CINEMATOGRAPHE LUMIERE.

Otago Witness, Volume 11, Issue 2280, 11 November 1897, Page 47

CINEMATOGRAPHE LUMIERE.

The lapse of years which have rolled by since MrWybert Reeve was last in Dunedin has not «|faced from the ! publlc mind a recollection of the exceliest j»ecformancas which lie used to give in j-oomedy productions; a*d he received a very cordial .welcome on Thursday evening -at the Princess ;Theatre, where he appeared to introduce the CinemalograDbe Lumiere to this city At the ' outset, he said that Lumiere Brothers were the invenjprs o.f the ciuematograpjie. and whil^ he •would' not'aay'ihatHhe other -cinemato^raphes which had been and still were in New ZeUancl. ■were better or -worse than this one, he as&-;rt^:i that they were BUnp'y imitations th*t w4re most unfair to the inventois. la all 35 pictures were throwu upon the canvas in- the course of the evening's entertainment— an acTruirably Assorted collection. — and several of ''dioto were repeated in compliance with the / rfttoiif{ desire for a repetition that w»s iitiplie^ in the warm plaudits with which they w-re .received. One feature about this ciaematographet^iat could not fail to be appreciated was the steadiness with

-which the pictures v/ere exhibited, and their freedom from that .shimmering which has_ been noticed to be a defect in previous ex' ibitions of the kind. Jubilee pictures and Royal pa,geaut?, which -formed one section .of the exhibition, appear now to beat * discount, and with the except'iou of the strikingly realist'C representation of the Czar)s entry into Paris, which was redemauded. anil' an' interesting \'iew o.f the princes _ and foreign ambassadors in the jubilee procession — this'comprising 2000 films and. being, it is claimed, the largest kinematoffraphic picture ou record— they did not "catch on " to the house nearly as well as some of the absolutely new views which Mr Reeve has with him. • One of these, representing a number of _batber« diving from lofty spi ingboards into Diana's Bath at.Milan, was especially realistic, and a lepetition of it was demanded. A picture depicting M*. Truer executing a serpentine aance (a much more skilful performance, by the way, than any of the so-call d serpentine dauces we have seen here) a view of London on a foggy day, looking towards Holborn Viaduct, another depicting a street scene on a wet day in the great metropolis, representations of a game of ecarte and of a babies' quarrel, and views of a parade of the Gicnadier Guards (whose splendid marching, as revealed by the picture, elicited hearty applause), and of a jumping practice of Russian diagoons were received with so much favour that they had to -be reX>eated. A series of sporting picture", the majority of th c m being visws on the Fleniington lace-couise-on the Melbourne Cup Day of 1896, was at at the present time exceedingly apposite ; and among the other pictuivs, one that had for its subject "Burning Weeds," in whi< ¥ h the cloud of smoke from the fire tbat was being diligently fed by a couple of woni'Mi, was reproduced with remarkable fidelity, and one depicting the United States President addres-iog a mass meeting of the New York populace, wwa the most noteworthy. The comic picture, however, as they always will be, were highly enjoyed. In the course of the evening Mis? Hope Naliou, -who has a pleasant contralto voice, but employs the vibrato to a greater extent than is judicious, sanga couple^ of solos in an agreeable fashion ; and .Mr Reeve recited Why te Melville's poem, " The place where the old horse died," an admirable' elocutionary effort, and narrated an American yarn, entitled "The Hero of Nevada," in which the mock heroics were ably dflivered. Mrs Gallaugher played theoverture pleasingly, and also assisted,' as accompanist during the evening.

On Monday night a number of now pictures were shown for the first time in the colony. Some of these were remarkably good— indeed the collection on view as a whole is, perhaps, the best that has been seen heie. So pleased were the audience with the pictures that the bulk of them had to be shown twice. One of 'the best of the views was that entitled "Baby's Dinner," which is almost a life-sizs representation of three figures— a child and ita parents. The father is engased iv feed» ing what is evidently his first- born with a spoon, while the mother is indulging in an afternoon cup of tei. The figuies were so distinct and life-like that one could almost imagine that one was looking at real human beings ; and the audience Showed in au unmistakable manner that they thoroughly appreciated the picture. ' Pussy'fi Pinner"^(a repieseutAtion of cats being fed), "Bathing" off a Jetty," and "Pulling Down a Wall" were some of the more remarkable of the other pictut es, nearly every one of which was well worth seeinpr. Among the pictures, it should be mentioned, were half a dozen ' new ones representing the Jubilee celebrations in the old country, which weie viewed with a considerable amount of interest.