STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 304, 15 March 1928, Page 16

STRAND

“SORRELL AND SON” The United Artists film production of Warwick Deeping’s “Sorrell and Son” will commence a third week of screening at the Strand Theatre to-morrow. The book was speedily recognised as one of the best novels for many a year, splendid material for the screen, and Herbert Brenon’s production has marked another step in film supremacy. Not that “Sorrell and Son” is characterised by a lavish magnificence, little details emphasised and sets of opulence and splendour. The story is set against the backgrounds of picturesque English inns, a solitary London night club and St. Martha’s, the hospital where Sorrell’s “job” makes his mark. But it is the exquisite handling of a fine story that makes the picture one of the best, even one of the greatest. The Irish producer has made no endeavour to put studied and laboured gaiety and humour into its serious plot; the end is there just the same. Captain Stephen Sorrell is still a man of sorrow's; it is a picture just as Deeping wrote it. It goes a long way toward making this picture as en-

chanting as it is. Herbert Brenon has made these stories of father and son, or brother and brother, thoroughly artistic, and what is more from the audience viewpoint, more satisfying than the old familiar faces of synthetic lovers. “Beau Geste” was the first gesture along these lines, and it is proved, in “Sorrell and Son,” that the theatre-goer is now seeking something more enduring than the little romantic comedy. “Sorrell and Son” has been extensively patronised, for it is among the elect, and this coming week will see further homage paid to a great writer and a great director. The Strand Symphony Orchestra, renders a special orchestral score, arranged by their talented conductress, Eve Bentley, and specially features as its musical interlude that old favourite, “The Rose.”