ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 175, 25 June 1926, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

THE DON COSSACK CHOIR. OPERA HOUSE TO-NIGHT. ‘A share of the programme to bo submitted by the Hon Cossack Choir at .tho Palmerston North Opera House to-night will bo composed of church music. Ever since the fifteenth century tho court at Moscow has maintained a church choir, and in tho following century, in the reign of Ivan tho Terrible, this, choir had some good metcrial in it; “At first,” according to Platon de Wexel, “it only contained some thirty singers, but at the beginning of the seventeenth century this number was doubled. Tho whole body of them never eang at once. They were divided into several different choirs, each containing from twelve to eighteen voices, who officiated in tho different churches belonging to tho court. Two of these choirs were attached to tho person of the sovereign. The Tsar Alexia, who .like his son, Peter the Great, was fond of singing in church, summoned some musicians from Kiev, who introduced modem notation into his chapel. Vocal music in eight, twelve and even twenty-four parts soon had such a success that the court singers began to give performances outside the palace. They learned a number of Polish hymns, which were translated into Russian by the celebrated Sinmon do Polotsk and set to music by the singer Vasily Titov; they also sang musio written by Polish composers. Under Peter tho Great, a number of choirs attached to tho private chapels of members of the. Imperial family were broken up, but it is nevertheless known that the choirs of court singers continued to exist during succeeding reigns and that the Cossacks from the Don £ccamo famous for the beauty of tho voices they attracted to their choirs and it is tho best of these voices which Mr E. J. Carroll Has brought to Australia. Tho box plan is at tho Opera House booking office, in charge of Mr 11. E. Bennett. Other interesting particulars are advertised.

THE PALACE THEATRE. WONDERFUL SCENES IN NEW FILM. Tense, terse, thrilling drama, stark as the desert against which some of the scenes are pitched, yet smouldering with a passion akin to the blistering sun that heats tho sands. This is one of the descriptions given to “The Lady Who Lied,” the latest of the Carewe opics of the 6andy wastes, as shown yesterday for the first time locally under First National auspices at the Palace Theatre. Carewe and his technicians havo reproduced such locales as the Sahara, Algiers, and Venice with telling realism. In fact, as regards tho desert scenes, thero is no difference between those in “Son of the Sahara,” a previous Carewe production, and tho present one, yet it is said that, while the former was actually made in tho vicinity of Biskra, border town of the Sahara desert, tho latter was filmed within the enclosure of a Hollywood studio. A glamorous carnival scene, with a background of the Grand Canal of Venice alivo with, gondolas, is another oxamplo of tho lavish scale and the realistic reproduction of localities in this film. Lewis Stone, Virginia Valli, Nita Naldi and Other players of proven capability are in the chief roles.

MONDAY NEXT. Pauline Frederick, who so recently said good-bye to innumerable 'Australian and Now Zealand friends and admirers, has returned to these shores—in film form. There will be many people who will welcome this opportunity to renew her acquaintance, and they will all be met at the Palace Theatre next week when the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production, “Married Flirts,” will be screened. This picture is an adaptation of Louis Joseph Vanco’s novel, “Mrs Paramor,” and was made by Robert G. Vignola. The other featured players are Conrad Nagel, Mao Busch and Huntly Gordon. There are certain phases of this new picture reminiscent of scenes in “Spring Cleaning,” which the star popularised on our stages during her tom - . , The story is of a wife who neglects her husband for a career, loses him to another woman, and then gets the opportunity to turn tho tables on the siren. The picture has been built up cleverly with many new film situations that entertain greatly. A feature of special interest is tho inclusion in one scene as extra players of Mao Murray, May McAvoy, Norma Shearer, Aileen Pringle, John Gilbert, William Haines and the directors Hobart Henley and Robert Z. Leonard.

OPERA HOUSE. “THUNDER MOUNTAIN” TOMORROW NIGHT “Thunder Mountain," the screen version of John Golden’s stage success, “Howdy Folks,” will stage at tho Opera House to-morrow night. The story laid in the almost inaccessible mountain regions of Kentucky, is filled with romance, thrills and homely comedy, and is told in a simple and direct manner. Madge Bellamy and Leslie Fenton head an all-star cast which includes Zasu Pitts, Alec Francis, Emily Fitzroy, Paul Panzer and many others.

PARAMOUNT.

THOMAS MEIGIIAN IN FINE ROLE. Thomas Meighan, noted soreen star, has an exceptionally good role in “The Man Who Found Himself,” adapted from a Booth Tarkington story, and now being screened, at the Paramount Theatre. It is another prison tala written especially for tho “good luck” star. Alfred E. Green, who directed Meighan in “The Bachelor Daddy,” “Back Home and Broke,” “Pied Piper Malone” and other just as successful pictures, made this one. Tom Geraghty, who supervises all of the star’s productions, wrote the screen play. Virginia Valli, Frank Morgan, John Harrington, Norman Trevor, Charles Stevenson, Julia Hoyt and Lynn Fontanne are but a few of the big names which appear in the strong supporting cast. “Tho Man Who Found Himself” is a semi-serious tale of a happy-go-lucky son lof a small-town banker who 'shoulders the blame when his younger brother loses heavily in Wall street and then borrows bank funds to “cover up.” Tho result is a sojourn in Sing Sing. When ho once more faces the light of freedom, Tom’s outlook on life has been completely changed. His father is dead. Everyone turns his back on him. Even the girl who said she would waithas married liis business rival. He’s dead set against’ everything and everybody. Things look black. He falters from the straight and narrow path. Then —ho becomes a reality—the man who found himself.

ROSY. “BEFORE MIDNIGHT.” An exciting mystery play, entitled “Before Midnight,” is a feature in tho current programme' at tho Kosy Theatre. William Russell, himself a student of tho secret service and in his youth an aspirant to detective honours, has the role of a Government agent, hut this is not apparent at tho beginning. In the cast lending powerful support aro Barbara Bedford, Brinsley Shaw, Alan Roscoo and Rex Lease. Russell is seen as an apparent young society man. who is mixed up in a shady business which has to do with the smuggling of stolen gems. His valet works with him and they outwit tho efforts of the honest private detective who is assigned to the case. The girl, drawn between suspicion of her lover and loyal intuition that lie is not what ho seems, has one of the most difficult tasks imaginable. She not

only is required to work with tho detective against tho man of her choice, but is drawn into a thrilling gun battle in a darkened room. Aside from tho mystery clement which tho picture maintains through to the climax, there is the added value of constant action with logical events coming in believable sequence. Where some mystery stories depend on hokum, “Before Midnight” carries along on the strength of action, with nothing of the improbable. Pete Morrison, the famous Texas horseman, will also bo seen in “Black Gold,” a fast-moving drama of the west. There are two enjoyable comedies on the programme.