STATE THEATRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 October 1939, Page 2

STATE THEATRE

/ ■ “WUTHERING HEIGHTS.”

The popularity of that great screen classic, “Wuthering Heights,” has been so pronounced that the management has been able to secure an extension of the Masterton season but for one night only, viz., Tuesday. The picture which drew a packed house on Saturday night, will, therefore, be shown again tonight and oh Tuesday. The terrible blight on the life of the Brontes —the son, Bramwell, a drunkard and a drug fiend —is shown in much of. the writings of -the three sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne Bronte. During the last dark years of her life it was always Emily Bronte who was able to handle Bramwell successfully. It has often been said that her novel, “Wuthering Heights,” reads dike’ the dream of an opiumeater; and there is little doubt that while the atmosphere of the book was her very own—the pure, wild, rainswept atmosphere of her beloved, purple-black moors of Haworth —much of the stirring human drama in the story of Heathcliff and Catherine, was Emily Bronte’s weird and powerful interpretation of the ravings of her drug-sodden brother. Emily Bronte’s book was the work of an extraordinary genius, written with a woman’s very heart blood and surcharged with a sort of moral electricity. On the screen it has become a masterpiece, 'and the audience at the State Theatre on Saturday night was deeply impressed with the magnificence of the picture and the hand of genius shown in its authorship. Little did the eccentric, lonely Emily Bronte realise in 1847 that “Wuthering Heights” would, become one of the great screen classics. “Wuthering Heights” is a haunting, tragic love story such as could only be written in the' atmosphere of the parsonage at Haworth. Merle Oberon (Cathy) and Laurence Olivier (Heathcliff) are cast as the romantic lovers and these brilliant stars are supported by such outstanding players as David Niven, Flora Robson, Hugh Williams, Miles Mander, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Donald Crisp. * “PYGMALION.” Masterton cinema patrons will welcome the return of “Pygmalion’.’ to the State Theatre on Wednesday night. This story by Bernard Shaw is one of the greatest hits of the cinema world.