THE SUEZ CANAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 51, 2 March 1939, Page 5

THE SUEZ CANAL

UNDERTAKING DRAMATISED A Stirling adventure story is offered in the spectacular 20th. CenturyFox film “Suez,'* which is to open at the Plaza Theatre on March 17. The picture depicts the wonderful achievement of :he French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, in building the Suez Canal, thus joining the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and providing a short trade route to the East. This role is in the capable hands of Tyrone Power, and seldom has this young player given a more vigorous and imaginative portrayal. The leading feminine roles are played by Loretta i'c.ung. as the Countess Eugenie, u hose love inspired de Lesseps to ccrry on with his work, and by Annabejla. the charming French actress who won fame in her first Englishspeaking picture, “Wings of the Morning.’ The film has been well directed, and offers some spectacular scenes. The picture commences with de Lesseps being sent from Paris to Egypt on a diplomatic mission. At Alexandria he meets Toni Pellerin, the daughter of a French officer, and a friendship develops between the two joung people. While riding through the desert with Toni after a thunderstorm, de Lesseps sees two pools nf water being joined by an overflow stream from one to the other. He envisions to Toni what it would mean if the Mediterranean and the Red Sea rotfld be similarly joined, and enlists the aid of Mohammed Ali and the Egyptian Government. They give their consent provided he can obtain financial backing from France. His former sweetheart, the Countess Eugenie, has married Louis Napoleon, and she arranges financial support. He returns to Egypt and works himself and his men mercilessly, enduring the perils of intrigue and Arab raids. When the canal is almost completed, de Lesseps is dumb-founded to learn that France has abandoned the scheme, and. added to this, a black simoon passes over the canal, leaving behind a trial of devastation. Tn spite of these difficulties he is courageous enough to continue with h ; s work, and eventually triumphs.