“‘CAMILLE’ IS BEAUTIFUL”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 154, 20 September 1927, Page 17

“‘CAMILLE’ IS BEAUTIFUL”

A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE “Camille,” the Norma Talmadge triumph, to be given a special presentation at the New Regent Theatre during the week, commencing Friday next, has moved critics the world over to write with fresh inspiration. The following, by “Longshot,” of “Everyone’s,” is typical: “My heart is full to-night. Wide, wet eyes seem to mock me from the very keys of my typewriter. The click of metal on paper tells me of the sobs that have inspired me to write this article. Sobs I heard to-day that escaped from between white lips of hardbitten professional people. “Have actors a soul?” “Now I put it to you straight. Would you think it possible to make any member of the stage fraternity weep over the superb portrayal of emotion of one of their ilk? I can hear an exhibitor give a sniff of disdain. Publicity bunk! *

“You’ll forgive me if I mention the picture that moved players themselves to tears.. I am inspired by much higher ideals than merely chasing publicity for my company. There is a department for that class of news in another part of this paper. I’m doing this in the quiet of the night when the routine of a film man is forgotten.

“ ‘Camille’ is beautiful. And those tears I saw glisten in the eyes of people of the world were beautiful. The artistry of Norma Talmadge in enacting a role that is rightly adjudged her supreme achievement makes one forget the drab monotony of grinding out endless pars. “Out of it all comes one conclusion. It takes tears to bring the. good in all of us to the surface. I have often seen an actress’ exit from a stage accompanied by the thundrous applause of a weeping audience. They bring her back again and again to cheer her. Then when the final curtain falls, I have heard her laugh and joke with her friends off-stage and gaily recount how she ‘made the crowd of ninnies wipe their eyes.’ “These facts give rise the belief that an artist has no soul. They laugh at their success in making people cry, but give them something .good in return —tragedy, such as ‘Camille’ —and you’ll find their soul all right. The most experienced of them are putty in the hands of a superb actress, who herself may have often cried over a drama she had seen a sister tliespian perform. “During the showing of ‘Camille’ I sat next to a hard-bitten critic who sees hundreds of pictures in the course of his duties. He sat with staring eyes, watching every movement of the artists on the screen. When he did face me, a hand passed over his eyes, and* a catchy whisper, barely audible, came: ‘God, this gets you!’ I didn’t laugh at his emotion. I’d wiped my eyes before, and hoped that my own silence would not be put down to the lump that I couldn’t get out of my throat.

“Enthralled by the sheer personality of one woman, I heard another whisper, ‘lt’s only a play but ’ What she meant to say was choked off by a sigh. Words had failed to express the invisible something that made the play not a play, so to speak.

“That’s Norma Talmadge! A performer who can make fellow performers cry over a part that appears so real. Forget the publicity. Hats off to any actress who can sway any audience that way.

“Yes, mummers have souls, and it can be bared, as he or she has bared the soul of an audience without fighting back the emotion that comes when one of her kind reaches their hearts.” At the New Regent, a special beautiful musical score arranged by Maurice Guttridge will enhance the beauty of “Camille.”

For the first time, Dolores and Helene Costello will play together in the new Master Picture now under production, “The Heart of Maryland.” This is the well-known story of Civil War in America. It is said to provide a type of role which is ideal for the sad beauty of the more established of the two sisters, Dolores, who is rapidly eclipsing all her previous successes. Helene, who is the more active and boyish of the two, will support her sister,

Vera Voronina made her screen debut as an extra in Vienna. The work led to a contract with a Swedish producing company, which in turn resulted in her contract with Paramout. Since her arrival in Hollywo-od, Miss Voronina, who is a decided blonde, has played minor roles in two pictures and is- now playing her first leading role opposite Raymond Griffith in “Time To Love,”