OLD ENGLISH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 109, 11 May 1931, Page 11

OLD ENGLISH

‘‘ V ESTIG IA N U LLA RETRORS U M ’ ’ “Old English,” showing at the Majestic Theatre is a picture in a thousand. There is little wonder at George Arliss, that master of characterisation, declaring that he liked this play better than “Disraeli.” “Old English” calls upon him for his very best. Based on the famous play of John Galsworthy, the central character has to fill a role that occupies the full focus of public attention right; through the piece. There is a plot in the story it is true, a very deep laid plot, wherein men quarrel over ships, over debts and things of that kind. But it is upon the central figure of Sylvanus Heythorpe, played by George Arliss, that the whole trend of tho play is dependent. Ho gives so realistic a characterisation of Galsworthy’s strong-brained English man with crippled legs, that; one can almost see the living image. Every facial expression counts in the tone beats of the play. Every little action, every mut tered word. To write one’s signature may be a commonplace thing, but when George Arliss appended his to a letter when his mind was in a state of determined strength, then signature writing became an art. The wrathful dip of the quill iu ink. The hurried scrawl of the writing. Then, finally, the rip of the pen on the underline—it was an action which only an actor like Arliss could charge so appealingly with life. And Arliss can make pleasurable eating a work of art too. On the .fateful final night, when, for tho sake of a grandchild who was “fresh as April” he makes the last break to cheat a pressing creditor of blackmail, his meal was an undertaking so realistical, so typical of the man that Galsworthy created that the audience could not fail to sense the power of tho actor. Strong in brain, courageous in spirit, independent in action. Arliss portrays all these fundamentals in his characterisation of “Ol<l English” and in his spirit of determination it is of significance to note that he uses the motto of the Wanganui Collegiate School—“Vestigia Nulla Rctrorsuin,” no footsteps backward. No truer description of the man could be applied. He had had his day, ho had had his youth. Now his legs were crippled and his brain he used to see that others got their d»y too. He liked the freshness of spring. He liked, also, power. But above all tkings his courage and a love one could sense deep down underneath, shone from a wonderful personality. There are too few pictures like “Old English.” bringing with them a breath of the Old Land, of the sturdy independence of the men who braved the seas.