PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 19776, 28 January 1928, Page 5

PICTURE THEATRES

OGTAGCK Some very clever effects ha% r e been obtained by Roy Del Ruth, the director of ‘ Wolf’s Clothing/ the Warper Brothers’ production now bing screened at the Octagon Theatre, starring Monte Blue and Patsy Ruth Miller. One of the most remarkable is the sequence in which the hero and heroine walk the clouds in ihe midst of a swirling crowd of revellers, on New Year’s Eve. along the Great White Wav. The beauty of the scene suggests the Arabian Nights. It is open sesame to 0. Henry's Bagdad-on-the-Subway. The hero of the story, the ranting, roaring Barry Maline (played so zestfully by Monte Blue) is a subway guard He arrives at the high-hat ball bv way of a madman, a hurtlinlj car. humor, nerve, and some other tilings. And there it is that he meets lato, in the person of the pi'etty and preposterously magnificent Minnie Humphrey, a society girl who has escaped her chaperon and is seeking night club thrills. Each falls in love at first sight. But what wicked genii are to bo met along the way—before the cross-grained old crook captain marries them at the point of a revolver. It is on the event of the couple’s first stroll in raucous, riotous, Broadway, when they metaphorically “walk on air,” that Del Ruth’s brilliant technique makes their mental state so beautifully and amusingly tangible. The Octagon Orchestra, under Mr L.D- Austin, will play a selection from ‘Carmen’ (Bizet), with a grand organ accompaniment by Mr C. A. Martin..

EMPIRE Thrills from .start to finish, with plot that defies solution until the final scenes, are promised in ‘ Tho Cat and the Canary/ an intriguing mystery drama now being shown at the Empire Theatre. Headed by Laura La. Plante, the picture embraces an all-featured cast, including Arthur Edmund Carew, Forrest Stanley, Creighton Hale, Gertrude Astor, George Sioguiann, Flora Finely Tuliy Marshall, and Martha Mattox. The screen story, which was adapted from the famous stage play of tha same name by John Willard, has to do with the fortunes of six relatives of a wealthy old recluse who died, leaving a will that was to be rend at the hour of midnight in his homo a year from the day of his death. The attorney, who reads the will, is murdered, and suspicion falls in turn on each of tha relatives. The reason for the murder and the disclosing of the murderer’ provides rare entertainment. Paul Leni, who is responsible for tha direction of the picture, recently went to America under contract to Universal, after making some of the most outstanding European successes of tha year. Special musical effects will be played by the Empire Orchestra, under Mr C. Parnell. ‘Sunshine and Showers* (Flath) and ‘The Sneak’ (Brown) are included in tho musical numbers. GRAND AND PLAZA Fax films again score a double hit with tho latest Tom Mix Western feature, ‘Outlaws of Red River/ which bad its initial presentation at tho Grand and Plaza Theatres yesterday* A double hit, because it is both a thrilling narrative that is crammed with, suspense, jammed with thrills, and sparkling with romance, and also because it is scenic of unusual beauty and interest. This is a. story of tho Texas Rangers and of their most daring member, known as the Falcon, and played 'by Mix. Action, suspense, thrills, and furious riding, some of it up dills that seem impossible for a horse. Humor, too, and a love story that is very intriguing help to make this pictiire tho fine entertainment that it is. Marjorie Daw has the leading feminine role, and a oast of merit fills all other roles of importance. A story of great adventure on’ the High seas, and tho hunt for a treasure trovo buried by a piratical old ancestor on a desert island in tho South Pacific makes ‘ The Isle of Hope ’ tho second attraction, and the latest starring vehicle for tho agile Richard Tahnadge, a picture of peculiar interest and continuous excitement. ■ QUEEN'S ‘Damaged Goods/ which is now be* ing screened at tho Queen’s Theatre, is not merely a picture of sensational happenings, as may bo generally supposed by the average citizen; it is an artistic treatment of a serious .subject that does not permit of any dramatic or literary license.

Eugene Bricux’s novel was banned in New Zealand some years back by tho authorities, but it is quite safe to assume that, with the experience that the war has brought, the novel would now ho gladly received, not only by the medical faculty, but by those broadvisioued workers who have come out in the open and insisted upon the scourge being attacked and stemmed. Parents are especially asked to sec the film, so that they may bo armed with a weapon, so to speak, to protect their children by inculcating in them when opportunity oilers the means_ by which they can avoid dreaded evils that so often lio in the path of lifo of tho young. By order of the New Zealand film censor mixed audiences are prohibited, and it lias therefore been decided that women only will be admitted to the dress circle and men only to the stalls. Tho censor has made another proviso—. viz., that no individual under the ago of sixteen years is to bo admitted. EVERYBODY'S AMD RING EDWARD Milton Sills has never had a better; vehicle than ‘Framed,’ the premier attraction at. Everybody’s and the King Edward Theatres. In this story of tho Brazilian diamond mines Sills plays the part of a man who is drummed out of the French army during the World War as the result of a false accusation. He repudiates his native land and goes to Brazil to become a foreman in the diamond fields. There he is again “ framed,” and sent to a penal settlement, where he is finally vindicatedIt is a story of thrills, and has a cinating background. Natalie Kingston is leading woman. John Mil]an, E. J. Iladcliffe, Charles Gerrard, and Ed Pcil all have admirable roles. Included in this programme is ‘Foreign Devils,’ in which Tim M‘Coy, outdoor star, again proves Ins remarkable versatility. This picture is based on Peter B. Kyne’s fascinating story of the Chinese Boxer rebellion. As Captain Kelly, of the U.S.A. Embassy, M‘Coy falls in love with Claire Windsor as Lady Rutledge, and risks his neck for her a thousand times. However, she is well worth the risk, and tho victorious Allied troops help them to consummate their love at the end of a gripping series liraath-tr.king adventures with the Boxer rebels.

ftOSLYH Kenneth Harlan triumphs in a new field in the title role of ‘ The Sap,* which will be screened at the Roslyri Theatre to-night. Here is a picture so accurately true to life that it grips with more tensity than any melodrama ever devised. It is a portrait m a man’s soul, done with marvellous dramatic power, and Kenneth Harlan turns it into a mighty achievement. The supporting cast includes David Butler, Heinie Conklin, Mary M'Alister, and Enlalle Jenvm.