“BERKELEY SQUARE”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 82, 7 April 1934, Page 14

“BERKELEY SQUARE”

LESLIE HOWARD STARRED, ELABORATE PLAZA FILM. Long awaited as an event of cinematic importance. Fox Film’s production of “Berkeley Square” opens to-day at the Plaza Theatre. This picture, the fourth independent effort by Jesse L. Lasky, has been produced on au elaborate scale, somewhat similar ,to “Cavalcade.” The picture was di- ! rented by Frank Lloyd, maker of “Cavalcade” and boasts a notable cast headed by Leslie Howard ami 'Heather Angel. “Berkeley .Square,” i which played twice in London and for 1 eight months on Broadway as a play is i unusual in theme. The story concerns i itself with a man of the present who believes the past still exists. His desire to take himself back 150 years becomes so great that he forgets the present and finds himself living in the eighteenth century. As a man of the present living in the past, Leslie Howard finds he has many difficult problems to solve, the most important of which is his love for Heather Angel. The mutual attraction of these two I people, each from a different era, gives i“ Berkeley Square” the unusual touch ' that has made it the talk of the country. Leslie Howard who has a difficult ' role to portray, is said to give, an inspired performance that outdoes any of his former roles. Heather Angel, who is seen opposite Howard, plays her most important role to date. The remaining members of the cast include Valeric Taylor, Irene Browne, Olaf Hytten, Beryl Mercer. Coliu KeithJohnston, Alan Mowbray, Juliette Compton. Betty Lawford, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Samuel Hinds and David Torrence.

1 Janet, Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore, ‘.wo of the screen’s most popular players, are brought together in “Carolina,” next Saturday’s attraction at rhe Plaza Theatre, and the result is a line piece of entertainment. The story has as its moral the fact that the past, no matter how proud it may be in its traditions , must bow to the present in order to meet the future. There is nothing unusually deep or original in the story, but it is capable 'of application to many families other | ‘han the proud possessors of Connelly Hull, Carolina, in and around which the action takes place. Janet. Gaynor plays the part of Joanna, left fatherless, with two young brothers to provide for, and shouldering tho responsibility of farming a section of land leased from the Connellys. Connelly’ Hall was built out of•the immense profits of slave-worked cotton plantations and, in the Civil War, its owners provided men and money for the Confederate cause. The losing of the war meant the losing of the Connelly for- ■ tune, but Mrs. Connolly (Henrietta Grosman), head of the house at the beginning of the twentieth century, refuses to change fjrom cotton to the more profitable tobacco which Joanna has put her trust in. Lionel Barrymore is seen as Uncle Robert Connelly, a veteran of the Civil War, 1 whose life was spoilt through a romance shattered by the, scheming of Mrs. Connelly, his sister-in-law. Mrs, Connelly also doe.i her best to stop a love affair bet woo., her son Will (Robert Young) and Joanna, as she desires Will to marry a Charleston heiress in order to rehabilitate the family fortunes. There is u dramatic scone when Uncle Robert discovers that Joanna is th« daughter of his long-lost sweetheart and the manner in which Mrs. Connelly is finally forced to abandon her prejudices provides an interesting ending. Newsreels, glimpses of London, and a sound cartoon aits included in a varied supporting pro gramme. Second Role. Frances Drake, vivacious brunette and newcomer to Paramount from England, lias been awarded a second assignment. Following her appearance in “Bolero” oppo site George Raft. Paramount executives have awarded her a second appearance opposite Raft in “Tho Trumpet Blows.”