ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 20015, 1 November 1926, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS

ALBION THEATRE. “THE SET UP” AND “THE HAPPY ENDING.” Again packed to overflowing at an early hour on Saturday night, the Albion presented a programme that is all entertainment from the overture to the final fade out. Go to the Albion Theatre to see Art Acord in “The Set Up” before this charming picture of the West moves on. It is five reels of the most interesting action Acord has appeared in for some time. Acord is the wistful, self-sacrificing hero in this picture and plays a role which seems peculiarly fitted for his talents. Hard riding and thrilling smash-ups add to the action of the piece while Acord’s new leading lady, Alta Allen, is a fascinating little wisp of a thing who merits the great fight Acord puts up to win her in the end. It is hard to see just how he will win her but win her he does in his own dashing Western style. The story might have been just a Western but it is more than that. The motives are new and the movement unusually well handled by the director. Clifford Smith, the man who started Bill Hart on his rise to fame. The supporting cast does well with special mention going to the boy actors, Jimsey Boudwin and Hank Bell. The story is an adaptation from L. V. Jefferson’s “Horse Sense.” Harrison Jacobs wrote the screen version. The cast includes Jack Quinn, Thomas Lingham, Montague Shaw, Harry Royer, Jess Deffebach, William Welsh and “Spike” Spackman. “The Happy Ending” is a most unique screen play; an adaptation of lan Hay’s play of that name, featuring Fay Compton and Jack Buchanan. This is the story of a wife, blackmailed by a renegade husband whom she had represented to her children as a hero, and has an unconventional climax. A screaming comedy, entitled “There She Goes” featuring Wanda Wiley, is included on this programme, which is most evenly balanced. CIVIC PICTURES. ADOLPHE MENJOU, FLORENCE VIDOR AND BUCK JONES. Heading the new programme at the Civic, which delighted another huge audience on Saturday, is the brilliant French comedy, “The Grand Duchess and the Waiter,” starring respectively Florence Vidor and Adolphe Menjou. It is a good picture, this, as well as being witty and amusing, the best Paramount have turned out for a long time ; and, as both the stars are very popular with the movie public, the picture should be seen by a great many patrons during the week. It tells an original, snappy story in the approved French style. A French nobleman falls in love with a grand duchess at sight on seeing her dining in her hotel. For political reasons, however, he cannot approach the object of his grand passion, so, in order to be near her, he pretends to be a waiter, and gains for himself the honour of being her personal attendant. The play, being of French origin, proceeds to embellish the plot with a fund of Gallic wit and a series of piquant events which give it a distinctly sophisticated flavour. Her Grace proceeds to fall violently in love with her waiter, and is discovered by her horrified relations to be on terms of friendship with him. There follows an upheaval, not so much on account of their relations, but chiefly owing to the fact that the “waiter’s” identity is disclosed. In high pique the duchess leaves with her retinue, and, like a naughty child, hides. The “waiter,” however, finds her out, and so they live happily ever after. It is impossible to relate all the little episodes and subtitles that occur to give so much piquancy and comedy to the picture, and, taken in all, it is an excellent production, superbly acted by Menjou and Miss Vidor. Buck Jones is also on this bill. In ‘’A Man FourSquare” Jones, as Craig Norton, former rancher who has come into sudden riches, is travelling a dizzy pace in Chicago. In the midst of a gay party his old friend, Homer Webb, of Arizona, arrives to tell him that some of his friends back West are in trouble and need his help. Back to Arizona goes Norton and learns on his arrival that his old friend, John Robideaux, is being tried on a charge of stealing cattle from a neighbouring rancher, W T all ace Roberts. Despite the eloquence of his lawyer, the old man is convicted and a free-for-all fight results between factions divided over the verdict. Jim Clanton, his attorney, leads his client’s crowd and thus jeopardises his suit with Bertie Roberts, daughter of the plaintiff. In the sequences that follow Jones performs many daring feats and there is excitement enough to satisfy any fan who likes his entertainment rough and his romance rugged. Marion Harlan plays Polly Robideaux who, in days past, had been fond of Norton. She is heartbroken over her father’s fate. The greater part of the film is devoted to running down the real rustlers and be it said that Jones fairly out-Joneses-himself in the running down of the guilty culprits. There are fights and more fights and no film patron who fancies the western brand of photodrama is going to be disappointed ffi this one. .In the sw>

porting film Captain Cobham is seen completing his sensational flight to Australia, Jack Dempsey is shown in training, and there are other features equally interesting. NOVELTY ENTERTAINMENT. Great interest is being evinced in the forthcoming entertainment to be presented by the Invercargill Amateur Operatic Society in the Municipal Theatre on Thursday evening. When it was found impossible owing to unforeseen circumstances to produce the “Geisha” in November, th.* society, which possesses a variety of talent, decided to put on an entertainment which would be a change from the straight out concert. The first half of the programme will comprise miscellaneous items, the star performer being Mrs J. W. A. Prentice, who will appear in gipsy costume and with appropriate setting present a turn quite new to an Invercargill audience. As this will be the last public appearance of Mrs Prentice prior to her departure for Sydney, the music-loving public will appreciate this opportunity of hearing this talented musician. The second half of the programme wall be taken up by the Nigger Minstrel show which should prove both interesting and amusing. The box plan is now open at the Bristol and intending patrons would be wise to book early.