ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 19900, 19 June 1926, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS

CIVIC PICTURES. • MORALS FOR MEN” AND “THE DIXIE MERCHANT.” There is something to please everyone in “The Dixie Merchant,” Fox Filins production featuring J. Farrell MacDonald (Casey of “The Iron Horse”), Madge Bellamy and Jack Mulhall which is to be shown at the Civic at both matinee and night sessions to-day. For those who go to see a picture for the thrills therein it offers a breathtaking automobile accident and some tremendously exciting moments. at the race track during the progress of a thrilling contest between trotters. For the ones who must have romance, there is the delightful, though uncertain, love affair between Adia, the lovely daughter of the old merchant and Jimmy Pickett, son of their benefactor. And finally for those who require that a picture have a simple coherent theme and plenty of rich characterisation—there is the production itself. For in no other picture in their career have Madge Bellamy and J. Farrell MacDonald given better account of themselves than in this. Not only that but all the other people have made the most of their parts and created real breathing characters. The plot of the story revolves around an innocent though spirited little race horse for the love of whom the “merchant” sacrifices his family. He is not a selfish fellow at heart and everything he does is for the best interests of his loved ones as he sees it. He redeems himself after he is brought suddenly and sharply to his senses, and things are brought to a logical and happy ending. A picture that is creating a great deal of discussion is “Morals for Men,” featuring Conway Tearle and Agnes Ayres. The theme of the picture is the dual standard of morals—one code by which the man is judged—and tolerated, even welcomed, by society. And the woman—What of her? Very opportunely this great picture comes before the public, for modern society was never more insistently confronted with the subject dealt with than it is to-day. The story is one that is brought before us nearly every day, but never a finger is lifted to give the woman justice. Man, from the very beginning of things, has gone free. He goes free to-day—and at the expense of what? Of whom? The woman, of course. And what a price she pays, even if only a negative form of happiness is hers for a brief period! “Morals for Men,” although treating of a familiar subject, is an entirely unfamiliar picture. The spectator never knows what, turn the picture will take next, and many are the surprises. Most emphatically, the play is not sordid, and both the man and the woman rise to wonderful heights of unselfishness and self-sac-rifice, thus lending a very high tone indeed to the whole story. “Samson of the Circus” will also be on view. Plans are at The Bristol.

ALBION THEATRE.

FRED THOMPSON AND HIS HORSE SILVER KING AGAIN. ALSO MARY PHILBIN IN “STELLA MARIS.” “That Devil Quemado,” a picturesque big figure on a snow-white horse who playa havoc with feminine hearts, laughs at villains, rides like the wind and lives in a mountain fastness from which he occasionally rushes down into town to kidnap a fair maid or right a grevious wrong, appears on the screen of the Albion Theatre to-day;

and it is no secret that he is none other than- Fred Thomson, popular western star who has just returned to the screen after an absence of several months. There is no doubt but that he has been missed by the great number of admirers he has among the picture going public; and the critics who have seen his latest production leave no doubt but that it is one of the best in which he has ever appeared. The story is from the pen of Marvin Wilhite, and Del Andrews directed the picture, which contains a fine cast headed by Silver King, who might well be co-starred with his famous master. Gloria Hope is a charming heroine. The other principals include Nola Luxford, Albert Priscoe, Bryon Douglas, Joseph Bell, Alan Roscoe and Robert Cantiero. Two roles, so widely different that she literally becomes tw’o separate personages, are played by Mary Philbin, Universal’s screen wonder-girl, in “Stella Maris,” her greatest role since “Merry Go Round,’ which Carl Laemmle will present at the Albion Theatre commencing to-night. The new story, founded on William J. Locke’s celebrated novel, was directed on a lavish scale by Charles Brabin, one of the foremost directors of the screen, and in every way the production is said to be the biggest opportunity ever afforded the star who leaped to fame overnight in “Merry Go Round.” “Stella Maris” is the graphic love story of two men, loyal friends, and a beautiful woman, crippled since birth, and the supreme sacrifice of a lowly slavey who, loving one of the men with a dog-like devotion, sacrifices her life to gain his happiness. Miss Philbin is seen in both roles in one as the beautiful invalid, fragile as a piece of Dresden China —the other, a coarse scrubwoman whose beautiful soul finally triumphs over every handicap of environment and appearance. A splendid cast was assembled to support Miss Philbin in this gripping romance. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Thrills and spectacle—these two words sum up Lon Chaney's successor to “The Hunchback,” Universal’s astounding filmisation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” which is announced for early release in Invercargill. The thrills are born of the weird cellar scenes, Lon Chaney in his strangest makeup, chased by a mob of several thousand people; the spectacle is in the great festivals and operatic scenes, all photographed in actual colour, in a huge replica of the Paris Opera House. All Paris seems to revel on the screen in the gorgeous scenes. Then — the audience again plunges into dim catacombs and eerie shadowy underground where the grim “Phantom” launches his reign of terror. Gaston Leroux’s famous mystery story is the basis of the bewildering new picture. Lon Chaney plays the weird creature of darkness, half man and half devil, who launches a reign of terror that holds a city in its throes, and who finally meets a fate as tragic as that he meted out to his enemies. Mary Philbin is more appealing than ever before in her part of the little opera singer for whom the “Phantom” defies all Paris, and Norman Kerry, as “Raoul de Chagny” is a dashing and romantic figure. Arthur Edmund Carewe, as the mysterious “Persian,” is a compelling, sometimes forbidding, but always amazing character, and Gibson Gotland is convincing as “Simon,” the huge scene-shifter, seeking the “Phantom” to wreak a grim vengeance. Snitz Edwards offers the comedy relief, and Virginia Pearson, John Sainpolis, Cesare Gravina and some twenty-five more principals are all adequately cast. Several thousand people appear in the mbb scenes and other astounding crowd spectacles. The entire interior of the Paris Opera House, and its great stage, on which a complete opera “Faust” was presented coincidentally with the mysterious and weird events in the catacombs below, was reproduced on a lavish scale, rivalling “The Hunchback” production in magnitude.