PASSION IN SPAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 14

PASSION IN SPAIN

“LOVES OF CARMEN” AT STRAND Full of tlje warmth and colour of the romantic land of Spain, •’The Loves of Carmen” came in sprightly beauty to the Strand Theatre last evening. It. is another 'of the really “big” pictures which have been booked for this house of super-productions. Again the management has provided one of those artistic and most enjoyable prologues which in a pleasing combination of mime, melody and dancing, put one in the right frame of mind to enjoy the pictude. This week through the artistry of Bettina Edwards and her partner, and of Eve Bentley and her musicians, one finds oneself completely in the land of sarabande and fandango, sunshine and oranges, heady wines and fiery passions, long before the shad Ow-show has begun. There are still other things in the Strand’s entertainment box. A most interesting film called “Strange Friendships” demonstrates the way in which a girl has become on good terms with leopards, vultures, hippopotami, in the London Zoo. She is an accepted visitor to their cages, and she goes inside perfectly unprotected. The news film begins with some close-ups of New Zealand’s late hope, Tom Heeney, who is sparring with West Point cadets, and showing considerably more speed than he did in his last fights here. Dolores Del Rio, the magnificent Mexican, is the passionate pilgrim in “Loves of Carmen.” One cannot forget her Charmaine, the little French girl in “What Price Glory,” or the way she lifted “Resurrection” out of the crowd of lesser films. As Carmen, the beautiful wanton, the spoilt child, the woman, she triumphs.

A sterling performance in the role of the toreador is given by Victor McLagen, one time heavyweight fighter, who was the great captain of marines in “What Price Glory?” McLagen has the frame and the lace of a man who has to live by the fitness of his

muscles, and his toreador leaps into

life from the first moment one sees him. with the appetite of a wolf, laughing with the mirth of an easy conscience, and a full stomach, swaggerin, swearing, fighting, the toreador goes rollicking through the film. There is nothing of “culture” or insipidity about him, no glimpses of his profile by moonlight, no petty gallantries. He is exactly what one expects the fighting idol of any country to be. McLagen is an artist, and Dolores Del Rio *-is an artist, and the two of them have come together in the most artistic production of the year. There is a definite tale in “Loves Of Carmen,” and it is played splendidly before a background of old-world streets, gipsy camps and Spanish palaces, and the bull-ring of Seville. Carmen is the gipsy of a cigar-factory, the fiery-tempered wanton, with the languishing eyes, which work havoc among the hearts of the soldiers. The appearance of Lucas, the famous bullfighter, conquers the flirting Carmen, and henceforth she tries with every will to bring him into her train. He treats her with good-natured scorn for a great while, but even his ruggedness, poor fellow, fails before the attack. There is a big tragic climax to the picture. * The prologue is a delightful affair. First the toreador in the splendour of satin swaggers into a Spanish inn, flings his sword away, and sings the famous song from the opera “Carmen.” Then in dances the svelte temptress (Miss Bettina Edwards.), swaying in the dance and stamping her little feet to the music. She steps an intricate measure with abandon, and, as might be expected, the toreador capitulates. The scena is very well done.

Eve Bentley and her orchestra play a programme full of Spanish melody, including the overture “Carmen” and “Dance Espagnole” (Michiels).