AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18668, 17 April 1926, Page 11

AMUSEMENTS.

A NOTABLE FILM. ♦— —

"HE, WHO GETS SLAPPED." LIBERTY THEATRE MONDAY. A slap—a burst of jeering laughter—treacliory Lad triumphed! And into the circus ring Contempt had flung a clever scientist. That, in a few words, is the prelude to "He, Who Gets Slapped," the Metro-Goldwyn production that will be presented at the Liberty Theatre on Monday. The opening drama is played out in a university, and the rest of the storv in the multi-coloured ring which holds and hides Bo much. Robbed of wife and honours, "He" laughed, and, laughing still, bargained grimly with, death for revenge, and this truly wonderful story, with its intense pathos and humannes3,"its flashes of subtle wit, its romance, and its intellectual brilliance, is just a vehicle for the dread purpose of the mysterious "clown's revenge. Although the oustanding feature of the story is the brooding melancholy of "He" as he plajis his vengeance with the calmness of a Monte Cristo, its tenderer scenes and magnificent stagings go far to rob it of any undue eeriness, and its brilliant and bitter satire on life is readily lightened at all times by the whimsical buffoonery of a group of clever clowns. As for the artists, the very name of Lon Chaney has come to be a definite symbol to picturegoers, meaning entertainment that" is both different and absorbingly interesting. In this instance, apart from his circus-ring attire. Chancy departs from the gTotesquo in make-up and playa hi l * part to perfection. "He" 13 a difficult role, proved so moro than once on the stage, but it is easily discernible in the picture that its problems were relished by the screen's maßter character actor. In the featured cast, which includes Korma Shearer, .Tohn Gilbert, Marc McDermott, and Tully Marshall, the same pains are taken to secure convincing realism (yid intelligent acting, with the result that the whole production is on a plane few pictures can hope to attain. Tho Liberty Concert Orchestra, under the direction of Mr Ernest Jamieson, will play a specially-selected programme of orchestral music. The box plans for the season are at The Bristol Piano Co., where seat 9 may be reserved.