"OLD SAN FRANCISCO."

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 19400, 28 August 1928, Page 11

"OLD SAN FRANCISCO."

DAYS BEFORE THE FIRE. PIOTCJRESQUE DRAMA AT LIBERTY. A magnificent picture is being shown at the Liberty Theatre this week, one of those glorious romances teeming with gallant adventure and bitter feuds that come to the screen only once in a while. • It is entitled "Old San Francisco," and has Dolores Costello in the lead, and that prince of villains Warner Oland, in a congenial role. The late Charles Kramett 'Mack, a finished actor, is leading man to Hiss Oostello, and Anna May Wong is also in the cast.

"Old San Francisco" is a thrilling melodrama of the colourful days before the "great ore," when the glamorous City of the Golden Gate had a Barbary Coast known as "The Mile of Hell," and a Chinatown which burrowed deep in the earth, and hid a thousand gruesome secrets. The story opens in surroundings of wealth and leisure, then changes rapidly to the underworld, which is governed by a half-caste, ruling over Chinese, Malays, and all the'mixed peoples who came through the Golden Gate. The picture has to do with a Spanish heiress,- who, is kidnapped by a half-caste of the underworld. Revenge is the strongly dramatlo keynote on which this story hinges, but a dash of Irish humour is never amiss in a drama that is forover moving. The story, having as it were, two'stories, is doubly-interesting, on account of the excellence of the plots, the high standard of the aoting, and the remarkable realistic manner in which the old city was rebuilt for the screen. A notable feature of this film is the portrayal of the. San Francisco under the Spanish oohquistadores, and the San Francisco under the heathen Chinese, both of which lend their respective characters and colours to the picture. There is a "burning romance of love and unselfish devotion, and the climax, one of the most terrific ever pictured, is the "great fire," which ended the sway of the underworld. This last scene is a fitting conclusion to so much thrilling drama' and intricate "intrigue. Dolores Costello is glorious as the wronged and revengeful Sehorita, and Warner Oland, as the sinister "boss," is superb. Oland Crosland's direction shows rare understanding, and the photography smacks of wizardry. A full programme of gazettes and comedy is showing 4n support. The Liberty Concert Orchestra, under the conductorship of Mr Ernest Jamieson, played a charming repertoire of Chinese and Spanish .music. Tho overture was °°}?Sl Bogev" (Alford), and the entr'acte was Oh, Doris" (Kahn); other numbers included: "Unfinished Symphony" (Schubert) and "Symphony in G Minor" (Mozart).