor, Herbert Marshall, will open on Saturday at the Regent Theatre. In no other picture since the advent of sound on the screen has there been packed a similar penetrating study of hur this new offering. A large portion of the action takes place in the cabin of a. passenger plahe during a flight over the English Channel. Into this small space, hardly six by twenty feet, has been condensed the drama of human lives faced with death and dishonour. The action is covered in intimate closeups that reveal the slightest mental change of the players. As dramatic tensions are built up in the confined space, the emotion is transmitted with maximum power to the audience. A notable cast has been assembled for the leading roles with Marshall in a portrayal that is pleasingly reminiscent of “ Trouble in Paradise.” As a war hero forced to become a thief through financial reverses he scores with a performance full of reserve power. Elizabeth Ajian, recently from the English stage, is given a dramatic opportunity that she plays to the limit. Also featured prominently are May Robson, as a dignified English “dowager” tvho assists in disposing of jewellery with aristocratic dignity and a high sense of comedy; I,ion<-I Atwill, the insidious Forbes in a difficult role as a neurotic war veteran, which he plays with convincing realism, and Mary Boland in a role that exactly suits her laughgetting talents. Rueille Gleason and Robert M'Wade also contribute excellent performances. Settings, the exact duplicate of many famous gambling resorts in Europe, are a feature, and every feminine player is brilliantly costumed in the latest fashions. Box plans at The Bristol.