AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18195, 4 October 1924, Page 15

AMUSEMENTS.

PICTURE HOUSES. liberty theatre. "THE MIDNIGHT ALARM GRUB STAKE-" There- arc thrills aplenty in "The Mid-ni-ht Alarm," which will-bo 6hown at. the Libcrtv Theatre to-day. Seldom have » manv hazards been attempted by film stars, for there is real danger to life in many of. the sensational incidents. Silas Carringford i ki'b his partner, and makes oTertUres to the widow. In escaping from Ills unwelcome attentions sho is killed at a railway crosslD- Her daughter. known a.s Sparkle (admirabl" rlavpf] bv winsome Alice Calhoun), brVomrs "a member of a slum family, ana not know ins that ehe is an heiress to millions, has a news stall. Carringford' eee*s her identification paper?, and trap* her in :i i\mlt in his office. He and his other confederates are ki'J-d in trying to escape from the fire that out in the while Sparkle is saved by Fire Captain Westmore il'rrrv Marmor.ti and restored to her former home'. The romantic element, which is the warp and woof of the story, tends to hold tojrt.ocr a serie3 of incidents and events which, together, make .one of the most exciting pictures ever screened. Never for ?» moment doc 3 one lose even the elighte£t interest. The "scenes axe spectacular to a degree, and all is set to aid tbo principals to act with B.i>?olute realism the parts assigned them. In addition to Alice Calh'oun and Percy Marmont. the cast includes CuUcn Joseph Masine Elliot Hicks. George Pierce, Kitty Bradoury, J. Gunnis Dav.s, Jean Carpenter, May Foster, and Fred Behrle. The c-econd big attraction is 'The stake,'' in which Nell Shipman plays the leading role. This remaxkable sirl, ncted for her pictures of the great outdoors, wrote the f-t.ory, and w.th Bert Tan Tnyle, directed it. Together with the story and it.3 remarkable star, there is aui additional attraction in t.he presence of scores of wild animals of Ihe north-west.' Thev are not, trick animals in any sense, and the picture shows them living their natural life in the wocd3, with Miss Shipman as their trusted companion, a tiling of the wilds like themselves. The story, which involves the animals is an intensely interesting one, and derives its title from the t-crm first used during the gold Tiisn to the Klondike in IS9B—"Grub stake roe Pardner, and I'll bring home the baoon/' This appeal was ma do by prospectors anxious to seek their fortunes, but without the money necessary to outßt and. provision themselves, nnd a3 obtaining ■ a grub-stake meant the sharing of what, treasure might be founcl, .there vere many gamblers eager t,o-"grub-stake" those frfco were down but not out. In Nell Shipman's picture it is a girl who makes the appeal to a man —a giri struggling against, adverse circumstances in Seattle, who wishes -to go <--> Alaska, in order, to make a. fresh start..- Without realising in the . simplicity of her heart the nature of the man she is dealing with, 6he obtains her grub-stake and pays for it a price more bitter than she thought possible. In addit.iou, there will bo a Hal Roach comedy, "Dogs of "War;" featuring ■ Ihe Youngsters of "Our Crang." The coosor for' New Zealand films, Mr Joliffe, when review-. ing this . picture, declared that it was bno of thei most amusing comedies he had ever seen, and that, he laughed heartily from beginning to end. The Liberty Quality Orchestra. under the direction , of Mr Howard Moody, will present an enjoyable programme. GREATER CRYSTAL PALACE. "H I'NCIIBACK OF NOTRE DAME." ' MOST WIDELY, PRAISED TILM. Who Fighting Adventurer," "The Fog," And current tino programmo. of motion pictures will be presented at. Greater Crystal Palace for the lasi, times this afternoon and to-night; and the world-famous Symphony Orchestra, under .the distinguished conduotorcfcip pi Mr Alfred J. Buitz, will play at' both BOfcsions. "Tho Hunchback of Notre Dame" is the big attraction at Greater Crystal Palace for nest week, commencing Monday. ; For many months it ha 3 been widely heralded as the last-word- in cinema art, but • this -.was taken with the. proverbial grain', of . salt until after the world premier at tho Aator Theatre iii New York city. The .New 1 ork critics shattered all precedent by using up more adjectives of praisa" than even the most'intrepid press agent would- daro employ. Carl La'emmle, president of Universal, realised the great risk ho took-in maJiing'changes in the masterpiece of Victor Hugo; changes v.'hich ho deiended, ..however, on the. ground that as a drama must, entertain all classes, anything offensive to any religious denomination must bo deleted. And, strange to-say, all of the changes were heartily endorsed by tho critics. Lon C'haney, one of the greatest character actors on either stage or -sewsen, plays" the difficult role of "Quasimodo," the hunchback. He is supported by s.uch well-known players as Patsy R.utli filler,. Ernest. Torrcnce, Norman Kerry, .Nigel de Brulier, Tully Marshall, Brandon Hurst., .in rl Gladys Brookwcll. Tbero a.r© 75 principals and' 3500 e-stros in the cast. The entire Cathedral of Notre Dame was constructed' .it Universal City, as well as eight squares of Parisian streets'and houses of the period of Louis XI. Several curious persons ha to asked if it. would not have been more .feasible to have taken the company to Paris and "shoot" the. scenes there rather than to go to the espene« of rebuilding the costly sets at Universal City. Thrj-e is no question but that, this would ha.ve cut tie cost of construction work in half, but what many pe-reons fail, to realise is that obtaining permission from th.e authorities of the French and Church Governments to photograph the Cathedral itself was something 'that was impossible. They have constantly refused similar requests. The lask of buildm~ the settings for this production yas one of tho most stupendous ever undertaken. Caii Laemmle sent a staff of twenty technical exports to Paris, where they spent six mouth* in running through library files'and prowling through dusty archives in order to get, each detail truo to tho period of the nict.ure. . Incidentally, this is another reason why if- was impossible to film the production in Paris. Tho trench metropolis of to-dav is not the same dty it Aw* in tbo days of" Louis XI. Probably no stage or screen dra.ma has been given such uniformly high praiso from critics from coast to coast as "Tho Hunchback. For the tot five months after its world premier it, was shown onlv in the largest legitimate theatres of the larger cities of the country This was i severe test for any picture, and the fact ihat it o3Hi? through with glowing colours, shows what a wonder film it m^be. "The Hunchback of Notro Dame is L.,000 fw in length and supporting this hug<j picture following films ; iTessenger Century comedy, the latest International Nfws film, and chapter number four of "The Fast Express." .Following the esÜb',shed custom, particulars of nest week* ma-mficent musical programme will be announced in Mondays newspapers. The box "i™, The Bristol, or seats may be reeved by telephoning Greater Crystal Palace, number 37, i-