VAUDEVILLE v. TALKIE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 52, 25 November 1930, Page 3

VAUDEVILLE v. TALKIE

Everyone knows where marriages are made, but in spite of their supposed origin, the results are rarely as satisfactory as those obtained at the Grand Opera House this week, where films and the legitimate stage are wedded with extremely pleasant consequences for the audience. The Humphrey Bishop Company shares the bill with a special feature film, “A Dangerous Paradise,” which is a mejo-dramatic photoplay founded on a tale by Joseph Conrad, prince of romance. The Humphrey Bishop Company consists of dancers, singers, comedians and musicians, who give a delightfully snappy entertainment, with no wasted moments. Comic relief is provided by Maurice Barling, a versatile clown, who makes a laughing hit in a burlesque of Al Jolson singing "Sonny Boy,” and is also very musing as the drill sergeant in the military finale, which takes the musical form of the inarch song from “The Love Parade.” Another excellent character actor, singer, and dancer is Arthur Helmsley,' who sings some silly verses in Lancashire dialect very cleverly, and Is exceedingly good as the coster in the sketch with Thelma Trott. The company possesses a sterling baritone in ' Walter Kingsley. "A Dangerous Paradise” makes very good entertainment, with love, hate, murder and robbery staging a lively play in a South Sea island retreat.