“FAREWELL AGAIN”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 250, 21 October 1937, Page 3

“FAREWELL AGAIN”

LOVE ON A TROOPSHIP. FINE FILM FOR REGENT. An aspect of British life that has rarely before been treated in films, the protection and policing of the tar corners of the Empire, provides the basis upon which has been created the film “Farewell Again,’ which will open a season at the Regent Theatre on Saturday.

This is not a war film, although it deals with soldiers; nor is it a “jingoist” picture, although the men and women who are portrayed in it are patriots in the best sense of the word. “Farewell Again,” in short, is a film that makes its appeal to the emotions not from any flag-waving sentiment, but because it reveals the hearts of the men to whom the guardianship of the Empire is entrusted. Leslie Banks takes the part of Colonel Blair, Flora Robson appearing with him as his wife. Both these acomplished actors create, as it were, the atmosphere of the picture, showing that restraint in acting is far more effective than rhetoric, and that a convincing naturalness can make a character live that would otherwise languish in unreality. Sebastian Shaw, last seen in the film “Men Are Not Gods,” takes the part of Captain Reed, who is going to England to be married, but who finds that he had fallen in love with a nurse on board the troopship. He shows a feeling for those smaller points of character that lead to reality, as does Patricia Hilliard, who is seen as the nurse. Humour of a type linked with the army is found in the portrayals of Wally Patch and Edward Lexy, who appear as Sergeant-Major Billings and Sergeant Brough respectively. A feature of the supporting programme is a Walt Disney Academy Award Revue, comprising several of the most popular cartoons made by Walt Disney and his band of artists.