‘THE WHITE SISTER’

Evening Star, Issue 19276, 15 June 1926, Page 6

‘THE WHITE SISTER’

PICTURE OF SUNNY ITALY Sunny white villages sleeping by A blue Italian shore under the shadow of lofty Vesuvius; marble palaces, gleaming palely through shady groves on verdant hillsides; limpid lakes reflecting stilly the dark foliage of the encircling trees —these are the scenes in which tho picture, 1 The White Sister,’ is set. A private screening this morning revealed it to he beyond doubt one of the finest pictures seen in Dunedin for many a day. Its settings are gorgeous, its general scenic views wonderfully beautiful. That is not nearly all. It tells a story of deathless love and selfsacrifice, a story pure and poetic and tragic. Tho heroine is a beautiful Italian girl of noble family, who, turned from the ancestral home by a'jealous sister, is almost alone in the world. She is loved by Captain Giovanni Seven, who, sent to Africa in charge of a party of engineers, is captured in tha desert by Bedouins, and is reported killed. A piece of acting that can harily have been surpassed in pictures is seen when he returns home, and, visiting his stricken father in the hospital of tho 'White Sisters, finds Ilia sweetheart lias become a mm. It is one of the greatest pieces of work that Lillian Gish has ever done, as she falters between love for the man and her vows to the ancient church of Rome that has cradled her. The picture goes on. unfolding a story of wonderful appeal, and closing with tho mighty scone of a fearful Vcsnvian eruption, a town flooded by the swirling waters from a broken reservoir, and a sacrifice full of tragedy. Tho only hope left is expressed in the words of the White Sister as the people pray for her lover; “There is no death; we will meet again.” Lillian Gish, as Angela Chiaromonte, is seen in the greatest work of her career. She brings to life the character of the foilorn princess cast _ out from her home, and the White Sister struggling between the love of _ tho world" and vows of life till death within convent walls. Ronald Column, as Captain Soveri, acts with grace and ability, and Gail Kane, as the Marcfiesa di Mo'la, does well. The other players aro J. Barney Sherry (in the part of a dignified moimignor of tho church), Charles Lane, Juliette La Violette, Signor Serena. Alfredo Berlone, BninnS Ibanez, and Alfredo Martinolli.

The picture, which was made by ihf Metro-Goldwyn Company, will open ai the Octagon and Empire Theatres next Friday. “