PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 195, 21 August 1935, Page 12

PLAZA THEATRE

"THE DICTATOR" “The Dictator.” a magnilirent spectacular drama, which comes to this country under the banner of Gaumont British, and is being distributed by Fox Film, will be screened at the Plaza Theatre to-day. Every setting, every scene, is a thing of beauty—an artistic triumph in every detail of lighting and composition, in the form and balance of mammoth architectural creations, in the beauty of the costuming, and in the glitter and pagean try of the backgrounds. Clive Brook and Madeleine Carroll present the con trul characters, Dr. Strucnsee and Queen Caroline respectively. Th<» locale of tho story, which is based on histori cal fact, is the Court of Denmark, and the period, tho latter part of tho eighteenth century, circa 1766, when young Princess Caroline, sister of G.eorge 111 of Engl an dp was sent to the IDanish Court to marry Christian VII, whom she had never previously seen. Repelled by th© vacillating character, no less than by the viciousness of her drink-sodden husband, she rebelled and, in her loneliness, turned to Struensee, an obscure physician but a clever opportunist who had climbed to dictatorial power over the King by the ladder of flattery. Sympathy soon ripe,ns into love between the Queen and the Dictator and their lives in this association make a superbly dramatic story rising to a poignantly emotional climax. Other players in this important production are Emlyn Williams as the King; Helen Hayes, Alfred Drayton, Nicholas ITannen, Isabel Jeans, and Frank Collier. The picture was di rected by Victor Saville. Moro than a thousand people were engaged for ensembles and small parts; two hundred took part in the riot scene, ■while in the investiture scene more than five hundred had places.