AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19917, 2 May 1930, Page 7

AMUSEMENTS.

CRYSTAL PALACE. The heroes of "What Price Glory?" have made their reappearance in "The Cock-Eyed World," which ia now showing to crowded aucuences at the Crystal i*alace theatre. OtiU in tne army, ana soiii hating ta<-u otflor witn a lervour ana an oppressiveness that sped troublo at every encounter, iney hive »ost none oi their virility and none ol their love for the gentler but scheming sex. jNot so much a story as * sequence of exhilarating events, "The Oocn-Kyed World" does not cany the same message that gave its predecessor, eilent picture though it was, such an eminent position among the films ot the year, but it does raise more laughs, and it does hold the attention in a firm grip all the way through. Moreover, Flagg and Quirk are now more real than before, for they speak their words-t-and theii voices are just what one wouid have expected them to be. With the wonderful facilities provided by talking equipment, the popular army custom of "giving the bird" to a sergeant—that is, the utterance of ft contemptuous sound from a hidden position in the ranks—is reproduced with vivid realira; Flagg, now a sergeant, searches furiously and in vain for tho little Jew boy with the hateful and carefully calculated bray. Quirk also has come down in the world, and is a mere private, but ho refuses to bo overawed by Flagg's stripes. Alwayß there is a woman in he' background to keep the apple of discord rolling in their midst, and when Quirk recovers from the attack of fever that has laid him low, and Flagg returns from action to discover him dallying with Mariana, who has nursed him back to health, the hatchet is immediately disinteired, and once again the barracks echo to the roar of "Says you!" and "Says I!" And so it jroes on through all "the cock-eyed world"—from Vladivostock to New York. Victor MrcLaglen and Edmund Lowe are, of course, Flagg and Quirk. "ATLANTIC* ALL-TALKING DRAMA. An all-talking film production that is a tribute to the lion-hearted courage of the British race is "Atlantic," the all-talking picture to be presented at Crystal Palace Theatre next week. Adapted from Ernest Raymond's play, "Tho Berg," which, in turn, was based gn the tragio loss of the Titanic, the picture has colossal entertainment value and opportunities for displaying the versatility of the sound camera. There would roally have been no excuse for the producers had "Atlantic" proved to be other than it is, for the material at hand is ideal. The entire action takes place on board the illstarred vessel, and the petty dramas, romances, and tragedies of the passengers are t ÜBed by the dramatist in the early acts to show the audience what trivial things occupy man's mind and absorb his attention when I the ominous forces of Naturo are mobilising to overthrow him. Some of these people are shown in such a remarkably true light that there is very little to admire in them; some of them are merely fools; some are knaves, all are egotistical. But with the first report that there is a sharp drop in temperature, till the Titanic lurches into the depths of the Atlantic, there is paraded that famed heroism of the race that holds any show of emotion bad form even when an iceberg as big as the Rock of Gibraltar has collided with the ship. Perhaps the finest scenes in this tremendous drama are enacted when the disciplinary machinery of the vessel is set in motion. There is no denying the power and dignity of this play. The story is always edifying, and it points the same moral that the Titanic herself pointed. It is genuine entertainment, without any of that conventional lure of some talkies. The whole thing is done with delightful English restraint. The reproduction of the ship for the screen, and its realistic 'destruction, are masterpieces' of screen-craft, and the last scene, when the vessel keels over, drowning the' strains of "Nearer My God to Thee" and the souls on board, is one of the most moving scenes in modern drama. The box plans for "Atlantic" are now at The Bristol Piano Company, where seats may be reserved.