GLORIOUS COLOUR

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

GLORIOUS COLOUR

PLAZA HAS ROMANCE. "WINGS OF THE MORING.” Brought to the screen in all the life-like beauty of natural tcchnicolour, “Wings of the Morning,” the romance of a lovely fugitive fleeing from strife-torn Spain, opens to-morrow at the Plaza Theatre. Annabella, a new and alluring sensation of the screen, is starred with Henry Fonda and Leslie Banks in the film, which presents the worldfamous tenor, John McCormack. A thrilling mixture of drama, spectacle, and surprise, the Twentieth CenturyFox release achieves remarkable effects through its natural, perfected technicolour. The spectacular changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, the most sensational Derby ever run, with jockey Steve Donoghue riding his most thrilling race; John McCormack, beloved Irish tenor, singing the songs of Ireland that have made him famous—these are a few of the moments that make “Wings of the Morning” a film at once beautiful and breath-taking. As different and alluring as her unusual name, the lovely Annabella appears first in a prologue, showing her as Marie, a gipsy princess. She marries Leslie Banks, the Earl of Clontarf, who dies on the hunting field live months later, and learns, when she returns to the gipsies, that her marriage has brought a curse on her descendants for three generations. As the greatgranddaughter of that gipsy princess, Marie appears in modern times, fleeing from a Spain torn by revolution. Sale in Ireland, Marie seeks a trainer for her horse, “Wifigs of the Morning," so that she may win the English Derby and a dowry that will enable her to marry the Hance she left in Spain. Henry Fonda, as Kerry Gilfallen, a young Irish trainer, falls in love with Marie and agrees to train her horse, though he has a Derby candidate of his own. He gives a party for Marie, at which John McCormack sings, and when the girl’s jockey breaks his leg, it is Kerry who volunteers the services of his own jockey, the famed Steve Donoghue. This Kerry does, although he realises that a Derby victory, and a dowry, will probably take Marie away from him for ever. Although seeming victory comes to Marie in the most sensational Derby ever run, the curse of the gipsies has yet another stroke of misfortune for her, and it is Marie's great-grandmother whose earthly gesture comes to the rescue in a startling conclusion that removes the curse for ever and makes possible the union of Kerry and Marie. Stewart Rome, Harry Tate, and Irene Vanbrugh are also featured in the cast. Gershwin Musicale. The late George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" is on the schedule for presensation in California shortly, beginning in San Francisco. It is to be given for the first time as a complete musical production. Just prior to his death Gershwin was collaborating with Merle Armitage, a famous American impresario, for the presentation of which he considered his greatest work. He had planned to conduct the opening nights at both Los Angeles and San Francisco, on a scale comparable with the New York Theatre Guild's production. It is to be presented in California just as the late composer desired—a tribute to one of the ilnest souls in the music world. South African Play. A new play by the actress Isobel Ohmead was produced recently at Daly's in London for the benefit of the fund to endow a bed for South Africans and Rhodesians in St. Thomas’ Hospital. The play, which is called “African Dawn,” is a chronicle of South African life from 1899 to the present day. Leontine Sagan, herself a South African, was the producer, and the cast included Nora Swinburne and Esmond Knight. During the matinee performance, two of the wittiest and best impromptu speakers in theatrical circles, Lilian Braithwaite and Naunton Wayne made speeches on behalf of the charity. Versatile Actress. Versatility is personified by Fay Compton, England's greatest actress, who will make her first appearance in Australia, under the management of J. C. Williamson Ltd. at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne, on October 23, in “Victoria Regina.” In musical productions, comedy, romantic, and historical drama, and Shakespeare, Fay Compton has demonstrated her genius in every phase of stage art. She was Fanny in "Autumn Crocus”; Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”; Ophelia with John Barrymore as Hamlet; Titania in “A Midsummer Night's Dream”; Mary Rose in Barrie's errie play; Susan in "Quality Street”; and one of her greatest triumphs was achieved as Peter Pan. Last year, one of her outstanding successes was achieved in Ivor Novello's play, "Proscenium," which will be included in her Australian repertoire. A London paper recently said: "Without any fear of contradiction it may be said that Fay Compton is the most versatile actress on the English-speaking stage.” Jean Harlow’s Last Picture.

Behind the release of the new Met-ro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, “Saratoga” with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in the starring roles, lies one of the most unusual technical tasks ever attempted in a Hollywood studio, When the flood of letters began pouring into the M-G-M studio demanding the release of this picture, Director Jack Conway was faced with the problem of devising a means of finishing the few uncomplete scenes without the feminine star. The solution lay in rewriting these sequences to eliminate as far as possible the character she played; re-editing scenes already filmed to conform with the new treatment; and the use of several technical devices. Fortunately, the ending of the picture with Miss Harlow and Clark Gable had already been filmed. Miss Harlow was in all the scenes up to the next to last reel of the production. A double was used in the few rewritten scenes, but her appearances were minimised. In these instances, only “long shots”