TALKIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 76, 2 August 1948, Page 6

TALKIES

Mews, View® and Forthcoming Events

FILMLAND’S LATEST DISCOVERY FROM SWEDEN—MAI ZETTERLING—STARS IN MICHAEL BALCON’S NEW PRODUCTION Except that she spoke with; a foreign accent, the slight figure in the London underground trains attracted no particular attention as she travelled from Victoria to Ealing. She had an unusual beauty when her face became animated, and one immediately became conscious of the loveliness of her very large blue eyes. Apart from that there was nothing to suggest that she differed in any way from the many other tube travellers.

This was the manner in which Mai Zetterling, filmland’s latest discovery from Sweden, travelled to and from Ealing Studios every day during the making of “Frieda.” When she arrived at Ealing Station, she boarded a bus which took her to the Studio gates. Mai (pronounced My) preferred to travel in this manner—“ Because” she would explain, “this is the best way to get to know the people of a country. You see more varied and interesting types in a tube train or on a bus than anywhere else. There are no third class or first class differences. Everyone has to travel together.” From the same school of stars as Garbo, Bergman and Vivecia Lindfors, she is a natural actress, fascinating, intense and anything but showy. Mai’s reputation' on the Swedish screen had already preceded her arrival in Britain, thanks to the London showing of “Frenzy”

one of her most successful pictures. Now she has a long-term contract with*the.J. Arthur Rank Organisation following her English debut in Michael Balcon’s Ealing Studios production “Frieda.” When she , first arrived in England, she could speak only a few words of English and an interpreter accompanied her everywhere. Within a few weeks, however, she had mastered the language so well that there were few words that she failed to understand. This, as it happened, suited her part admirably, for in the film she first appears as a girl who can scarcely speak English, mastering the language as the story develops. Mai is married to the Norwegian ballet dancer, Samuel Tutte Lemkow, whom she met when he was producing a stage show in which she appeared. They have one daughter, Ethel.