ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 176, 13 April 1923, Page 7

ENTERTAINMENTS

EVERYBODY’S THEATRE.

The craze for excitement at all costs which is rendering the meaning of home null and voil to all women who wish to be thought modern is pitilessly satirised in “Manslaughter,” the striking Paramount film which Everybody’s have ‘secured an extension of for a week. Beatrice Joy and Tom Meighan have the leading roles. Lydia, the heroine, is a girl with the speed lust, materially so when in a motorcar, and always craving to exceed her former excesses in society sensations. She stages a semi-nude glove-fight between two girls, a fight to a finish, in her drawingroom just before she kills a police trap (accidentally) by skidding her car in the attempt to elude him? O’Bannon, the magistrate who sentences her for manslaughter, loves her, and the interest in the story commences only when she learns the true meaning of life in menial tasks in the gaol, where she serves as. a scullerymaid under her former maid. While she is learning the lesson of life in gaol. O’Bannon is forgetting his place in the world, through her loss, and it is she who saves him from social wreck by dissipation when she comes out, and eventually she shares signal honours as his wife. The supports are good, and the musio. supplied by Everybody’s Orchestra is excellent.

EMPRESS THEATRE. A gorgeous spectacle is promised in “Missing Husbands,” to oe screened at the Empress Theatre this evening. The story, founded on Pierre Benoit’s novel, “L’Atlantise,” takes place in a palace in the Sahara. Sumptuously ' luxuriant are the settings of this play,-which is said to be one of the most extravagantly produced seen for seme time. The cast of, exceptionally talented French kinema artists includes Stacia Napierkowska, Marie Louise Iribe, Jean Angelo, Georges Melchior, Francheschi, and Adb-el-kader Ben-Ali. The settings beggar comparisons with any described in “A Thousand and One Nights,” or the days of CleopaTra. Most of the action takes place within the . palace of Queen Antinea, situated on a luxuriant oasis. The palace is a marvel of colour and design, and the embellishments are not lacking in this resnect. Thousands of dollars were spent in the.se scenes alone, and the result 'is said to be a revelation of exotic grandeur that patrons will not forget for many a day. A strong supporting programme will also be screened.

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE. Those wEo like trained animals will find a merry troupe of signally clever monkeys, dogs, bears, and an anteater performing marvellous tricks as if they liked it at His Maiesty’s Theatre. The monkeys keep things alive, and the, show is well worth while. Sam Stern is clever and mirthful in his songs, Nell and Bradly Shaw have up-to-date songs and dances, and show what the trombone is capable of. Banjo solos are snappy and melodious as played by Lana and Howard, and the Recce Sisters in their songs and dances are pleasing. Tire Sunbeam Revue Company is an English one, and its. latest revue, “Sunbonnet Sue” is a lively one. Frank Crowther’s orchestra keeps the fun up to concert pitch. PRINCESS THEATRE.

Betty Compson, the beautiful and talented young Paramount star, is featured in “The Law and the Woman,” which will be presented at the Princess Theatre, to-day. This is an intensely inteiesting story based on Clyde Fitch’s celebrated play, “The Woman in the Case.” As .the heroine, Miss Compson is seen to fine advantage, rtehile others in the cast are William T. Carleton, Cleo Ridgely, Helen Dunbar, Casson Ferguson, and Clarence Burton. It is a tale of miscarried “justice” that beauty and daring put right. The heroine plays their reckless game of wasters she despises and wins. In addition to this attraction, a full programme of supporting films will be screened, including a big two-reel Paramount Mack Sennett comedy special, entitled “Never Too Old,” featuring Charles Murray and Marie Prevost. This attractive programme is scheduled to screen only this Friday, Saturday, and Monday.

STRAND THEATRE. A story with a potent moral for mothers and their marriageable daughters is registered in “White Shoulders,” Ratheune latest First National attraction, the principal feature on the new programme at the Strand Theatre. Two elements, each of them with considerable force, contribute to the fundamentals of this production. The first deals with the right, or even the duty, of a mother to land a rich husband for her daughter, so that the daughter may escape the horrors of poverty, wh:-Jh his well night overwhelmed the mother, z 'J'ho second element, and the one which must impress itself on every one of less than unlimited means; deals with the »vilo of the credit system, and shows the meshes in which a person who buys on the installment plan may become entangled. Tho result is a photo-play plot far above the ordinary, and one which gives room for thought as well as entertainment. The second feature, “One of the Blood,” stirs the popular Douglas Fairbanks. This picture marks another triumph for Fairbanks, who is unexcelled on the screen for the kind of thrill that he has to offer. lit addition, the usual high-class supporting programme will be screened.

SONATA RECITAL. Miss Ava Symons (violin) . and Mr. B. F. Page (piano) will give a sonata recital to-night in the Concert Chamber of the Town , Hall. These two musicians have already become known to Wellington by their recitals together last year, and their efforts on behalf of chamber music in this city. Tho sonatas to bo performed are the Handel in D Major, Elgar in E Minor, and the Lekeu in G Major. The box planjs open at the Bristol, where tickets can be reserved for 3s. 3d.«, including tax. EKETAHUNA. PICTURES. The star picture te be screened at EketaJiuna on Saturday is “The Man Trackers,” a rousing drama of tho great out-of-doors and its North-YVest woods. Love and hate, tho two predominating passions of the human heart, form the underlying theme of this story, which is enacted by an allstar cast, including George Larkin and Josephine Hill. It is the story of a bravo member of the North-YVest Mounted Police, who runs foul of a gang of desperate law-breakers, and becomes the victim of their evil plans; of a long trail which leads to honourable vengeance, complete vindication, and to the girl he loves. In addition to “The Alan Trackers” there will be «a Century, comedy and International News. \