"THE GATEWAY OF THE MOON."

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19482, 1 December 1928, Page 9

"THE GATEWAY OF THE MOON."

DOLORES DEL RIO IN EXOTIC ROLE. OBYSTAL PALACE, MONDAY. Sinoe her first appearance before the camera, in a role of any importance, the Mexican actress, Dolores del Rio, has specialised in roles of a more or less vivid and unusual character. from Russian to the Spanish, from that of a French mam'sella to the half-Indian Kamona, she brings the same touch to each, and in latest part, most unusual of them all, the half-caste Toni of the jungles along the Amazon, she will be seen at Crystal £*aiace Theatre next week. The title of the picture is 'The Gateway of the Moon," set in the malariainfested lands of South America, along the Amazon with Aztecs, and Indians, where engineers from England and America are endeavouring to stem the tides of yellow fever, and the tides of hostile natives that regularly become inflamed against the white men. It is a most absorbing picture, different yet interesting; it has a locale that is quite new, characters that do not make their appeal by the wearing of sumptuous apparel or. the throwing off of modern slang. The people of this picture are elemental, almost primitive, for down there in the South American jungles, by the silver mines and sites of old Spanish monasteries, ' there is little inclination for the veneer of civilisation. The story is built around a group of engineers, two of them boldly unscrupulous, Toni, the niece of one of these bad men, and of the hidden war there is between the powers of good and darkness in the camp. From this apparently innocent and innocuous theme, the producers have evolved a picture that has led the New Zealand censor to recommend "The Gateway of the Moon" to adult audiences. Perhaps it is entirely on account of the child Toni that he has done this For she is half the childish Aztec, and half the consciously alluring Spaniard, a most dangerous mixture for young Englishmen down there in the feverdrenched tropics, where days are frightful beyond description, and nights are lovely beyond description. However it does, "The Gateway of the Moon" possesses that subtle something that other pictures, with their more catching themes, have failed to accomplish. The acting is always impressive, that of Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Fenton being second only to that of Miss del Rio. Tha supporting picture is "The Sky Skidder," starring that intrepid airman, Captain A 1 Wilson, so often seen at Crystal Palace In his. exciting and adventurous pictures of aviation. . It is an immensely thrilling story this, how a young airman invented a fuel that would fly a 'plnne one thousand miles on a pint I And how his rival stole it, and the girl's father thoupht the young inventor a fraud, and a hundred other things, until at the end everything ?oes as merrily as a marriage bell. Mr Alfred Bnnz has arranged the following musical programme for the Symphony Orchestra: —Overture, "Pole to Pole" (Byrd);. "Symphony in .A Minor" (Mendelssohn); "T'Cheka" (Ring), "Famous Beauties" (Fletcher), "By the Shrine, of the Sun" (Elliott); "A Southern Wedding" (Loter); "An Arcadian Festival" (Rickett); "Russet and Gold" (Sanderson); "Popular Songs" (Squire); "jfnon Moths" (Kussner). Box plans are at The Bristol Piano Company, where seats may be reserved.