MADAME BUTTERFLY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 662, 14 October 1933, Page 2

MADAME BUTTERFLY

treAsured love story ^rilliant in film setting CHARLIE RUGGLES STARRING The piquant heauty of "Madame Butterfly," Paramount's; latest production with Sylvia Sidney, Cary Grant and Charlie Ruggles in the leading roles, will open at the Majestic Theatre, Wednesday next. This inspired love tale from John . Luther Lpng's famous story, of a real Geisha girl who actually lived, is universal in its appeal. The production, deftly handled with a keen appreciation for all the beauty in the original story, has a background of beautiful music from Puccini's famous opera* Miss Sidney plays the role of Cho-Cho-San, daughter of the Samurai who had "died with honour when he could no longer live with honour." Taken to a Geisha house by her mother and grandfather to await the coming of a rich suitor, she meets Cary Grant, in the role of an American naval officer on shore leaye with his pal, Charlie Ruggles. Grant, despite the f act that he has a sweetheart in Anxerica, falls in love with Cho-Cho-San and marries her . . . forgetting to tell her that his stay in Japan will soon be over ... and that he must then return to America . . . forgetting to tell her of his bride-to-be at home. Shore leave is soon over . . . and he returns to America promising to return "when the cherry blossoms bloom and the robins nest again"-. . . but years pass before he does return. In the meantime a son has been boi'n to Cho-Oho-San . . . a son she calls "Trouble" until his f ather . returns when his name will be changed to "Joy." Back home, the naval officer, knowing that desertion of a Japanese wife is a legal divorce, marries his American sweetheart, and then is ordered back to Japan. His meeting with Cho-Cho-San is the climax of the picture. The wizardry of the camera and the beauty of the settings lend a note to the picture that is rarely seen on tho screen. Here is the superbartistry of a great cast in a great play. |