"MADONNA OF THE STREETS"

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 144, 20 June 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

"MADONNA OF THE STREETS"

GRAND SHOWS DRAMA. STORY IS NOVEL. An intriguing story with the fascin at,mg Evelyn Brent in a dramatic role which comes to the Grand to-day. It is “Madonna of the Streets,” the Columbia film adapted from “The Ragged Messenger” by W. Ji. Maxwell. The story is novel, not one of i.hose, hackneyed plots. May Fisher has boon companion to Howard Crane for years but has refused to merry him. Ci-inc intends to bestow wealth on her which by an ear lie- will he has left to his uephew Pete* M< it on. Before he can charge the accumeut. he is killed in an auto acculoat. Knowing the money was intended for her, Muy Fisher determines to get the money from the man to whom it was unintentionally bequeathed. She finds Peter Morton, a youthful philanthropist, running the “Star of Hope Mission” ou tho Barbary Coast. To better attain her ends, May accepts the position of assistant to him at the mission. When love enters into the game—things begin to happen verydifferentfronithccour.se of events anticipated by the originally designing May Collins. Evelyn Brent gives a dynamic and forceful performance as May. Sho is effective at all times. In addition to enhancing the role with her vivid appearance, she injects it with convincing realism. Equally effective in the role of Peter Morton is Robert Ames, who recently made such a success in “The Trespasser” and “Holiday.”

Other interesting portrayals are rendered by Ivan Linow, Josephine Dunn and Ed. Brady. John Robertson has directed with intelligence. Here is a film that will appeal—it is an intellig ent production. “Tiger Rose.” Many sequences of “Tiger Rose,” the Warner Bros, and Vitaphone production which comes to tho Grand Theatre ou Wednesday, are marked by their dramatic silences. The picture was filmed for the most part out of doors, in the deep pine w r oods near Yosemite, U.S.A., and against the magnificent lakes and vistas and rushing streams of Arrowhead and the High Sierras. At suC*b moments the effects are greatly enhanced by the murmuring of the pines, tho splash and rumble of the river rapids, tho lapping of the waves against the shore, and the faint splash of a canoe paddle—all of these sounds being realistically reproduced by the Vitaphone cameras. Monte Blue and Lupe Velez are costarred in “Tiger Rose,” which was directed by George Fitzmauriee. It is a screen adaptation of Willard Mack’s famous play. H. B. Warner, Bull Montana, Gaston Glass and Rin-Tin-Tin, are also prominently cast in this picture. “Evidence” Is Coining. Men representing three kinds of love figured in Myra Stanhope’s life; jealous, ardent love—unselfish, hopeless, devoted love and the mad, vegneful love that seeks to destroy what it cannot possess. Pauline Frederick plays the part of Myra Stanhape in “Evidence,” Warner Brothers now all-talking Vitaphone version of the famous stage play coming to the Grand Theatre on Saturday. William Courtenay plays the first kind of lover. Conway Tearle the second and Lowell Sherman the third.

Through it all she is faithful to but one of them, the man of her choice originally and not even his distrust and crueltj can kill her devotion to him. The story of the trials of Myra Stanhopi is put to, before sho succeeds in proving the honesty of her love for her husband, makes “Evidence” one of the most dramatic of tho season’s films. Other members of a featured cast are Myrna Loy, Freddie Burko Frederick, I Madeline Seymore, Lionel Belmore, Alec B. Francis and Ivan Simpson. The scenario is by J. Grubb Alexander. John Adolfi directed.