"RHODES OF AFRICA."

Evening Post, Issue 29, 3 August 1936, Page 5

"RHODES OF AFRICA."

Coming to the Plaza.

It is strange that Cecil Rhodes has »R»f^ nd * ft c- P.Fl^* 6 screening of Rhodes of Africa" baiore a smau aucuence last night revealed the unusual treatment which the subject has been given- Here is a sketch of the career of Rhodes which does not embellish does not give him a secret love affair' does not represent :him as acting for reasons quite other than those which really were-his. His policy in taking the steps which led to British dominion in southern Africa is not glossed over but the fact that the man had a dream and acted for the fulfilment of that dream is kept constantly before the eyes of his audience. That, of course, is no more than the truth, as everyone who knows anything of the career of Rhodes, the Englishman who saw the future of England as one of the guardianship of civilisation, a mission which a later generation has come to consider not exclusively her possession, and who, even when an undergraduate, was already drafting a will to establish an organisation to establish British dominance over the world. In this sympathetic film the anti-impsrialist will see understatement in the cases of the dealings with the Matabele and the Boers, but he will also see a vivid and memorable picture of the life of an adventurous man and of the times when South Africa was emerging from gold-rush conditions to those of solid settlement and when prosperity was being established from the fruits of the soil. And, as Rhodes, Walter Huston gives an intelligent and interesting performance, suggesting the deliberate, aloof manner which caused men a decade older than Rhodes to talk about him as "the Old Man" There is another outstanding performance in the film, too, that of Oscar Homolka as Paul Kruger. It is one which appears to have aroused resentment amongst the African Dutch, but ! the unbiased eye will see no hint of that charge of clowning which has been brought, against the actor, but will see a native and solid dignity and natural conservatism. The supporting cast is large and excellent. "Rhodes of Africa" comes.to.the Plaza Theatre shortly.