PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 19855, 2 May 1928, Page 4

PICTURE THEATRES

OCTAGON ‘ The Missing Link ’ is still proving the centre of attraction at the Octagon Theatre, and for a comedy provocative of convulsive laughter it would indeed bo very hard to beat. Movie “fans” knew too well the abilities of Chaplin, as a screen comedian, for such productions as ‘ Charley’s Aunt ’ and ‘ The Better ’Olo ’ are still fresh in the minds of those who enjoyed them. In ‘The Missing Link,' his latest laugh creator, ho is just as convincing as ever, and kept last night’s audience in fits of laughter. The theme concerns the adventures of a band of scientists who go to Central Africa to carry on researches into the early habitation of the globe by man. With Chaplin as an eccentric professor there is ample scope for humour, and by his comic action and grimaces he turns what appear to bo hazardous situations into sheer farce. The whole story, of course, is a burlesque on scientific research. A strong cast supports Chaplin in this picture. The Octagon orchestra supplies the incidental music, and also renders Offenbach’s ‘Orpheus’ overture. EMPIRE The France of the last century has been brought back into existence, the tumultuous times of revolt and reaction live again in ‘ Lcs Miserables,’ at the Empire Theatre. Once more the streets are barricaded and the dragoons charge the insurgents; martyrs die for liberty. The picture has a great cast. Jean Troulout is the policeman, the bloodhound who tracks down Vatican for forty years. Sandra Milowanoff, a Russian, is Cosette, Va.ljean’s adopted daughter, ami M. Rozct is her Adonis of a lover. One of the finest things'in the picture is the child role of Cosetto played by little Andreo Rolanc. ‘ Lcs Miserables ’ is regarded by many people as by far the greatest work by Victor Hugo, and the film, according to ‘ Le Matin, “pours out the intense generosity, wide charity, vehement pity and magnificent revolt against ‘social damnation’—all that _makes Victor Hugo’s novel a masterpiece.” Humanity is. indeed the essence of the film, which will engrave itself ou the screens throughout the world—an outstanding fact in our national film production.

With a good programme of supports, and bright music by the orchestra, the hill at this theatre is indeed a, splendid one. QUEEN'S Tim iM'Coy is not the usual Western actor in his latest release, ‘Spoilers of the West,’ the • head-liner at the Queen’s Theatre. He is a soldier, and makes everything keep moving while he is out West. This film has a, good story, which is based on original history. The additional feature, which introduces Willard Louis and Irene Rich in the story of a. typical American family, is entitled ‘The Honeymoon Express.’ 1 MARRIED LOVE.’ A. picture for all f lunking men and women to whom truth is purity and purity is truth is ‘Married Love,’ which opens its Dunedin season on Friday. The story begins with the struggles of a Airs Burrows, the coerced, unresisting mother, hurrying into an early grax. in a vain attempt to bring up an ever-increasing family; the brutalities of her degenerate, loud-mouthed husband, are terrifying in their grim reality. The rebellion of her high-spiri-ted daughter, Maisic, against the seeming inevitability of her destiny as an unwilling hearer of a. brood of children destined to similar misery, her desertion of the parental roof, and her downward journey into the gay underworld, where she finds still greater slavery, .re so truthfully portrayed as to bring a cry of indignation and protest from the thousands of unsuspecting people, who little know of the perils and pitfalls that beset the weak and unprotected in even our best regulated eiiies. Her subsequent salvation by those who represent all that is best and truest comes like a ray of brilliant sunshine in the gloom of winter, with the glad assurance that all can yet he well if the light and knowledge and understanding of life’s sacred functions can he equally shared by all. The duty of the kinema is to entertain, hut in ‘ Married Love ’ will he found a quick succession of heart-quickening thrills and situations that grip completely from tho start. On the sanic bill Dynamite, tho wonder dog, will he shown in ‘ Fangs of Destiny.’ GRAND AND PLAZA

Edmund Lowe is cast in the role of an aggressive soap salesman with big ideas, who takes over the exploitation of a large soap factory in ‘ Publicity Madness,’ in which lie is co-starred with Lois Moran. This picture is the current feature at the Grand and Plaza Theatres.

A big cast of well-known English players is headed by Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper in ‘ Bonnie Prince Charlie,’ the second attraction. Novello is one of the popular screen actors of England, ranking high in the esteem of the public. Miss Gladys Cooper is ■a stage favourite, and she plays the part of Flora MacDonald with exceptional ability. The programme announced for screening on Friday is ' In Old Kentucky ’ and ‘ For the Love of Mike.’ EVEBYBOBY'S The chief attraction at Everybody’s Theatre at present is ‘ The Country Doctor.’ This picture is a drama of rural New England life thirty years ago, immortalising that unsung, typical character, the country practitioner. The story in ‘ Without Mercy,’ the minor feature, vibrates with action, and is tense with the emotions arising from love and hate. In the cast are Dorothy Phillips, Bockcliffo Foilowes, Vera,Reynolds, Robert Ames, and Lionel Belmore. Harold Lloyd is coming to this

theatre on Friday in one of his best comedies, ‘ College Days.’ The .supporting picture introduces Olive Borden in ‘ Pajamas.’ KING EDWARD ‘ The Country Doctor,’ with Rudolph Sehildkraut, and ‘The Honeymoon Express,’ with Willard Louis and Irene Rich, are the pictures now being presented at the King Edward Theatre. ROSLYH Possessing vivid memories of Lillian Gish’s marvellous triumph in ‘The White Sister ’ picture-lovers will welcome the news that she will be seen at the Roslyn Theatre to-night in a dramatic production that is universally acclaimed as one of the most- powerful ever screened. This is ‘ The Scarlet letter,’ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s immortal story of love, sacrifice, and intolerance. No better vehicle for the beauty and talent of Lillian Gisli could have been selected than this grimly beautiful story, which has been read and reread by men and women of every nationality.