ROXY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 977, 21 May 1930, Page 17

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“ATLANTIC” TODAY “Atlantic,” from the play “The Berg,” by Ernest Raymond, has a sound beginning, and is acted by a company of splendid Home artists, including Miss Ellaline Terris (Mrs. Seymour Hicks), Franklyn Dyall, John Longden, Donald Calthorp, Monty Banks, John Stuart, Madeleine Carroll and Joan Barry, to name but a few.

There is really little use in keeping from the knowledge of the great theatre-going public the fact that “Atlantic” is based on the wreck of the Titanic, and there is made no effort on the part of the film’s producers to shroud the origin of the play in mystery'; only the name of the vessel is different. It is a matter for self-congratula-tion that it has been an English company which has turned out this sterling production. The tragedy is treated with extreme delicacy, and there is only a moderate speed of action throughout, that is in perfect keeping with the theme. The story opens with a group of passengers introduced to the audience in a novel manner; we have a glimpse into their private lives, their own little hopes and fears, hates and loves, that seem so very important to them. When the great ship crashes into an iceberg, her plates ripped, with water pouring in, and the knowledge bursts upon the people that they have one or two hours to live, the atmosphere undergoes a complete change. There is a lot of humour in the sight of a pair of English gentlemen solemnly waiting at the ship’s bar for service that they eventually' have to render them-

selves; there is tragedy and terro afoot, but there is a lot of that Eng lish stoicism that is a very near ap proach to lion-hearted courage.

These scenes, when everyone is jus: waiting for the Titanic to roll into the depths of the Atlantic, are sufficiently moving to bring a lump to ththroat of the most hardened picturegoer or reviewer. Families are parted for ever, husbands send their wives away, some wives refuse to bare their men. children run madly abou*

screaming for their parents—lt is n*. theatrical, it must be remembered th;: in essentials this “story” is nothin but the truth. And even that ! - great scene, when .the band pi; ;

ing “Nearer, My God. to Thee,** and the Titanic’s decks are almost awash., ia in the most perfect taste.