PAGEANT OF EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20650, 23 August 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

PAGEANT OF EMPIRE.

WvEL. BRITISH FILM. A novel picture,, which gives a pageant of the British Empire, has been screened before large audiences in London. It is a talking picture, and an attempt has been made., for the first tune, to give a comprehensive view of all the countries of the Empire, and their illimitable resources. A small boy. the sou of working-class jjsrants, is supposed to fall asleep at school during a lesson on geography, and to dream that he is admitted as an honoured gnsst of the Sine to Buckingham Palace. We follow his progress up the grand staircase and through one spacious chamber ■fter another to the Throne. Room, and eventually into the Council Chamber. There he takes his seat at the big table, pound which are seated numerous ladies representing . the various Dominions. Canada is / represented by Lady Keeble. Australia by Miss Phi His Neilsou-Terry, New Zealand by Baroness Ravensdaie. South Africa by the Countess of Carlisle, Tiffin by "Mice Dadbhoy. and the Irish Free State by Lady La very. Each / o? these ladies greets the little vish-or and tells him something about the wonders of the country of which she is temporarily the guardian angel. Thereafter. by the magic of the camera, and under the charee of a friendly policeman, sstirsd m j the full panoply of a Slate herald, the boy is transported all over the empire. Finally, he partakes of a royal Christmas pudding, in which rrery ingredient is of British origin. Taking into consideration the vast.ness of the theme and the inexperience of the producers in such an undertakine. the picture, as a whole, is a credit to British production. Chief honours, however, must go to the photographer. A number of the " shots." from "an artistic point of view *rs quite fascinating.