ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 19772, 21 February 1923, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

CIVIC PICTURES. V. hen Richard Harding Davis, novelist, playwright, globe-trotter and war corre- . spondent. wrote “Soldiers of Fortune,’’ he . gave the world cne of the finest of its light romances, a book which made his reputation. It was turned into a play and was a big success. Now it has been adapted, or rather expanded into a film-play, and with the aid of some modern touches is as 1 delightful as was the book when it just apj peered. It is the story of a civil engineer, a soldier of fortune, who finds that his j woman of his dreams is not what he had I made her in his thoughts, but he finds a I true heart in her sister, finds her in the turI moil of a fierce revolution in a South American State. At the same time there is the pathetic figure of a Scottish soldier • of fortune who commands the household 1 troops of the president and gives up his life , protecting a man unworthy of the sacrifice. ' Tne contrast between these two soldiers is well drawn in the films. Into his romance the picture introduces some fine scenes of mining and some fighting which for vigour and, realism leave nothing to be desired. I “Soldiers of Fortune" is a film adaptation i of a novel which is more than adequate. . Norman Kern- as Robert Clay makes the 1 hero an attractive figure, and the cast in- ' elude.** Pauline Stark. Anna Q. Nilsson and William Beery, the last-named being really 1 splendid as Mendoza, the villain of the j piece. , The other star film at the Civic is | founded on a famous drama by Augustus | Thomas, “The Witching Hour.” which I deals with the mental power. It abounds I in thril.s without being strained, and every I situation is unusual. In the picture a i young man. tormented by a cat’s-eye pin. ' of which he has inherited a family fear, strikes and kills a man. He is tried for murder and the defence advanced that he was not responsible for his act because the man he killed was terrifying him with the eat. 3-eye pin. The defence is not sustained in the first trial, but a rehearing is obtained, and then the author cleverly works in the cumulative power of mental concentration. In a manner unusual to picture-plays the interest is sustained from point to point in the story and the main theme is worked cut. This is made possible only because the cast headed by Elliott Dexter, Mary Alden, and Winter Hall of New Zealand, is ;;n excellent one throughout. These two pictures are exceptionally fine dramas, unusual and thoroughly well constructed. The production in each case is of a high order. These pictures will be shown again to-night. “FORBIDDEN FRUIT.” Without the elaborate and costly settings that Cecil B. de Mille had specially constructed for the filming of his big masterpiece for Paramount, “Forbidden Fruit,” would still be regarded as one of the great-

est productions of the screen. InvercargilJ picturegoers are to have the opportunity/of seeing this film at the Civic Pictures on Friday, Saturday and Monday next. Agnes Ayres (Lady Diana of “The Sheik”) is in the principal role, and is supported by Theodore Roberts, Theodore Kosioff, Kathlyn Williams, Julia Faye, Clarence Burton, Forrest Stanley and others. A startling novelty in the shape of a series of “Cinderella” scenes has been introduced. From floor to ceiling incredible plateglass “fairy” effects are shown. These, when suggested by de Mille, were voted impossible. A wonderful plateglass stairway with its wide sweep of transparent steps, eight huge octagonal pillars, with over all a gorgeous crystal canopy, rivalling in expanse the circus tents of the past, completes and emphasises the exquisite beauty of the crystalline floor. This incident alone is worth the price of aiimission, but it is only a fleeting phase to lend added interest, to a film that is in every respect “big.” The season is limited to three nights. ALBION THEATRE. Fine fare was presented by the Albion management last night in the new programme presented, and it is safe to say was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone in the audience. Douglas Fairbanks, premier screen comedian, presented his second picture for the “Big Four” release, entitled “When the Clouds Roll By." Farce comedy of the best sort with the star's athletic stunts always to the fore, suras up this latest picture from the Fairbanks studio. Doug, is named Daniel Boone Brown in the feature, a healthy normal young man with a job in his uncle’s office. To tell you all about this picture would spoil part of your enjoyment and also monopolise the newspaper, for it is a full hour and a half of rushing dramatic action with a laugh every minute and some spectacular stuff which has never been surpassed. There is a flood ; which rivals the biblical description of the j one in which Noah played the leading role. 1 Some of the cleverest work ever attempted | in a photoplsy is evidenced. The star shows? 1 his athletic prowess to as great advantage ' as in any feature he has ever nv’de. And i the story will hold interest for itself alone. I “The Kentucky Colonel,” the first feature of | the evening, is the greatest picture of the I Old South ever produce.!. Considered from ; every angle, the production is possesred of; every quality which makes for success. The j story is taken from the book of the same i name by Opie Read, upon which thousands of readers have set the sed of their ep- [ proval; it was adapted to the screen by L. | V. Jefferson, who made such a pronounced I success of his “Riders of the Dawn,” which j he adapted from Zene Grey's “Desert o' ! Wheat.” The director is Wilbarn A. Seiler, who dales his directorial experience from ' pioneer days. The cast is an all-star one. headed by Joseph J. Dowling, “The Miracle Men of the Screen," who scored so triumphantly as the Patriarch i*i Genrge Diane Tucker’s “The Miracle IvLin.” The photography is splendid, the care for detail noteworthy; the atmosphere of the Old South nreserved in its entirety A perfect balance is maintained throughout (a good picture). A musical comedy “The Vagrant" and topical subjects comolete the bill. * ; I “ORPHANS OF THE STORM.” i D. W. Griffii.’-, creator of '‘r.ito’cranc?,” ‘‘Way Down Erst,” and “Hearts of the World,” now offers the public of Inver •argill the crowning achievement of his remarkable genius. It is “Orphans of the Storm,” with Lilian and Dorothy Gish

appearing together for th? fir?t time since “Intolerance.” Th? story is adapted from “The Two Orphans," th? famous stage success. Lilian and Dorothy Gish are seen as the little orphan girls suffering in the horrors of the maddest days in the history of a nation—- ihe French Revolution. Lilian Gish is the central figure of a romance that is terrific in its appeal ar.d, at times, heart rendering. In the scene where she is thrown into the executioner’s cart by the fanatical Jacques Forget-Not, is a moment never to be forgotten. The second tremendous punch arrives when the girl and her lover. Chevalier De audrey are sent to the guillotine. Th' amous Danton, fiery leader of an out; .1 people, intervenes with the Tribuna’ d, with the reprieve thus gained, jo ; comrades on horseback and makes the ish to the guillotine gates just outside ae city. Here is seen the most gripping episode of the whole picture. The fainting girl is prostrate almost between the cruel knife, while the galloping cavalry, mounting all obstacles, dashing over bridges, breaking down gates, tramping on gendarmes, on to the rescue till the heart nearly bursts with suspense. 'The production will be screened initially at the Grand Theatre, commencing on Friday at 7.15 p.m. Seats can be reserved at the Bristol.