EXCELLENT ACTING

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 956, 26 April 1930, Page 16

EXCELLENT ACTING

“SEVEN DAYS’ LEAVE” AT MAJESTIC SUCCESS OF BARRIE PLAY If the season of “Seven Days’ Leave,” at the Majestic proves, as it probably will do, the most successful enjoyed by that theatre since the introduction of talkies, only the barest justice will have been done. “Seven Days’ Leave,” a Paramount adaptation of the delightful J. M. Barrie play of war-time London, "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals,” opened on Thursday evening. To one’s present knoAvledg© no translation from stage to audible screen has been better than this; certainly none has been accomplished with greater smoothness and completeness. Barrie’s story concerns the pathetic subterfuge of a spinster charwoman who finds, after 1914, that the war “concerns everybody but herself.” To remedy matters she lets it be known that she is a widow and finds for herself a warrior son by the simple expedient of' selecting a man of the same name as herself out of the regimental list of the Bl£,ck Watch. To make the deception complete she writes letters to herself purporting to come from the trenches and, under an assumed name, actually sends her “boy” hampers of food. All goes well with the Old Lady’s plan until the soldier arrives in London on leave, learns of the deception and visits her to demand an explanation. She gives it stumblingly, and he is big-hearted enough to keep her secret and act the part. Barrie lovers, familiar with this play, need no introduction to the humour, pathos and bitter-SAveet anti-climax that follows. For the rest the picture should be alloAved to tell its own talc. On© smiles and suffers AA r ith an extraordinary loveable character till the final moment when she sits fondling her treasures —a medal and a bundle of real letters.

“Seven Days’ Leave” demonstrates even more clearly than did “The Black Watch” how faithfully Hollywood can capture the true atmosphere of London when the right types are secured. The acting of the principals and their interpretation of the Barrie spirit is a constant joy. In this regard one cannot but wonder at the peculiarities of a Hollywood system, which desires that a player shall be starred purely because he or she is a “name.”

Gary Cooper, Avho is the “star,” acts admirably as the soldier on leave, but his work is almost colourless beside that of Miss Beryl Mercer as the Old Lady. This veteran actress gives a flawless performance, fully in keeping with the highest traditions of her profession.

Scarcely less worthy is the woi’k of Daisy Belmore, Nora Cecil and Tempe Piggott, a delicious trio in whose hands the typical humour of the Barrie dialogue is given full expression. Photographically and mechanically, “Seven Days’ Leave” is a talkie treat that on no account should be missed.

An excellent group of supporting features, including the Armistice Day service at the London Cenotaph, completes the Majestic programme.