Film Preview - Bognor Regis Observer – Friday, 06 August 1954

PAVILION, SELSEY. ROMANCE and pageantry, thrills and spectacle combine to make Walt Disney's latest British live-action production in Technicolor, "THE SWORD AND THE ROSE." an unusual and stirring historical drama. Co-starring Richard Todd and Glynis Johns with James Robertson Justice, the story brings to the screen a new and fascinating picture of English Court life, customs and events in the opening years of Henry VIII's reign, together with glimpses of the French Court of Louis XII. Todd makes a dashing and virile adventurer, and Miss Johns is a vivacious young charmer whose wilful ways drive Henry almost to distraction. As the King, Justice is a suitably dominating figure as well as a sympathetic and humorous one. A distinguished supporting cast of Anglo-French players includes Michael Gough, Jane Barrett, Peter Copley, Rosalie Crutchley, Jean Mercure, Gerard Oury, Fernand Fabre, Robert Le Beal, D. A. Clarke-Smith and Ernest Jay. The supporting film is "WATER BIRDS." The main feature for the second half of the week is "THE INTRUDER." In this fast-moving drama, set in present-day England, Jack Hawkins portrays a London stockbroker and ex-colonel of a tank regiment, who gathers together a group of ex-soldiers to assist him in the search for a young war hero now wanted for a criminal offence. Essentially a sympathetic person, Jack Hawkins conveys his strength of character in the personage of Wolf Merton, a man who is used to justice and wishes to see it done at all times—and at all costs. Ever-mounting suspense makes "THE INTRUDER" a thriller of the first category with delightful comedy and romantic interludes. Also showing is "RANGE LAND," starring Whip Wilson.