GREAT MUSICAL PLAY.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13087, 22 October 1935, Page 5

GREAT MUSICAL PLAY.

CHU C HIN CHOW” TO-NIGHT.

For four years continuously in London and for seasons extending into many months in the capital cities of Australia and other countries of the Empire, the stage version of "Chu Chin Chow” enjoyed extraordinary popuhirity. It was the greatest musical play spectacle ever devised. But that it Avas capable of expansion, of still more spectacular presentation, and of amplification in story-detail, the Geauniont British screen version lias splendidly demonstrated. Musical films were never more popular than they are to-day, but this rich Oriental story proA'ides not only a feast for the eye, but an abundance of music tar in advance of what is generally termed "jazz” and that wliich is ordinarily served up in a revue, llie “Chu C hin Chow*” choruses and solos are ns seductive to-day as when Frederic. Norton first gave their attractions to music-IoA ers, while, in the film, their presentation is greatly enhanced by elaborate staging in an atmosphere of realism. MoreoAcr, all the Arabian Nights’ glamour of the original subject. has been preserved with rare skill ; but the tinselly pantomine effect has been eliminated, so that the characters arc flesh-and-blood portraits, rather than puppets of more or less fantastic origin. The production has been excellently cast, and every detail of the picture .presents that polish and finish which picture-goers have come to expect of Gaumont British films. It will be screened to-niglit at the King’s Theatre.

Excellent fcaturettes include Cinesouiid Nows, British News, Mirror News (topical) and "Eye Spy” (a clever novelty)