REGENT THEATRE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 185, 23 August 1937, Page 12

REGENT THEATRE

■•HMiPHANl BOY." "Elephant Boy/' which screens at the Eegent to-night, is more than a mere film. It is an objeet lesson^an oUjeet-lesson denionstrating that all the bigh-powered equipmOnt oi the studio is liot indispensable to the making oi a really grOat film, "Elephant Boy" has becn made almost entlrely outdoors. No elaborate aids of ilicaiidescent lighting, of lavish setttng, Wdi'e eblisted in lts making. Vet the film stauds on a peak of emiiience m spite of it all' — or rather, perhaps, Oeuause of it. For lts setting is the toimidable uiagnihdence oi India's moiintain and jungle, and its cast is oomposed of simple cliaructers in the giant elcphants oi lndia' and their all-wise, understanding and gentle mahouts. 'ihe story does uot rely upon tngenioUS aubtleties ior its effect; it does nob have to. Klp1lihg's "Tooinai of the ElephantsM hu> nished its basis and fforn that matdriul has been made a spiendid film. This film is notable for two things, the direction of Eobeffc Flaherty and the aeting of Sabu, a 13-year-old Indian boy. Sabu is responsible for a wouderfully convineing portrayal in the part of Toomai. His aeting is simple lind straightforward. The production coutalns many impressive and spectacular scenes that ai'O characteristic of films produced by Alexander Korda.