PHENOMENAL SUCCESS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 5

PHENOMENAL SUCCESS

SHAW'S “PYGMALION.” AT PLAZA TO-MORROW. Acclaimed by the world’s Press as "a production that marks a new era in picture presentation,” Bernard Shaw’s "Pygmalion,” a Pascal Film released by G.8.D., will be screened at three sessions to-morrow at the Plaza Theatre. The first London release took place with memorable results in October last; in Australia, at Sydney, on December 16, at Melbourne on December 26, and at Brisbane in January. It is still piling up records in the three Australian cities; and it has enjoyed phenomenal runs in Auckland. Wellington and Christchurch. The story of "Pygmalion’’ is the story of a modern Cinderella, Eliza Doolittle, daughter of a none-too-reputable dustman with an unquenchable thirst, an uneducated girl of the slums, a gallant little battler, with the world against her, who strove hard for an honest crust by selling flowers in Covent Garden Market. Eliza Doolittle’s chance comes through her accidental meeting with Professor Higgins, a teacher of phonetics, and his admirer, Colonel Pickering, while rain-soaked and bedraggled, she beseeches them, with an atrocious Cockney accent, to buy a bunch of violets, Higgins boasts that he could, by tuition, remove all trace of the accent, teach her manners and deportment, dress her properly, and pass her off as an out-and-out lady at a high social function without the deception being detected. Colonel Pickering dares him to take Eliza in hand and make good his boast. He accepts the challenge and starts in on his great experiment, with the amazing result that in a few months the former Cinderella of the slums is presented at an ambassadorial reception. Told by the in imitable Shaw, with his satire and his always witty dialogue and comic characterisations working overtime, the story unfolds amidst roars of laughter, Leslie Howard is credited with presenting the finest work of his career, while Wendy Hiller, as the flower girl, gives an amazing performance.