PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 122, 26 May 1933, Page 12

PLAZA THEATRE

5 “SCARLET DAWN.” ? A wide, sweep of colourful adventure e and romance is the outstanding quab ? ity that marks “Scarlet Dawn,” in t which Douglas Fairbanks, junr., gives t his finest screen performance sine.' ? “Dawn Patrol.” “Scarlet Dawn” • shows finally at the Plaza to-day. 3 All essentials of good motion picture eni tertainment are contained in this film. l good story, fine acting, ana the superb j direction of William Dieterle, who is 3 asserting himself as one of the ace ■ directors of Hollywood. The story • opens with the beginning of the Kus- , sian Revolution of October, 1917, when • Prince Nikita, played by Douglas Fairl banks, junr., is on leave from the i front only to be caught in the maeli strom of revolt. By disguising himself 1 as a peasant, he manages to flee the . country, not without many adventures and misadventures, followed by a faithful and beautiful servant girl who had served in his ancestral home. The romance between these two and their struggle for existence in Constantinople is one of the most beautiful things that has ever come to the screen. » Ivor Novello in “The Lodger.” “Th e Lodger’’ is sure to attract big ( attendances at the Plaza Theatre, where it commences to-morrow, and it should have an unusually successful season. It is a British adaptation of Mrs Belloc Lowndes’ well-known novel, and in its translation to the screen all the best which the story contains has been found for picturegoers. The stars are Ivor Novello and Elizabeth Allan, and each has a part, of generous opportunity of which the very best use is made. The story is of the “thriller” type, but it has a startling and most unexpected denouement which is very effective in silencing those inevitable prophets who can always see the end of a film. The tale centres round the devlish activities of a murderer of the “Jack the Ripper” type, and the main interest of the theme lies in the final unmasking of the criminal. The principle of suspense is admirably used throughout the story, which is characterised by unusual logic and common sense for a film of this type. Ivor Novello, in the part of Angeloff, gives a very fine characterisation of this interesting personality, and stamps himself as one of the foremost of the pres-ent-day screen stars in England. He is ably supported throughout by Elizabeth Allan, a young player of genuine quality. She appears as the landlady’s daughter, and in conjunction with Novello, the lodger, she provides a great deal of the human interest of the film, i The supporting players are all effectively cast, and the result is an intelligent and wholly satisfying rendering of an absorbingly interesting production. “The Lodger” has the additional merit of having been produced by Maurice Elvey. the foremost English motionpicture director and in the view of many the equal, if not the superior, of many such giants in the talking-picture

world as Sternberg and Lubitsch. In conjunction with the players Elvey has succeeded in presenting something outstandingly good, which should have a very considerable effect in further popularising th? British films at the Plaza Theatre.