AMUSEMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, 22 July 1916, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS

PERMANENT PICTURES. j EMPIRE THEATRE. | A large and enthusiastic audience greeted, the first screening nf !rl Dutch'' at the Empire Theatre last Jiiuht. The picture was produced by the London Film Company, which means perfection as near a.s possible. As Joe Spudd, Albert Chevalier attains a distinction as an impersonator that is achieved by few actors, whilst Florence Turner's ehara • fcerisation of Sal. the coster's wi'",-. .eaves nothing to be desired. The play on a Whit Monday. down by tin AVelsh Harp, with costers in great force. Joe and Sal have their courtship, and soon are married. They, lose their fir.st "baby, but another child' comes to comfort them. There is something of n finement in Sal's face that haunts one from the start, and one day a newspaper reports that she has inherited £SOOO from a branch of her family t ! Mgher social standing. The pictu: ■: traces the career of the youn . hopeful with private tutors through hi college life and. among the flash set o' I#o!idou bloods, and keeps a fine artisti. balance. The truth is made known t> Joe and his wife of their boy's behaviour "You have broken vour mother's heart." »Toe exclaims, "and I could curse the day you were born." .But Sal just kisses an-. pats the lad. "I am done with being a gentleman," he says; "I am going t< try and be a man." Gradually th. poverty of Joe and Sal increase—on!y one friend remains. 'Erb. who bestowowhafc comfort he can. Sickness bringthe hospital and eventually the workhouse. The ton is at the goldfields, a'-.I fortune is smiling upon him. He hu -written home to his parents, but the have not received the letter. He retur; to find the old home deserted, his pa: ents Heaven knows where. How fat places him on the road of their where abouts, and what he does to arrang . their happiness is magnificently told. Th Permanent Pictures Orchestra was auj mented for the occasion. During th closing scene of the picture the words c '' the song "My Old Dutch" were recitx" by Mr Sid Bush, adding considerab';. to the effect. The box plan is open «i* the Empire Theatre all day- Motuek. ■will be visited to-night.

TBQSATRE BOYAL. PEOPLE'S PICTURES. Unusual is the most appropriate anfitting -word to apply to anv descriptioi of "The White Scar.'" Its story is quit.: out of the ordinary, and its settings art among the wildest and most magnificen' Nature has ever provided for any) fill yet seen upon the screen. This is say- ' ing a great deal of any subject, yet it is not a word too much in praise of the beautiful ißed Feather photoplay which will be shown at the Theatre Royal tonight. There is something grand and inspiring, something almost entrancing, in the beauty of the snow clad mountains and forest fastnesses in which the story "is set, and it is here that the drama c" primitive emotions is appropriately played out-to a finish. Arid everything is in keeping with its motif. Wild wastes of desolate country mantled in/snow; _dense, forests of fir, and lakes that take -days- to traverse. No fitter back-ground could have been found the whole wide world over. To return then to our preliminary statement that "The White Scar" is an -unusual film, and a film ch luxe- In the first place, one cannot apply the ordinary standards of dramatic art to this subject, for the simple reason : that one j has no standards -by, which to judge it. It is so unusual. Acting, sottings and story are of such a kind tlrit they are a class to themselves, which if to' say that, unusual as they are they could'hardly be bettered in any singhj rrspect. " "The White Scar." therefore, should- make a universal appeal. Its photography is -magnificent, and its scenes so full of delightful surprises, that one could se:- " the four-reels through again, and enjoy if. almost more en the second occasion than the first- But it is as a strong and tensely droroatic story that it will achieve its' greatest (success: which is as it should be, for fine scenic effects and photography alone never atoned for a weak and inconclusive plot, and never will. Here drama of the fuli-biood'd kin:: holds sway: elemental passions clash and straggle for masterv; life is of the primitive order; virtue "and vice are engaged inideadlv combat, but in the end virtue wins through and love is all triumphant.