LIBERTY THEATRE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19666, 9 July 1929, Page 16

LIBERTY THEATRE.

-AM * ALL-TALKING COMEDY. EXCELLENT PROGRAMME. It is ef some interest to study the progress In technique of successive sonnd-pie-tves aa tbey reach here. The stage has great limitations ao far as pitching the scene ie concerned—limitations which no ingenuity ia backdrops and scenery can . overcome. Theae defects are to all intents and purpose* non-existent in silent films, and it is because of this that the screen gets a pitch af realism under general conditions that the stag* can never hope to reach. But iu the "talkies" it is evident that somo reetraint is again imposed. . The.camera by itself has become an exceedingly flexible means of recording action, but it seems that with its additional apparatus, necessary for recording sound, it has lost a great deal of thie flexibility. One can imagine almost •very allot taken from a position of some permanence. And' bo it is interesting to watch in successive "talkies" how the producers are overcoming this. Tho main feature at the Liberty Theatre this week may or may not have been producod later than last week's feature at the same theatre, but it ia quite evident that irt the wholo production much more wonderful things are dene. Thia main, feature is an all-talking comedy, "Give and Take," atarririg Georgo Sidney and Jean HershoH. The cast is an extremely strong one—the two official stars being in fact on a par with all the players. The clarity of speech is most remarkable throughout—the Jewish atmosphere which was expected, was found to bo almost entirely absent. Tbe story is as highly improbable as anything that has yet appeared here, and its very improbability lends a certain amount of ludicrousnese to tho whole action. It is a tale of business amenities as revealed by a fev.- months spent in a small American cannery- This cannery is in succession one man'e properly, community property, no one's property, and in the end rests peacefully in the bosom of a fruit merger. The return of the original proprietor'b son, coineidentally with a difficulty in meeting a bill, started the whole concern on its unstable course. The son's jr.heme was one for "Industrial Democracy," and was obviously the product of a University Extension Course. Tho blind love of the proprietor for his son and for his foreman, wliieh is most artistically conveyed, enabled this scheme to take effect, and the result ii eomedy of the highest order. George Lewis, of "Collegians" fame, is found to have an attractive voice. The short films comprising the first half <rf the programme include a moot impressive record of the Armistice Day C1928> services at the Cenotaph, London. His Majesty the King Is present, and the film Is of interest en that account, for it, will bo remembered that his illness begin only a few days afterwards. The ceremony took place in heavy rain. Two very good short comedies and two vaudeville turns are also shown. It need hardly be added that throughout tbe programme the synchronisation is quite perfect.