“ONLY YESTERDAY.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20311, 22 May 1934, Page 3

“ONLY YESTERDAY.”

Margaret Sullavan Starred in Charming Film. “ The House on 56th Street,” a drama, in which Kay Francis scores a real triumph, heads the well balanced bill of fare at the Tivoli Theatre this week. It all concerns a beautiful and popular chorus girl who weds a young millionaire and is ideally happy until she innocently becomes involved in the death of her former lover. Frank dialogue, which would have made our grandparents swoon in horror, has become so general in the modern stage and picture play that theatre-goers take it as a matter of course—education, a broader knowledge of life’s exigencies, having brought about a revolution in what may be said and what should be shrouded in the veils of “ modesty.” “ Only Yesterday,” which will be presented at the Tivoli on Saturday, is a great vehicle for the tragedy of a woman’s life, stark realism —the sort of thing that hurts—and it goes hand in hand with perhaps the frankest dialogue the screen has yet recorded. Yet it is a charming film, containing moments of delightful comedy as relief zo the emotional tensity of the theme, and as Mary Lane, Margaret Sullavan, round whom the plot revolves, brilliantly handles delicate situations, ofwhich daring dialogue is part and parcel. Loving a man who does not even remember her after their brief affair, she makes of the scenes that ensue something so touching and realistic that it is difficult not to be great.lv affected. To make men and women be lieve that she is actually going : through the experiences of a woman foigotten, with all its tragic consequences, Margaret Sullavan must have exceptional talent. “ Only Yesterdav ” is one of the really big pictures of the year, and is bound to have a successful season. Box plans open on Thursday at the D.I.C.