OPERA HOUSE TO-NIGHT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 9 October 1922, Page 5

OPERA HOUSE TO-NIGHT.

"OVER THE HILL."

Only those who have actually seen the Fox picture, "Over the Mill," cen reajise wnat a deeply-etched study of human nature it is and what an amazing emotional force its simple story reveals. After attending a private screening one can say that its infinite pathos and truth is &uch that it should make bad men good and good men better. Probably that is why it has been selected from among thousands of films for exhibition in tne big prisons of the United States and Australia. The picture is based on Will Coulston's well-known poem, "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse," which used to. be so frequently recited a score of years ago. It features Mary Carr, the most wonderful mother of the screen world, who in the picture is supported by three of her own children—Stephen, Rosemary, and May Beth Carr. This, perhaps, gives the mother that touch of divinity which psychologists have noted—the element in the picture which brings tears to the eyes of the most blase, and closes, the mouth of the cynic. The story tells of the wonderful devotion of Ma Benson to her children over a period of twenty years; how she works and slaves for them ; how she sacrifices all for them on the altar of mother love; and then is allowed by them to drift, old and broken, to the workhouse i over the hill. There she is not allowed y to remain, for the boy who has always been regarded as "the black sheep of the family," the common scapegoat, turns out to be a lad and a man with a heart of gold. is no more moving scene in the picture than that where this boy, now grown to manhood, returns to find his mother, alone and deserted, in the poorhouse, and at once takes her to his heart and brings joy and happiness to her declining years. <Miss Mary Carr's performance is very human and extremely beautiful, a very natural and effortless piece of acting that lifts the picture out of the domain of mere sentinientalism jfco a peak of emotional excellence there is no resisting. "Over the Hill" is to. be produced at the Opera House at $ o'clock this evening. Mr. T. Harvey will sing I "Over the Hill."