ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 201, 26 July 1926, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

BIG PICTURE AT JHE KOSY. CONWAY TEARLE AND AGNES AYRES IN “MORALS FOR MEN.” "Morals for Men.” is the feature picture in the new programme at the Kosy Theatre to-night. It features Conway Tearle and Agnes Ayres. It tells in a very dramatic manner the trials and vicissitudes of a young woman who tries to outlive her past by becoming the wife of a man who thinks lightly of nis marriage vows. When he discovers that his wife has had a "past,” he leaves her unable to stand the stigma he believes is attached to his wife. The man who was the mate of the woman rises above his former life, becomes the husband of a Sweet girl, who caree not a jot what her husband’3 past has been so long as ho is all she cares for him to be at the present time: Both Mr Tearle and Miss Ayres are magnificent in their respective roles. Alice Mills gives a sweet and charming performance of tho young society girl, while. Robert Ober, John Miljan and Otto Mathieson are excellent in their impersonation of certain types of men. Madgo Bellamy, said by many cameramen and directors to bo tho most beautiful girl in picture*, has the featured role in “A Fool and His Money,” tho Master picturo also in tho present Kosy programme. PARAMOUNT. JACK DEPMSEY IN DOUBLE FEATURE PROGRAMME. Great interest centres around feature attraction at tho Paramount Theatre, starting to-night, when Jack Dempsey and Estelle Taylor (Mr and Mrs Jack Dempsey) will make their bow as co-stars in "Manhattan Madness.” Tho production is a novelty comedy drama, introducing the heavy-weight champion as a young westerner, on his first trip to New York, who becomes involved in a weird plot when he feavea the placid surroundings of hi 3 ranch and starts in to play the gallant. There is ample opportunity, it is said, for display of the Dempsey prowess in tho entertaining story and Jack meets a score of villains in a big fight scene that is said to oarry all the realism that could be desired. The other,feature on the programme is "Cheaper to Marry,” Samuel Shipman’s big New York stage success, filmed by Robert Z. Leonard and regarded by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer officials as one of the most dramatic pictures of the year. Brilliant social events in the luxurious surroundings of New York hotels and clubs, glimpses into the life behind tho doors of an exclusive women’s athletio club, and thrilling scenes on the stock exchange all go to make the film version of the play an unusual picture. Threading through the picturisation is a powerful story 'of the age-old war of the sexes, which comes to a startling and realistic climax. Jim Knight, played by Lewis S. Stone, wages a bitter fight in conventions and loses. Matrimony, the film discloses, is the best and cheapest policy. The cast is an exceptional one. Besides Stone, it includes Conrad Nagel, Paulette Duval, Marguerite do la Motte, Louise Fazenda, Claude Gillingwater and Richard Wayne. Miss Duval, former French dancer in Ziegfeld’s “Follies,” is seen as the friend of Jim Knight, while Nagel and Miss do la Motte play opposite each other for the first time in their careers. A rich vein of comedy runs through the picture, capably handled by Miss Fazenda and Mr Gillingwater. OPERA HOUSE. KYNE PICTURE ENDS TO-NIGHT. Screen patrons of till* city have one more chance to see “The Golden Strain,” the Fox screen version of Peter B. Kyne’s great western romance, which closes its run at the Opera House to-night. Tho picturo was directed by .Victor Schertzinger, who drafted the whole Tenth Cavalry and hundreds of Apache Indians for one of tho most realistic battles over filmed. Kenneth Harlan and Madge Bellamy head the cast. To-morrow night an English made drama, “The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots,” will be shown. This picturo is one of the latest of English productions and is said to be true in detail to the events that occurred to the Stuart Queen. With the fund of historical interest that surrounds Mary Queen of Scots, and introducing the romantic side of her life as well as its tragic side, the producer had unequalled opportunities of making a first-class pictures, which, by all accounts, he lias done. It is said to be 100 per cent, entertainment. THE PALACE THEATRE. A BRITISH ~WAR FILM. There is no melodrama in this story of the immortal salient, whose character is epitomised in its titles, "Yp.res.” It covers an astonishingly wide and interesting field, and will be screened at the Palace Theatre to-night. Every important branch of the service is shown in action, the roalism of which never degenerates into “manoeuvres.” History and histrionics are so admirably blended that even the expert might be left guessing as to where one leaves off and the other begins. Room is found for most of the typical aspects of life in the salient, the humours and hardships of which will be appreciated no less by civilians than by veterans. The pictures of troops on the march, the Xing’s visit to the front, the Commander-in-Chief at a train conference are official records, and much of the topography is actual. The Air Force is given effective prominence, and some of the pictures of tanks in action are extraordinarily dramatic. Tho various battle-pieces are wonderfully handled, and tho treatment of the enemy is never anything but decent. Most of tho fighting incidents have a common sequel—the posthumous award of a V.C. And while this headline method of retelling so much eventful history was inevitable, it results in a certain, though glorious, monotony rather at odds with tho drab monotony—whose happiest issue was only to bo visualised in terms of a “Blighty”—that was an even more characteristic feature of lifo in the salient. In regard to this admirable film, provided its downright statements are filled out by a sympathetic imagination, the seeing of it should bo a gloriously stimulating, and far from a saddening experience. A GREAT SOPRANO. TOT I DAL MONTE.

New Zealanders have been fortunate in boing presented with opportunities to enjoy some of the world’s most famous singers and other artists. Many years ago we were visited by Madame Melba and more recently by Galli-Curci, and now Messrs J. and N. Tait aro sending the famous coloratura soprano, Signorina Toti Dal Monte, who will make her only appearance here at the Opera House on Saturday night next. Toti Dal Monte’s right to be included among the best and greatest singers the world has known was won in the first placo in Italy; then her memorable triumphs during the Melba grand opera seasons in Australia, followed. Subsequently, the brilliant Italian soprano captured audiences in America and England and she later made further and greater triumphs in Australia, as a concertartist. The critio of the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Despite memories of Melba, Tetrazzini and Galli-Curci, I recalled no ‘Lucia’ ‘Mad Scene’ like Dal Monte's. She neither sought to divert attention by getting insane, nor endeavoured to dazzle vocally, but her contrasts of timing and phrasing her control of voice were wonderful.” Dal Monte will be supported during her New Zealand tour by Augusto lSeuf, the celebrated Italian baritone, William James, the famous Australian pianist,' and Stanley Baines, the brilliant young flautist. The box plans will be opened at the Opera House on Wednesday morning next