Round the Shows

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 400, 14 July 1928, Page 16

Round the Shows

RUSSIAN SPLENDOUR

•‘ANNA KARENINA” AT STRAND

Presented with a lavishness of and ballets. Tolstoy s greatest no™ “Anna Karenina." held a ticked hone, spellbound at the Strand—that puT of extraordinary attractions evening. The management of of Strand knows how to put on a show' it does not spring on its main atlra tion with a bald overture, but temnt. its audience by a preamble of mekS. and dance, and lighter pictures im' an appreciation of the ccnsumnaii! of the entertainment. “ Russian splendour in the old i fflD , r ial days is the setting for the pictmi drama of the novel by Count Leo \'it olaevitch Tolstoy, that amazing writ* reformer and teacher. Critics hav. declared that “Anna Karenina" rebre sents his highest artistic achievemenand the screen triumph holds and even heightens the dramatic intensity of th. story. It is difficult to imagine ttrn more talented and suitable players in the prominent roles than John Gilbert and Greta Garbo. 1 “A passionate protest against the life deprived of a consciousness of inner duty." was said to be the theme of the novel, but the picture throws off conventional trammels and enters pas sionately into a vivid drama of w love of < the kind usually described ai "guilty.” Anna Karenina, beautiful wife of a senator, and Captain Vron sky, aide to the Grand Luke, meet on the snow-covered road to old St. Pet ersburg. One of the horses of Anna', sleigh falls down and the captain gav and unscrupulous, offers her a lift, a storm blocks the road, the captain leads Anna to a wayside inn, and there in a tense scene rediscovers his manhood, through looking into her fearless eyes After that Vronsky is madly in love The two are thrown together at brilliant dances, receptions, and hunts, and Anna learns to love the captain. Meaning all in life to each other, the two sacrifice everything of the life thev knew and become outcasts in foreign lands. But Anna cannot live without her child. They' return to find that circumstances are too cruel for them Anna seizes upon the greatest sacrifice possible and the picture ends with devastating suddenness. There are some great and thrilling scenes in the picture; the wolf hunt in which the notability ride to borrow and the military steeplechase in which Count Vronsky rides a great race and crashes dramatically. “Anna Karenina" is an artistic triumph. Flawless in detail it sweeps swiftly on. inevitable as fate, to the sudden and dramatic ending. A prying critic would have to sit long in judgment upon it to find a blemish in its production. “The "Coppellia" ballet is staged splendidly by Mdlle. Valeska and her Follies as a prologue to the big picture. To the Mazurka the "youths” and maidens of the ballet dance s sprightly Russian measure, full of the clamping of red boots to the pavement outside Lie toy shop of Dr. Coppelius. Swanilda, a village maiden (Mdlle Valeska) dances gracefully to attract the attention of Franz (Len Wilson), who. however, becomes bewitched by a beautiful doll. Taking the place of the doll, Swanilda dances in a humorous assumption of mechanics to the delight of the doctor (George Tarr) and Franz. One of the best “Our Gang" comedies yet shown is “Rainy Days," also on the bill. It shows how "Wheezer" and bis friends enjoy themselves at papering the house when mother goes out. "Thrills in Many Lands” is an interesting film of record-breaking speed on sea and land and in the air. Eve Bentley and her Strand Symphony Orchestra plays a splendid programme of music, including ‘Canzonetta" and the fine “Marche Slav" ( Tschaiko wsky).