ENTERTAINMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 774, 24 March 1910, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS.

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. A new high-class picture programme was presented last night at Hie Majesty's Theatre, where Messrs. John Fuller and Sons have resumed control. A film of great educational value and popular appeal was that, entitled "Wild Birds and Their Haunts;" It showed some of the most beautiful and shyest of English birds, nesting and feeding their young. Tho pictures were nicely coloured, and the audience thoroughly appreciate! them. An adapted dramatisation of "Faust" provided another excellent film, the story being" well acted and skilfully stage-managed. "Nick Carter," the famous detective, acting the clown in a successful attempt to recover a kidnapped child, proved a very popular figure, and there was a wild charm. about the story of "Tho Indian," a romance of peril, love, and revenge in the south-western States a half-centary ago. A coloured travelpicture of high merit portrayed the scenic beauties of the Rhine from Cologne to Bingen, including the farfamed Lorelei Rock. Vigorous action against a background' of witching beauty was supplied in the pictures of red-deer hunting on Exmoor. The film was obviously taken, not from a spe-cially-acted chase, but from scenes that -occurred in an ordinary day's hunt in the only part of England where the big red deer still run wild. Of course, the management did- not overlook the comic element. "A Cure for Cowardice" was one of those happy thoughts in clever motion-pictures which come most frequently, as in this case, from "gay Paris," but "The Terror and the Terrier," with its romping, rollicking, fun, made a more general appeal to the risible disposition of the audience. A "Gaiety" duet by Edmund Payne and George Grossmith, jun., assisted by Misses Melbourne and F. Payne, was another "star" film. "A Duel in MidAir" had plenty of "thrill", and "The Rocky Road" was" a memorable dramatic film. The programme, which is fully up to the standard of previous productions at His Majesty's, will be repeated to-night. Matinees are. announced for to-morrow,' Saturday )N and Monday. THEATRE ROYAL. Still running merrily to fine patronage, Fuller's Vaudeville Company, at the Theatre Royal,, requires little addition to /preceding notices. , The . star turns are those of Hassan, the Hindu conjurer, and the Klimos, Roman-ring acrobats, but the bill all round is a very varied one, and individual penchants in all the many" branches of vaudeville are well catered for v . THE KING'S THEATRE. There were no seats . vacant at the King's; Theatre last evening,' when an entire change of programme was presented. It •is only; a - few months" .ago that it was announced that'the manufacturers of' pictures—they are really theatrical managers controlling large companies of players—were erecting special theatres for the acting of.plays before tihe all-seeing camera. Now wo take the superb, acting of classical tragedies, operas, and dramas quite as a matter of. course, having long since ceased to wonder at the evolution that is. taking place' in. the show business : under the, influence of the kinematograpb.' Last evening the King's Thsa-'j tre patrons were treated to a fine representation ,of Bizet's ■ "Carmen,", boiled down to' a vivid little drama with the aid of. Prosper Merimee's novel. Carmen was, played; by Jkldlle. Lepaude, "whose beauty; and alluring grace alone make the picture "interesting. , " Carmen's meeting with Don Jose, the lather's desert&ifi'fro-in HisUregiment; Oarmen's love affair with Escamillo, and her death at the hands of Don Jose, maddened by jealousy,i were-all powerfully interpreted. : 'A'' very beautiful picture is a moving panorama (exquisitely coloured in natural tints) of scenes in the Molucca Islands. Here a quaint pagoda • throws a shadow across the glassy sacred lake,, and there the native women are shown weaving cloth by Hand most dexterously. ■ The exotic character of , the.. virgin bush and gardens, . the sun-kissed '.children, the clear air and brilliant colouring— •all suggest. that charm which has-al-ways been associated, with the dreamy Spice Islands. Another picture capitally worked out is entitled "Roughi's Capture." It depicts a scene in Morocco, in which a white girl is abducted by Moors, and.placed:in the harem of Sumwun Bey. She.is at length rescued by her father who nas bribed another hapu of Moors to assist him. The. Bey is afterwards shown in a small iron cage, bearing the -jeers and jibes of the populace without any ■ sign of fortitude. "The Abduction- of Miss Hawkins ' is a comedy of the rubbish-heap, enacted amusingly by the rubbisisorters of Paris. . Other pictures shown were ."A Quixotic Gentleman," "Seaside Flirtation," "Dwellers South of tie Equator," "The Game-keeper's Daughter," "Scenes in Darjeeling," "Two Suitors," a Very comical picture entitled "Three Reasons for Haste," and a Sherlock Holmes exploit. . ■ . . ■-■■■.

evening -ffle programme mil' include, some- pictures of a semisacred character, including "The Sign of Hie Cross." -.-.•■

W- ? orchestra is a feature'at' the ■King s Theatre. The music is good, the musicians capaMe, and an effort is made to suit the music to the study as was notably, well done in the "Carmen film. Matinees will be given tomorrow, on Saturday and Monday,afternoons.

PICTURES AT THE TOWN HALL.

As Wellington is always unusually full of holiday-makers at Easter time, Messrs. John Puller and Sons have decided to cater for them as fully as possible. Besides the Vaudeville Company at the Theatre Eoyal and the picture entertainment provided' at His Majesty's Theatre, they have engaged the Town Hall for; Easter ■ Monday night, and will screen there a collection of entirely new "biograph studies. The management guarantee that every picture will be absolutely new to Wellington. One of the most attractive of the series should prove to be that entitled "The Last Muster." This film shows a gathering of the remaining veterans of the'.famous Balaclava charge; men whose action on-that memorable day has been immortalised by Tennyson. The-exclusive right to show this picture in New Zealand has been purchased by Mr. Fuller, who, by so doing, became a large subscriber to the Balaclava Fund in the interest of which the film was made. ' ' , ; STAB PICTURES. The Star. Pictures continue to attract large audiences to St. . Thomas's Hall, Newtown. The people of Wellington South are realising that a weekly visit to a picture show is becoming' a part of a normal person's life, and are bestowing liberal patronage on the good little show. Star Pictures are to be shown at the Opera House to-morrow evening, when' the programme will.. .include a kinematograph representation. ...of Shakespeare's powerful tragedy. "Othello," said to be vividly acted by • a company of, the best Italian actors. The tragedy is beautifully mounted and most gorgeously costumed, and the scenes presented are. ijuito numerous enough to allow of the grim story of love, treachery, and rovenge being easilv followed.