PLAZA THEATRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 252, 23 October 1937, Page 11

PLAZA THEATRE

“WINGS OF THE MORNING” After many successes in the last few years the producers of England have produced a Him which will live not for a year but for a century in the history of moving pictures. The greatest film that has ever come from England, and in many respects greater than anything produced in America, ' “Wings of the Morning,” which commenced screening yesterday at three packed sessions at the Plaza Theatre, places a simple love story against a perfect backscreen of pastel shades and delightful panoramas. The natural tcchnicolour is nearer to perfect than that of any other film seen in Wanganui, and even in America, where the press hails it as surpassing all others. England boasts that this was absolutely her own production, and with the exception of the French actress, Annabella, this is quite true. Of Annabella it can be said that her beauty rivals that of the scenery of which the film is so full. Having found such pastel shades possible on the moving screen, the producers might have been excused if they had turned the picture into a travelogue of Ireland. But they have retained perfect balance between the story and the scenery, and when Steve Donoghue has won another Derby it only remains for the entire picture to be shown again. In the past many colours have failed on the film because of their harshness and this is particularly true of blues, yellows, and greens. This is no longer true, for all these colours are generously exploited and all are near to nature. The chestnut of the horses carries a sheen which has not been seen before, and the natural colourings of the faces are so near to perfect that in some of the close-ups the texture of the skin is quite distinct. “Wings of the Morning” proves that it is now possible to photograph sue-1 cessfully any colour and to reproduce it with fidelity. Of Annabella it has been said that she rivals the picture in beauty. And the simplicity of her acting in a simple story is delightful. Perhaps her most remarkable feat is that she is the first actress to carry through successfully the masquerade in modern male clothes. Although feminity is one of her greatest attributes, she looks like a boy, deepens i her voice without effort, and extracts i the full humour from the situation without ever bordering on that arti- | licial coyness which makes other boy- | impersonating actresses so embarrassing to watch. Tlie title is taken from the name of a horse owned by a band of Gipsies, and ridden to victory in the Derby by Steve Donoghue. Annabella, first as an Irish Gipsy, goes to Spain. She returns as the greatgranddaughter of the original character, with a slight Latin accent. This picture marks, too, Henry Fonda's greatest success as the horse trainer who falls for Annabella’s captivating whims. The most beautiful scenes occur at Epsom Downs among the Gipsies before and after the running of the Derby, and about the lakes of Ireland, while John McCormack sings “Killarney.” The story itself is a highly amusing comedy, and set as it is amid the beauties of Ireland in col-1 ours next to perfect, it makes a picture which must go down as a mark in the progress of moving pictures, and as the greatest triumph of English producers. To-day’s sessions will be at 10.30 a.m., 2 p.m., 4.30 p.m., and 8 p.m.