STRAND THEATRE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18634, 8 March 1926, Page 7

STRAND THEATRE.

A big programme has been selected for the week at the Strand Theatre. "The HalfWay Girl" features Doris Kenyon and Lloyd Hughes. Javanese dancing-girls, sikhs, coolies, Chinese, sailors of all countries, halfcastes, "wharf rats"—in short, a sort of congress of all nations—provide the Oriental setting for "The Half-Way Girl." This First National feature is a drama of the Orient, with its locale in Singapore and the Indian Ocean. Real natives were procured to portray the various types. For example, one scene is laid in the intorior of a notorious Malay street cafe. There, the motion picture patrons will see real natives. The only white men and women are the principal characters in the picture. All the others were selected according to their nationality. In this cafe Lloyd Hughes enacts one of his most stirring scenes, a battle with a thieving cafe owner, and is pursued by a drinkcrazed mob, "The Fighting Cub," starring Pat O'Alalley and Wesley Barry, is a tale of newspaper life. "The Fighting Cub" gives the audience an entertaining insight into the romantic side of reporting, as well as representing several thrilling situations. Thomas Patrick O'Toole is a freckle-faced and ambitious boy who at last .wins a chance to show what he can do as a cub reporter. Of course he exposes the crooks, makes a "scoop" for his paper, and wins a girl by his wit and courage. Wesley Barry, who plays the part of Thomas, gave to the part his enthusiastic, youthful ardour, and Paul Hurst, the director, saw well to the smooth running of a quickly-moving plot that has both suspense and excitement.' Other pictures are: "Perils of the, Wilds'* (ep. 5), a comedy, "Felix Bursts into Business," and a News film.