"Scarlet Pimpernel" Opens in Auckland and Wellington

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 12 July 1935, Page 28

"Scarlet Pimpernel" Opens in Auckland and Wellington

Laughton and Arliss, too, in‘ New Films. Three years ago the name. of Alexander Korda conveyed little or nothing to the average film-goer; to-day it stands pre-eminent among producers -the man who made "The Private Life.of Henry the Highth" and "Oatherine the Great.’ And for New Zealand film-goers it is going io take on an even greater lustre in a week or two when "The Scarlet Pimpernel," greeted by English and American critics as the greatest film to come out of England, is generally released. It has its Dominion premiere at the Regent Theatres in Auckland and Wellington. this Friday, with Hamilton on August 16 and other centres to follow.’

This may Korda is the very devil. He has the uncanniest knack of knowing how his scenes will affect his pub-lic-how a combination of light and shade will convey his meaning to the looker-on-how this touch and that touch will lift a film so far above the mediocre that it will be talked about for years. In "The Scarlet Pimpernel’ he has produced a picture that prompts one to believe that England hag outstripped America in the matter of settings, story and casting. The stars are Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon-and the screen honours of the year must go to Howard for his makeup. Merle Oberon has crossed to Hollywood since "The Scarlet Pimpernel’ was finished-but this picture will keep her fresh in mind as an English discovery. United Artists has several other big productions up its sleeve. Rencrts are already filtering through of the excellence of George Arliss in "Cardinal Richelieu." Arliss topped world polls last year *»° his acting in "The House

last year triumphed with "The Count of Monte Cristo," is powerful and spirited throughout, Maureen O’Sullivan is charming as Lenore and Cesar Romero scores as Andre. The third of United Artists’ big im-

pending productions, "Les Miserabies," is lifted into a class of its own mainly bes™use of the inspired acting of Charles Laughton in the part of the brutal Javert. Laughton jumped very. suddenly into the part. He had just finished making "Ruggles of Red Gap" for Paramount, and he had a few weeks to spare before starting with another company. He had no time to theorise. ‘He jumped in and caught the spirit of Javert-quickly! Said C. A. Lejeune in "Yhe Observer," London: "I doubt whether, calculating, he could have brought this unhappy ox of a man so Vividly to life. But he played the part hot, and he played it beautifully. Javert is not customarily a profound part in the screen version of ‘Les Miserables.’ It may be formidable, but it is not as a rule tragic. Laughton’s Javert is the whole argumentstupid, blind, loyal officialdom, touched with a kind of frenzied beauty ‘in its own vigour-the stuff of which martyrs are made, and bullies, and empires. I urge anyone who loves good craftsmanship to go and see Charles Laughton in ‘Les Miserables.’ This is the very soul of acting, and-ecan we for once be a little proud?-England bred it."