AMUSEMENTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20127, 22 December 1939, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

REGENT THEATRE EMPIRE DRAMA: “THE SUN NEVER SETS” Selfishness, patriotism, duty—these are words commonly in the mouths of Britons to-day, and for that reason the picture which opens its season at the Regent Theatre to-day, “The Sun Never Sets," should register an instantaneous appeal. It is on those sentiments that the film is based. It is the British Empire on which the sun never sets. It is to the British Empire that an English family have owed loyalty for tradition-filled generations. On this basis it is easy to see that the picture will be packed with drama, packed with action, packed with thrills; and because of the present international situation these thrills will have a deeper meaning. The Randolph family is the family who have this tradition. It is life blood to the elder brother, Clive (Basil Rathbone). and to deepen this family tie ho toils unwearyingly in outposts of the Empire, lbnely and unimportant. To John, the younger brother (Douglas Fairbanks, jun.), the call is not so strong. In fact, when the call does come he is a failure on the African gold coast. More than that, he _ is responsible for his brother’s demotion. These are scenes in which the atmosphere is electric. The audience will feel with the family that John is a waster, a failure and a disgrace. Bui this is not the climax of the plot. When John discovers that unless he acts the Empno, and with it civilisation, may fall, he realises that he. too, is bitten with the sense of tradition. He, too, must act. Act he docs, and he carries the audience with him on a V/hirlwind of drama, thrill and" grim determination. His activity now is in proportion to his lassitude before. It is impossible not to be deeply moved by this film. As a background to the whole picture is Sir John Randolph (C. Aubrey Smith), whose delineation of roles of this sort are well enough known not to need amplification. Suffice it to say that he can dc no other than add to a reputation already of the highest. That is also true of the other principal actors and actresses. The film is superlatively well produced. The atmosphere is just “right." The photography is sexcellent. In fact, there is not a weak clement. It should be one of the most popular pictures in Gisborne this week. Various scenes from the war—the British Navy at work, the French artillery pounding the Siegfried Line —form part of the supports. Those in themselves will serve as a fitting prelude for the main picture.