"NELL GWYNNE."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18898, 13 January 1927, Page 14

"NELL GWYNNE."

THE LOVES OF A KING. History records lliat "Pretty, witty Nell" had red hair; history has' a swift, unrelenting manner of expression, it is true, but no doubt that had a lot to do with it. There is no more fascinating romance- in all English history that the lovo of a Stuart King foi tho little (plebeian who ruled him and his haughty Court with her biting wit and her bewitching ways, ruled Lady Castleamine, her chief rival for Charles' affections, as only one- woman can rule another. Evcryono who ha a over taken up a book of English history is familiar with the name of Nell Gwynne; for all her faults, wo have a subtle sympathy for her; the influence of her charm extends as far down as to our own day, and wo still eagerly read anything new there is to hand about this hoydenish beauty. Plays and dramas have been written about her, and now comes the picture, produced by that pictorial wizard, Herbert Wilcox, and with Dorothy Gish in tho titlo role, will bo presented at Everybody's next. Monday. Tho picture, although j n' authentic record of what actually happened in old London, reads as entrancing and romantio a story as ever was conceived in the brain of some imaginative novelist; it flashes with a fluent, easy wit, it sparkles with unconventional splendour, there.is drama enough to satisfy the. most insatiate, drama which begins in a sunburst of brilliant promise, and ends bo abruptly, so pathetically for the little orange girl. Though tho Court of the Merrie Monarch was not particularly notable for its austere morality; more, indeed, for its lax unconventionality, tlio picture "Noll Gwynne," while retaining the essential spirit of tho lime, is such as the most unsophisticated can appreciate its finer points to the full. Both Wilcox, tho director, and Dorothy Gish, the filar, attend to that. The production is quaint with all the satisfied poverty of Old London, and magnificent with all tho regal splendour of a seventeenth century Court, and boasts an adherence to custom, costume, and manncT of speech and address which make it all the more pleasing and interesting. &s Sweet Nell, Miss Gish gives a vivacious, artistic, ' and perfectly sympathetic portrayal, the Lely picture come to life. The. box plans for this outstanding attraction are now open at The Bristol Piano Company.'