AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 124, 28 May 1929, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

REGENT THEATRE. Since the "talkies" opened at the Regent, the theatre has presented only one programme that has attracted unusual patronage. Not that tie programme" have been of a poor quality; on the contrary, they have been carefully selected, and the fact is that Aucklanders have failed to appreciate the artistry in some of the films, especially "White Shado-.vs in the South Seas." Now the management of the Regent presents a programme which, it is to "be hoped, trill receive the patronage it deserves. It -will be surprising indeed if there are not large audiences at all sessions, for the principal picture star is Lon Chaney, and the name "Lon Chaney" never fails to draw those •who are fond of first-class character acting. In "West of Zanzibar," Chaney dies another horrible death, but his liking for making an awful exit in climaxes of his pictures may always be forgotten behind the memory of his splendid acting. "West of Zanzibar" is the tale of his revenge on a man who, he thought, stole Iris wife. For eighteen years lie keeps his wife's daughter in the lowest dive in Zanzibar. I When he is ready, he brings her andthe other man together, having the man killed by natives, who, he is sure, will observe their traditions and burn the girl alive at her father's funeral. Then, to hie horror, he discovers that the girl is his own daughter, and drama reaches its height in his grini plan to save her by sacrificing himself. There is an unusually good mustering of types in the film. There . is Chaney as a man who, having lost the use of his legs, is bent on revenging hini- / eelf on the man who has caused him so much agony; thei-e is Lionel Barrymore as his hated enemy; Warner Baxter as a broken-down doctor whom Chaney uses to keep him alive; Mary Nolan as the girl whom the bestiality of the man who is really her father has reduced to that state where she cares nothing for life; and there are others, too. Tiny and Babe, two bits of flotsam on the wave of life, and Anna, the wife, whose acting in the earlier part of the film makes one think that she disappears from the story far too eoon. The budget of supports is a good collection and has obviously been selected with more than ordinary care to provide variety. Song numbers are provided by well-known vaudeville and gramophone , artists, and violin selections are played by Duce Dokerek Jar-to. Charley C'bae? is starred in a clever comedy, and the bill is complete with a newsreel containing: scenes of the recent cold enap in Europe and of the Hawaiian volcano, Kilauea, in eruption. ILLUSTRATED LECTURE. An instructive lecture was given by Dr. Neil McGregor, an honourable a&scciate of the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, last evening in the St. John Ambulance Hall. The lecture was illustrated by cinematograph films. Despite the wetness of the night there was an attendance of over a hundred. Mr. C. J. Tunks, M.8.E., Commissioner of the St. John Ambulance for the Auckland district, presided. CHARITY ENTERTAINMENT. A charity entertainment, arranged by Miss Aileen Beresford, will be presented in the Lewis Eady, Limited, Hall on Monday, June 3. The programme will be presented at an afternoon matinee and in the evening. The proceeds are to help Sister Esther's Winter Appeal. A welleolected programme has been arranged.