PARAMOUNT'S SEASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19264, 1 March 1926, Page 12

PARAMOUNT'S SEASON.

NOVEL ESSAY COMPETITION. Paramount's third " greater movie season " will be celebrated in New Zealand throughout the month of March. This annual event has been instituted by Paramount with the idea of giving a stimulus to the moving picture business generally. All representative theatres in New Zealand will be taking part. It means that under the new order of things in the film industry the public are given the opportunity of seeing and encouraging n, better class of moving picture. It is such events as these which give picture producers the incentive to make better pictures for the world's market. This desire was responded to in the past year by Paramount with such productions as "The Ten Commandments," "Monsieur Beaucaire," " Peter Pan," " Madame Sans Gene," " The Thundering Herd," "Forty Winks." a number of Zane Grey features and important Gloria Swanson, Thomas Meighan, Pola Negri, Betty Compson, and all-star Paramount attractions.

The .coming year will give expression to the progressive element in motion picture production in a manner that has never before been experienced. Outstanding screen attractions will include such pictures as " The Wanderer " (the biggest picture for. the year 1926). This is iv Biblical! subject, based on» the story of the Prodigal Son. Its keynotes are lavishness and power of story. Then there will bo " The Vanishing Race " from the pen of Zane Grey, who is at present in New Zealand. It is probably the greatest Western story ever written and produced in screen form. " Wild Horse Mesa," " The Deer Drive," and " Desert Gold," are other Zane Grey stories to be looked forward to. " The Pony Express " I'.y James Cruze, producer of " The Covered Wagon," " The Coast of Folly" with Gloria Swanson, " That Royle Girl," D. W. Griffith's first picture for Paramount,, are all productions that loom largely in the field for 1926. " Scaramouche/' the great Metro production by Bex Ingram from the story by Rafael Sabatini. is at present screening in New Zealand centres .with phenomenal success. A distinct feature of Paramount's third "greater movie season" will be a novel assay contest. The subject will be:— " What t-hft motion picture means to our community.". The contest will be open to patrons of theatres celebrating Paramount's season, and also to readers of those newspapers which .have been chosen to conduct tho contest for the various districts. The prize for the winner of this contest for Australia and New Zealand will be a grand tour of either of these countries. The essay will require to be of not more than 250 words, so that an essay of only £0 words may win the contest. The three best essays will be selected from each district and these will be sent to Sydney for final judging by three independent adjudicators. The contest is actually open from March 1 to midnight on March 20. Essays must be accompanied by a special form obtainable from any theatre celebrating the Paramount season or obtainable from the columns of any newspaper conducting tho contest. Everybody in New Zeaknd will, therefore, have an opportunity of entering this competition. In addition. to tho grand tout, which is the winning prize, and which wili be at the expense of Paramount Pictures, there will be other prizes. The season is being celebrated locally by Everybody's, Tivoli, Strand, Princess, Hippodrome, Eialto, Arcadia and Queen's Theatres.. Essay application forms are obtainable from the columns of the Heuah>, or from any of the above theatres.