MAJESTIC

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 77, 21 November 1931, Page 6

MAJESTIC

TO-DAY AND TO-NIGHT The lights along the row of cells grow dim for a momeht. Behind a small iron door a figure slumps in the big chair. Another perfect alibi has failed to eheat society of its just demands. It is the perfectly planned, premeditated murder, which usually earns the supreme penalty for the perpetrator. A flaw is usually found in the most perfect alibi. Lieutenant Charles Becker, Gerald Chapman, the Diamond br others, countless others, masters in their nefarious art, have passed from the world's view behind the little green door. The perfect crime! Can it be planned? Is the criminal sane enough to plan a perfect alibi? A. A. Milne vividly portrays his answer in his play, "The Perfect Alibi." The film version of this famous drama, which ran for two years on | Broadway, screens at the Majestic j Theatre to-day and to-night. While the play was primarily written to thrill and entertain its audiences, it presents an unusual psychological study of the super-criminal mind, which draws a strong parallel to the most celebrated police mysteries. Basil Dean, who directed the film version for Radio Pictures, is said to have made an exhaustive study of the ways of the "master-mind" trespassers of the law, in order to effect • authentic portrayals by the leading characters. The result aimed at was to make the film version as realistic and unlike the type of conventional movie thriller as possible. The success of his elforts is eviden1 ced by 'the manner in which this film 'is being received by audiences everywhere. Particular attention was paid to the casting of the leading roles. C. Aubrey Smith, who played the title role in "The Bachelor Father," Warwick Ward, who was seen in the Emil Jannings-Lya de Putti sensation, "Variety," Dorothy Boyd, Robert Loraine, Frank Lawton and Ellis Jeffreys had a brilliant cast.