THE STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 31, 29 April 1927, Page 13

THE STRAND

THE FILM OF “NELSON” “By nightfall 1 will have either for a peerage or Westminster Abbey.” These words of “that great little man of whom everybody was so afraid,” when he sighted the French fleet at anchor in Aboukir Bay, may well be said to interpret the spirit of Nelson—the man who was destined to become England’s greatest naval hero. It may be said, too, that the producers of the film “Nelson,” now being shown at the Strand, have faithfully interpreted the spirit of the times in addition to giving a true representation of the great admiral himself. Particular care has been paid to detail not only of historical fact, but of settings, uniforms and dresses, and mannerisms of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century as well. It would have been difficult to have found more fitting types than those selected to play the various roles—surely none closer to the original than Donald Calthrop as Lord Nelson, or Malvina Longfellow as the exquisitely beautiful Lady Hamilton. The battle scenes are exceptionally well done, that of Trafalgar being so real that it takes but little effort of imagination to turn back the pages of history for little more than 100 years, and imagine oneself a passive witness of the battle itself. The reception afforded the film, which is a credit to British producers, in New Zealand should not be less enthusiastic than it was in England, where it had an excellent run. Johnny Hines, who provides plenty of thrills and laughter in “Stepping Along,” which is shown in addition to the great naval film, has evidently never heard of the saying, “It’s the pace that kills”; if he had done so he would have passed out of the picture long ago. It is one of Hines’s best and well worth seeing.