“OUTCAST LADY.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20537, 12 February 1935, Page 3

“OUTCAST LADY.”

Michael ArHn Story for Tivoli. In “ The Pursuit of Happiness," (Joan Bennett, Charles Ruggles and Mary Boland) the current attraction at the Tivoli Theatre, audiences are treated to a novel comedy that draws continuous chuckles of merriment punctuated by occasional outbursts of loud lauaghter. The supports are excellent.

Michael Arlen’s story of a very gallant lady, as told in his well-known novel “The Green Hat” forms the basis of the sincere and moving drama, “ Outcast Lady,” which will head the new programme at the Tivoli Theatre on Saturday. Produced with the customary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer deftness and most ably acted by principals and supporting cast alike, the film captures admirably the post-war atmosphere which was so prominent in the novel. Constance Bennett gives undoubtedly the finest performance of her screen career as the notorious Iris March, descendant of a luckless and decadent stock, who is prepared to sacrifice her reputation and her happiness to shield her worthless brother. The story has many curious and fantastic twists, as most of Arlen’s plots have, but the power of the acting, particularly Constance Bennett’s, makes it a very noteworthy picture. Iris March becomes a figure which is tragic in its faults. Her pride and her inflexible courage form the very means by which her character is most bitterly attacked by the world, but they make her a personality which retains the deep interest of the audience throughout. Playing opposite Constance Bennett, as Napier, Herbert Marshall gives a typically restrained character study, while Ralph Forbes is also excellent as Captain “ Boy ” Fenwick. Henry Stephenson, Elizabeth Allen, and Mrs Patrick Campbell are also prominent in the supporting cast. Box plans at the D.I.C.