Americans Were Enthusiastic Over Film On N.Z.

Chronicle (Levin), 13 March 1948, Page 6

Americans Were Enthusiastic Over Film On N.Z.

"A- four million dollar - picture thaf; looks like a four million dollar •picture" is the 'description given "Green Dolphin Street'-' by a columnist writing for the' New York Sun. "It is or;e film in which each of thefie four million seems to account for itself. The earthquake scene itself -must have shaken l'oose quite a few of them." The picture does close quietly. At least it seenES quiet after some two hours and a half of elaborate melodrama,, That ending-is quietly. effective. it pulls together ail the assorted climaxes ;of the»' previous sequerices. It makes the story suddenly more important than all its trimmings. „ * , ' Nothing has been spared to make "Green Dolphin * Street" a bang-up movie. The film offers too much rather than too little. It doesn't need quite so much primitive excitement to put over its point. Still, the spectacle is exciting in Itself. Most of the afiventures in this highly adventurous tale take place in New Zealan'd. It is 'tnere >,v' the heroine bears a child while

an earthquake uproots great treo. tears the earth apart, shatters the buildings. It is there that the •heroine, with her husband and small daugh'ter, have to walk through a mob of several thousand stony faced Maoris during an uprising. . , These are startlingly spectacular scenes, done with all Holly wood's - vast technical skill, "Green Dolphin Street" has stlnted nothing to make them real. v: .The ■ melodrama is lavish,.'. tfic

spectacle almost continuous, the romantic triangle vivi'dly and enthusiastically romantic. I don't see how it could fail to be a hit."