"GREEN PASTURES" SOON TO BE RELEASED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 71, 10 April 1937, Page 17

"GREEN PASTURES" SOON TO BE RELEASED

At last "The Green Pastures," ; Maro Gonnelly's, Pulitoer prize play ' that ran eighteqn solid nyjntJ^t pn i Broadway, and was, road-showed ! throughout the United Btates, thrilling millions of people>. comes to the screen. The picture retaina all; the ; unique qualities that mad© the stage, ; production known as "■ America, 's best% ! loved play." It is said to be, the, most pretentious production ever attempted. ; by "Warner Bros., or any other studio, and was filmed in the, sam© lavish : manner as " A Midaummer Night 's. Dream," "Captqin Blood,"' and "Anthony Adverse, ' ' Absolutely nothing was spared in the making of ! the film to give this inspxring play the, majestic background it deserves, and to make it one of the, outstanding screen dramas of all time. " - There are one hundred and twenty beautiful scenic settings, some of them of gigantic proportions, such as the siinlit, glade in which six htjndred characters attend a celestial fish-fry, the scene with Noah's Ark brqasting the flood in a terrific storm; % Southern community, with its full-sized church, its gambUng halla and night clubs; the barbaric pal.ac© of the King ■ oi Babylon, and the. Babylonian revels are held and in which ©ighty eomely and, shapely dancers entertain tho King and his courtiers^ Maro Conqelly, the author • of the stage production, who coilaborated on the screen play with Sheridan Gibney,' and co-directed it with ^Winiata Keigli-, ley, declares that the picture, is vastly superior to the stage show- *4Spee-" cacles we could only talk ahofit on the stage," said " Connelly, 4two how actually bring before the eyes oi , the audience. ' ' The story, based, on Ecark -Brad-. ford's npyel, is highly humorous, yet tenderly xeverent. It begins in a, Sunday school of the old South attended by children who ask their pastor to explain Heaven to them. The story- of the creation with the subsequent sins of mankind on earth and the glory of Heaven, as revealed in literally: trans lated Biblical lore, are then presCnted in picture form by the quatot pastor as he interpretafes them. Exceptional music sets off the- picture. This is in the form of spirituals, sung by a chorus of sixty rieh voiccs, the same as heajd in the original stage play as rendered by the famous Hall Johnson choir. The drama is enacted by a tremendous cast, with one hundred and eleven speaking parts and nearly a vfchousand other players. Eex Ingram, whom. author,- direetor Connelly declares to be one of the greatest actors in the world, has the role made famous by Eichard Berry Harrison, who played the part through the five years oi the stage run, and who endeared himself to millions. Thirty of the important characters are portrayed by the same actors who played the parts on the stage. Allen Saalburg, noted New Tork painter and scenic artist, was taken to Hpllywood specialy to design the sets and to aet as art direetor With Stanley Fleischer. The beautiful and unysual photographic effeets were achieved by Hal Mohr, who was chief cinematographer for "A Midsummer Night 's Dream" and "Captain Blood."