THE RING’S THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 84

THE RING’S THEATRE.

Those responsible for the selection of the films comprised in the new programme presented at the King s Theatre on the 15th have done their work well, and there would seem to bo but little doubt that their efforts will meet with their duo reward in tho shape of full houses during the present week. Variety should, as far as possible, ho tho essential feature of a picture programme, and it may at once bo stated that in regard to the one under review this condition is amply fulfilled, as not only ifi the mind stimulated by the entertaining and amusing, _ but it is also occupied in a manner which tends to improvement and wider knowledge of the larger world. The bulk of the seoond half of tho programme is taken up with a

lengthy and meritorious drama by th* Nordisk Company entitled " A Dead Man's Child," or " A Fight for a Fortune." In his will an old Count bequeaths the accumulated wealth of years to his only daughter and her fiance, and, alternately, in the event of the death of both, to a friend of long standing. When the old man has oassed away the friend, who up to that time has given no cause for suspicion, begins to plot and scheme with the object of securing the coveted wealth. He- engages the services of an Orienta* doctor, and the schemes which the latter puts into operation to secure the abduction of the Count's daughter (now a happywife) are almost diabolic in their cunning. Narcotics and drugs and secret passages are freely used, and at last his nefarious designs are crowned with success. At this point, however a well-known detective is called in by the husband, and by an ingenious course of deduction he become?; apprised of the villainy that is afoot. He speedilv gets on the track of the two wretches, who had lost no time in decamping with their prey, and after a sensational leap from an overbridge on to the top of a moving train succeeds in bringing the two villains to book and restoring peace and happiness in quarters where it looked as though their opposites would reign. The story is a powerful picturedrama, and compels the interest throughout, and, as in previous productions by this company, the acting and photography are excellent. In the first part of the series, which Is suitably varied, an entertaining quarter of an hour is provided by the screening of a representation of Sir Walter Scott's well-known poem Lochinvar," which is done ample justice to by the Thanhouser Company. "An Idle Boast" is a sterling Lubin drama, and shows in unmistakable fashion that it is possible to be infinitely happier in a humble home with a loving wife by ones side than by being the possessor of millions. The manufacture of Signa China exemplified in an interesting manner the various processes through which the plastic clay is put in the course of its moulding into " a thing of beauty and a joy for ever," while some very fine scenery was screened per medium of a film entitled " English Lakes." " Famous Rivers " was another very fine scenic series, and besides showing pho'tographs of many English rivers also portrayed some beautiful views on tho Seine and the Rhine. " Diddums and the Haddock." "Artful Tweedledum," and " Sweet and Twenty" supply tho comic clement to perfection, the last-named embodying a rather original idea, and being in consequence somewhat more laughable than the average.