ENTERTAINMENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 26 January 1927, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

GRAND THEATRE TO-NIGHT,

“THE PALACE OF PLEASURE.”

Romance and adventure, conflict and intrigue—they are the ingredients that tempt the imagination, they are stoiy elements you love to see when you go to the movies. The most delightful com Dination of them is to be seen in the Fox Films production, “The Palace of Pleasure,’which opens at the Grand Theatre to-night.. Here is a piece of screen entertainment that seizes the interest of the spectator and shuts out the world of reality for more than an hour. Edmund Lowe as a dashing royalist, Betty Compson as the beautiful Lola Montez, and Henry Kolker as a powerful Premier, are the principals about whom the story revolves. The plot moves in a whirlwind of action that distinguishes it as a finely conceived- story that has received excellent treatment at the hands of Director Emmett Flynn. There is an excellent supporting" programme, including “The Ace of Spades ’ ’ serial.

“BLUE LAGOON” AND “WEE JACKIE” HARRIS.

An interesting double bill was presented at the Opera House last night, when, in addition to the picture programme, a star turn was given by “Wee Jackie” Harris. This youthful performer delighted his audience with his songs and dances, a feature of the latter being the excellent timing. He was assisted at the piano by Claude E. Sander. “Wee Jackie” Harris will give a complete change of programme to-night. In the “Blue Lagoon,” a south sea island idyll, the spirit of the book H. de Vere Staepoole’s novel, is well maintained and the story followed. The picture is remarkable for its simplicity, and for the delightful romance that flows unstemmed through the film. It is, perhaps, one of the sweetest and most natural love stories ever told. A boy and girl, travelling with their guardian to a new land, are cast adrift in a dinghy with an old Irish sailor. They come to a beautiful tropical isle and there they make their home. Their playmates are the flowers and trees, their companions the sun and sea, while the boom of the surf on the coral Tcef makes them sweet music, and the island and the Blue Lagoon yield them food. It is a picture of mirrored palm trees, the loveliness of land and reef, the green of palms, the white of coral, the wheeling gulls and the blue lagoon—• burning coloured, arrogant yet tenderbeautiful, for the spirit of eternal morning was here, eternal happiness, eternal youth. The film is striking in production, because the producer went to Nature for his effects. The whole cast is good, but the work of the two children marooned on the island is outstanding. Yal Chard and Doreen Wonfer give wonderfully accurate studies for children so young. With it all they preserve a charming air of childish simplicity and grace. This picture, which is a British production, will challenge comparison with the best of all the world’s films, and is a first-rate example of straightforward acting and excellent photography. It will be sercend again this evening.