TALKIE ATTRACTIONS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 2 August 1933, Page 2

TALKIE ATTRACTIONS

OPERA HOUSE

“RASPUTIN AND THE EMiPRESS”

The most famous brothers on the screen staged one of the most .spirited fight scenes ever .filmed —and neither had so much as a. scratch as a. result of the encounter. John and Lionel Barrymore, ais Prince Ohegodieff and Rasputin, threw each other off landings, figured in a. knock-down and drag-oiut ini a cellar and even went through a. glass window', as thrills for “Rasputin and - the Empress,” MetroGold wym-May or’« drama showing finally to-night at the Hawera Opera House. But with years of experience in the art of “picture fighting,” they produced a bloodless battle that on the Jsoreen looks terrific. The sequence is that leading up to the death of Riasputin in the drama of Russia co-starring John, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore for the first time, with Diana Wynyard. famous English 'star. John and Lionel learned “picture fighting” and the art of “pulling” punches in the days of silent pictures. In the current talkie era/ the ait stands thorn in good stead. Ethel Barrymore plays the Czarina in “Ra.sputin and the Empress,” -with Miss Wynyard- as her lady-in-waiting, Princess Na.taisha, and the cast includes Ralph Morgan, Tod Alexander, C. Henry Gordon and Eld ward Arnold. The production was directed by Risrard Bdcslavsfy, formerly associated with the Moscow .Art Theatre. Seats may be reserved at Miss Blake’s; ’phone 2713. “ZOO IN BUDAPEST.” “Zoo in Budapest,” reported as one of the most unusual pictures ever portrayed on the screen, shows at to-mor-row’s matinee and for two nights at the Opera House. It is the first independent" production by Jesse L. Lasky under the banner of Fox Film. The story, built around the activities and the atmosphere of a great zoological park, deals with the romance of a young man who. has lived all his life among the animals, and a simple, nnsophisicated orphan girl who comes to the zoo for a lesson in natural history. The two meet for the first time and, drawn by an unknown urge, find themselves strangely in love with ' each other. But hack of this gentle theme of young love lies the terrifying pattern of caged beasts, their hates and hungers, their loves and lusts, the source from which the plot gains its momentum and is said to move from one overwhelming thrill to another. “Zoo in Budapest” features Loretta Young and Gene Rayond in what promises to he one of the most thrillingly entertaining pictures of the year. The supporting cast, headed hv 0. P. Heggie, is a notable one.

GRAND THEATRE

‘ ‘HOTEL CONTINENTAL. ’ ’

The Celebrity Pictures much-discuss-ed film “Hotel Continental” will ho shown at the Grand Theatre, Hawera, to-morrow night. Peggy Shannon, the screen’s new “it” girl,. is .responsible for the -main characterisation in this picture, which is said to be of outstanding interest with a story tliat is out of the routine classification. Theodore von Elz, Rockcliffe Follpwes and J. Farrell MacDonald are others in the east. ....