War Romance

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 27

War Romance

“THE AWAKENING” OPENS Majestic’s First Sound Picture A WAR romance of quaint Alsace is “The Awakening,” starring beautiful Vilma Banky, which opened at the Majestic yesterday. It is that theatre’s first sound-synchro-nised offering. • * Marked by beautiful photography and exceptional acting, the film is one of the Majestic’s best bookings. Its sound accompaniment is good.

Vilrna Banky, who plays Marie Ducrot, the peasant who falls in love with a German Uhlan officer, is at her charming best in a really delightful setting. Walter Byron is her leading man and Louis Wolheim is outstanding as Lebolt, the

village landowner of Pro D'or. The story opens in the quiet period before the war. A Uhlan regiment visits Pre D’or and Marie falls in love with Count von Hagen, the command ing officer.

Seeing her appear

from Hagen’s quarters, the villagers make an outcast of Marie, and the shame kills her father. In the second part the scene changes to the war years, and Hagen, who calls at a convent to warn the nuns of the French advance, finds Marie. The French attack, and he is wounded. When the victorious troops arrive Lebolt, now a sergeant, finds the two lovers together. Though he loves Marie he makes a personal sacrifice

and loses his life in a successful attempt to transport Marie and Hagen to the German lines. As may be judged from this synopsis, an unusual plot has been arranged by Victor Fleming, of United Artists, who has succeeded in capturing the atmosphere and colour of Alsace and the feeling of the people, contrasting it with the military sequences and the war scenes. “The Awakening” is a romance painted in delicate tints with nothing of the harshness and crudity of stereotyped war tales. There is an old-time beauty of flower and a sun-kissed outdoors in many of the prologue scenes. Accompanied by sound, the release becomes a synchronised film of unusual interest, equal to the best of its predecessors.