KING GEORGE THEATRE and PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE.

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 26, 20 November 1930, Page 5

KING GEORGE THEATRE and PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE.

'' REDEMPTION.''

John Gilbert will make his second all-4alking appearance at t&o King George Theatre in '/Redemption, 7' as adaptation of Lyof Tolstoi's noted dram&> "The Living Corpse." Gilbert's success in two past production^ adapted from, the works of the Russian novelist and playwright, namely "Love," with Greta Garbo and "Tkei Cossacks," with Renee Adoree, is said to have influenced Metro-Goid-wyn-Mayer in choosing "Redemption" as his next starring picture. "Redemption" is a far cry from the ordinary run of cinema products in being tae psychological study of a man who is driven to a -desperate act in choosing between loyalty to his wife and the call of hereditary gypsy blood. Information is .that the producers main-. tamed an aTtistic standard in not stooping to tack a sugar-coated happy ending anto a story permeated with a tragic motive. Fred Noblo directed the" production. The supporting cast of this unusual film contains such prominent names as Bende - Adoree, Eleanor Boardman and Cox&AW&gel. •'■'•'■'■■:■ '*.-' •.•■" -" Joan Gilbert, last seen syid heard in the sophisticated Molnar comedy, "His Glorious Night" turns to a tragic role in lv& latest all-talking screen offering "Bedemption" which opens at the Ejfckg George Theatre on Saturday. ''Redemption was based on Lyof Tolstoi's well knowa play. Metrol Goldwyn-Mayer has stuck faithfully to the original story and has given the scenes of pre-war Russia a remarkable authenticity and pictorial effectiveness which, go far toward making the pictaxe seem a thing of flesh .and blood rather than a series of celluloid movements. What, however, goes even farther toward achieving this end is the acting of Gilbert and a supporting cast of ■ each prominent screen names as Renee Adoree, Eleanor Goardman and Conrad Nagel, all of whose finished perform-'' anoea are a pleasure to /watch. "&LL. QUIET ON THE WESTERN "AH Quiet on^ae Western Front" 1 stands alone as motion-picture achieve- ' meat. Once seen, it will never be forgotten. ' '■■■■ ■■•'■<' ■-•■■. fßfcere have been war pictures which were primarily spectacles. There have been, war pictures which'were primarily- j npn—nnrn There have been war pic- I •taxreirwhieh were primarily melodramas. '*AB tgtiiet onj the Western Front" is ! primarily a story of youth ;. -the youth ' of all nations . . .in war. It is the «tt>ry ■of one youth who symibqlises in himself the fate of all yoxrth. . . comrades and foeman . . <jast into tthe flaming maw of war. In "All Quiet onthe Western Front' thousands of men go down to death in the inferno of battle .-. . to show the effect upon the soul of young Paul j Baumer. To this same end, others are ■ maimed and tortured by the wounds i inflicted by shot and steel. To this ' cud, of shells whine and scream across the fields, of Europe, which the hate of man has turned into • the living grave of youth. The story of "All Quiet on the Western Front" is poignant in its simplicity. It is the story of Paul Baumer, transformed from a school boy in a German village to a soldier in the trenches of the Great War. Before he had begun to live, all that makes life ] worth living has been snatched away. | He is torttxed by bratal discipline. ' He learns that -uttermost meaning of t&e privations and pains of the body, j and the more awful' sufferings of the i soul. One by one, he sees his comrades j wounded and slain.' He goes home for * at brief visit /'.- ■. and' finds that even f his home and his-loved ones have : changed, in- his eyes. He is a" stranger j in lihe. bosom of his family, seeing him-*' self at last as a member of a lost gene- I ration, v; °of youth that has never been allowed to live. ; T&ere axe other moments . . the poigja&nt episode of "the ■ French girls j the 7 deep meaning of comradeship forged ai^-rivetedin the flames of hell; the i primitive values of food and drink and T shelter in an existence from which all aecinrity has'been -swept away.'

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is beyond the power of words to deScribe. It is technically, artistically, and, atoove all, spiritually—^flawless. It is tremendous as a spectacle, bn't :its grateness does not lie in that. Its .'surpassing power lies in the deep huanah appeal. It is more than a drama of uniforms. It is a drama of men..