AMUSEMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 12 January 1921, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS

PEOPLE'S PICTURES,

LITTLE MEG CIMINO

A very fine entortaiurnent is promised for Theatre Royal patrons tonight. Doubtless many will bo pleased to Welcome, their old favourite, J. Warren Kerrigan, who will be seen in a very fine production, viz., “One Dollar Bid,” as Toby, a drunken recluse of the Kentucky mountains. It is a good story, not lacking in action and real interest, arising from an old law in Kentucky under which a vagrant may be auctioned by the sheriff to serve his purchaser for a year. As the vagrant and erring Toby, Warren Kerrigan’s personality and magnetic charm of acting are well to the fore, and a more than usually effective scene is that in which ho is bought at auction by the beautifiul heroine for the low price of a dollar. A charming romance is interwoven into the plot. Lois Wilson, as the lady purchaser of stray hoboes, is appealing and delightful. There are numerous “character” scenes in “One Dollar Bid.” which should universally please and interest. An added attraction will be Little Meg Cimino —a delightful child artist, who excels in dancing. She is without doubt the daintiest little dancing comedienne and adnbretto who has ever toured New Zealand. There will be no advance in prices, but intending patrons are advised to hook , their seats to avoid disappointment. HAYWARD’S PICTURES “MALE AND FEMALE.” It is not always that a highly hoom- ' photoplay- excels the standard promised, but this proved to be the case with the Royalty Masterpiece, “Male and Female.” which was screened at Hayward’s last evening before an overflowing and warmly demonstrative audience. The picture proved more than worthy of the eulogiums that had been bestowed on it.. The whole production, which is the screen version of Sir J.‘M. Barrie’s “The Admirable Crichton,” is wonderfully staged and the acting perfection. Many gorgeous and exciting scenes aro shmVn, that ot the shipwreck of Lord Loam’s yacht on a-South Sea island being a triumph of spectacular picturecraft. The scenes on the island portraying the effects'of hardship and stern necessity, and wheri'Bill Crichton, erstwhile butler, becomes a “king,” are splendidly represented. The Babylonian interpolation fits nicely into the picture and adds to the beauty and dramatic intensity. The idea given is that Lady Mary and Crichton once knew, each other in ages past, when one was a slave and the other a king. Gloria Bwansoa is the slave in this part, and also the Lady Mary of the story itself. A finer impersonation (could not he wished for. Thomas Meighan as “Crichton” realises all one’s expectations; his is a masterly study. Theodore Roberts plays “Lord Loam in comedy vein, and fine work is done by Lila Lee as “Tweeny.” The remaining characters are happily cast, and the whole production is one that ■will h© remembered with < pleasure, j Appropriate music was played by the Vitetta Orchestra, and some spirited selections were played outside the. Theatre prior to 8 o’clock hv the National Reserve Silver Band. There was a special matinee this afternoon, andj .as many could nob gain admission last ( evening, the Empire will probably be packed to the doors for the final presentation of “Male and Female” tonight. ,

THE RED LANTERN,

COUNTRY CIRCUIT. Nazimovu, the living masterpiece of dramatic art, in th© triumph of her career, “The Red Lantern,’’ a story ot the purple city, is a play of mysterious China that gives Nazimovu, ■ the star of, unfathomable depths, a: dual role which reveals the tremendous range of her rare artistry. It is a play bf deep undecurrenfcs, telling th© story of an Eurasian girl—the daughter of tw© races —who' feels th© eternal conflict of th© alien bloods forever raging within her .soul. It is a tV'crae to wak© the .pulses of the heart and _ fill i the imagination with the j.resistible ' lute of secret Asia, with a sylenoour like th© day and a mystcy Ime the ; ■bight! whore ''the dancing shadows of i the 'Red Lantern light seemed peopled with the thousand and on© malignant 1 deyils, which forever haunt thooa mys- ■ tic and enigmatical people j! th© East. “Th© Red Lantern” resouds with barbaric melody and glows with lh© gorfeous and varying hues of the Orient, n addition to “The Led Lantern, ’ the latent Travelogue and Pictorial,; well; filled with items of interest, will bej shown, the whole funning what may fc© termed the greatest combination ever j plated before an audience. The prices of admission will b© 2s and U Thej order of screening in th© country towns | will be Motueka, to-night (box plan ' at Shilton’s) • Takaka, Thursday; Wakefield, Friday; Richmond, Saturday.