ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 20200, 10 June 1927, Page 10

ENTERTAINMENTS

ALBION TO-NIGHT. EXOTIC ORIENTAL DRAMA, LON CHANEY IN “THE ROAD TO MANDALAY.” ALSO “LADIES OF LEISURE.* Grim tragedy, gaunt realism, breathless suspense, and one of the most beautiful love stories ever told, combine to make a screen masterpiece of “The Road to Mandalay,” Lon Chaney’s latest starring vehicle screening for the last time to-night at the Albion. It is through the grim realism of this vivid mystery drama of the Orient that the love story, perhaps, is so forcible. Chaney plays I a weird character; a sea captain degenerated into a sinister fight-scarred ruler of an oriental underworld, hiding in a strange dive on the Singapore waterfront, and secretly adoring an orphaned daughter who never learns her parentage; a pathetic bit of realism injected into the colourful mystery. It is a story that lays bare human hearts, and Chaney rises to some magnificent heights of acting as the father torn between heavenly love and satanic environment. He wears one of the most gruesome disguises in his picturesque history, but gains sympathy through it—a strange trick of the dramatist and the actor’s own part. Lois Moran appears as the heroine of the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature, and Owen Moore appears as “The Admiral,” former navy officer, whose sense of shame brings about a regeneration. Kamiyama Soin is a weirdly menacing figure as “Chinee Charlie Wing,” chief of the Oriental gangsters of Singapore. Colourful settings, strange costumes and varied races make exotic scenes for the action of this dramatic thunderbolt, which Tod Browning directed with rare artistry. The sophisticated comedy-drama “Ladies of Leisure” has well been called “a story of the penalty of virtue.” This unique idea is not treated in a vulgar or flippant manner. Absolute sincerity seems to have been Director Tom Buckingham’s aim and he has achieved it. Rarely has there been seen a picture with a stronger fabric of amusing situations which aren’t exaggerated or slapstick. A really all-star cast is one of the features of “Ladies of Leisure.” Elaine Kammerstein, T. Roy Barnes, Robert Ellis, Gertrude Short and Tom Ricketts are some of the well-known names. A screamful comedy entitled “Nothing Matters” completes a really worth while programme. Tonight is the last of its season. CIVIC PICTURES. LAST NIGHT OF “SUBWAY SADIE” AND “THE TEXAS BEARCAT.” “Subway Sadie,” a First National pictufe, is the big attraction this week at the Civic. Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall and Charles Murray are the featured players. Others in the cast include Peggy Shaw, Gaston Glass, Bernard Randall and Jack Raymond. This is an excellent photoplay, built around the romance of a New York working girl and a subway guard. It is charming and delightful. Real intelligence has been put into this picture by both producer and director, and the result is a brilliant picture filled with romance, sprightly comedy, a touch of pathos here and there, a smart fashion show —dazzling night club scenes and other highly entertaining features. A cattle stampede, a thrilling rescue of a girl about to be plunged over a precipice in a buckboard attached to a runaway horse, and several i other thrilling episodes provide the high lights in Bob Custer’s most entertaining Texas Ranger production, “The Texas Bear- 1 cat.” Bob’s feat in rescuing the girl as death yawns below her required three full days of film, and is reported to be one of the most thrilling episodes ever put into a Western production. A fine love story also is interwoven in the threads of the plot. Sally Rand is the girl. The supporting programme is bright and varied, including a Juvenile comedy, Felix cartoon, News reel and an admirable scenic.