EMPRESS THEATRE

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12211, 8 August 1925, Page 2

EMPRESS THEATRE

DOUBLE STAR PROGRAMME. f ' Patrons of the Empress, Theatre during the season which commenced last evening l will be favoured with’ a hill of more than usual variety, the .screening comprising two star films of dramatic interest. Chief of these is “Squibs, ’M.P.," featuring Betty Balfour, a picture of wholesome but irre-. sponsible fun. In this picture our national heroine forsakes,, for' all hut a brief spell, the familiar /shawl and short skirts of the circus days, and appears as a becoming and wellgowned young lady seeking means and methods of using the windfall she won in the Calcutta Sweep to her own and other people’s advantage. So, from a philanderer in Paris she becomes a philanthropist in London, then * Parliamentarian tq plead ' the cause of babies before battleships, and 'finally she tackles such an elusive and illu-sory-subject as ghosts. All of /which sounds deadly serious, but ,it is - nothing of the kind,, except for -just one or two touches of pathos the play is a rollicking farce, with situations cleverly contrived by the, master produce*. George- Pearson, and rouhded .fofiT hv individuaKty of Betty Brifour. The other half of the splendid bill is a dramatic story, “My Dad " featuring Johnnie Walker, Ruth Clifford and the dog Rim Tin Tin. Tom.O’Day lived with his father and' mother at atrading post m’ the Canadian NorthWest. Hte father is under the domination of the factor of the* post, a wl “. rail }B individual, who lias the father in his power because of a murder the latter is alleged to have committed. Tom is in love with Daiwn; a stepdaughter of the Factor, and his clean and ardent love-making is intorrupted because _the' Factor, loo.’, is in love with his charge. Tom’s love fortb 1 ® Fa^ tor Jo threaten to expos© the father unless h« malted Tnm to eeP a a tZfnf^ m DaWn ' an<1 ™ hat leads to a thrilling succession of incidents ciimax We thAtV 0 “ < * < : lo , nio emotional cumax that, js reported-.t<* ha' “greatest fight’’ W