AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20107, 10 December 1930, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS.

——* THEATRE ROYAL. "THE GAY NINETIES." ''The Gay Nineties,'' the picture showing %t, the Theatre Royal this week, portrays the spirit of forty yearß ago in a thoroughly convincing manner. Primarily the picture is pure farce, but this "is relieved by a story that at times | rises to quite dramatic heights. A hopeful . feature of the production, now that so many American talkies harp on one insistent, modern theme, is that it treats of a period that up to now has been ignored by scenario writers. Because of this a breath of fresh air rune through the whole film, and the attention of the audience cannot possibly wander. RONALD COLMAN IN "CONDEMNED."' Following on his tremendous, success of "Bulldog Drummond," Ronald Colman's latest picture, "Condemned I" comes to the Theatre Royal on Saturday, it was produced by Samuel Goldwyn, Set as it is in the notorious French penal colony of Devil's Island in South America, with a brilliant cast of stage and screen favourites, "Condemned!" is said to be Colman's greatest picture. His role is that of a dashing French thief sent to serve a term in the hideous prison which the French call "The Island of Living Death.*' Opposite him in the cast is Ann Harding, a noted Broadway stago star, whose stage performance in "The Trial of Mary Dugan" made her famous. Louis Wolhoi/n, a favourite charactor actor, has another prominent role, as also has Dudley Digger, star of the New York Theatre Guild.