MAJ ESTIC THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 148, 18 March 1939, Page 15

MAJ ESTIC THEATRE

* “The Shining Hour” "The Shining Hour,” the film version of which is now showing at the Majestic Theatre, was presented on the stage in New Zealand a few years ago. Those people who saw it then will recognize how much it has undergone the familiar Hollywood process of “glamourising” in its translation to the

screen. To a certain extent the drama has become artificial. However, it still contains plenty of opportunities for a good cast. That cast consists of Margaret Sull a van, Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Young, and Fay Bainter. I have put Martmrpr Rnllnvnn first

because she is, by long odds, the most notable figure, even if her role is, dramatically, less important than that played by Joan Crawford. She gives a restrained, deeply-moving and utterly sympathetic portrayal as Judy Linden, whose husband falls in love with his brother s wife, Olivia, the part taken -by Miss Crawford. Olivia has been a cabaret dancer of rather doubtful reputation before her marriage to Henry Linden (Melvyn Douglas) ; and it is her entry into the aristocratic farming family of Linden, and the conflict of her sophisticated, city-bred ways with those of a rural community, that cause the complications in the plot. The greatest complication is the frigid reception given Olivia by her new sister-in-law, Hannah Linden (Fay Bainter), who is filled with family pride to the point of mania. Hannah makes no secret of the fact that she regards Olivia as a scarlet woman; her unbending attitude does as much as anything to drive Olivia into the arms of her brother-in-law (Robert Young), and finally, when it becomes tinged with religious fanaticism, it is positively dangerous. The one who suffers most in the emotional upheaval thus caused is Judy Linden, the loyallyloving wife of tje younger -brother. Tiie solution of the problem is conventionally satisfying, though scarcely logical. If the -producers had made more of the background to “The Shining Hour” they would have made more of the whole picture. Not enough is seen of life on the charming farm to underline the emotional conflict. The original play, by making the Lindens the hard-working yeomen type of farmer, d'id that; but the film, by making them very prosperous and giving them a mansion for a farmhouse, has taken away much of the point from the drama. This is particularly true of the character of Hannah, as played by Fay Bainter; her ruggedly righteous outlook hardly rings true in the new luxurious setting. The film has to rely mainly for its interest, therefore, on the acting, and that is good. In the case of Margaret -Sullavan, the acting is brilliant. Joan Crawford’s performance is less flamboyant than of late, and at the beginning she has a chance to show she has not lost he? early ability as a dancer.