ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 20627, 7 March 1929, Page 9

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC TO-NIGHT.

“THE BATTLE OE THE SEXES,” FEATURING JEAN HERSHOLT AND PHYLIS HAVER, ALSO EVELYN BRENT IN , “LADY ROBINHOOD.”

ENTERTAINMENT DE LUXE.

There are few pictures being made now that can evoke a large audience into a silence of tears and the very next moment make them laugh—a loud uproarious guffaw of spontaneous merriment —yet D. W. Griffith’s “The Battle of the Sexes,” shown at the Majestic Theatre last night did that very thing. The joys of the average home;, .its disappointments’- its humour and, small tragedies have been ably caught by Griffith who shows an innate sense of the romantic.sm lying behind America’s greatest institution—the home. It seems safe to say that no better example of comedy through pathos has been seen in years. The picture is so thoroughly human that a sympathetic How of interest is aroused in the actions of all of its players. The story is built upon the theme of a modern gold-digger who wrecks a man’s home and steals the man to satisfy her own lust for gold. , In the end she loses the man but is victorious in that she has accomplished her purpose —money. Throughout the story there is a strong upper current of pathos as the man’s wife and two children struggle to regain their homes —the old battle of the sexes. Jean Hersholt, as the erring father, portrays what is easily one of the finest character roles of his great career. Phylis Haver as the gold-digger, Marie, plays an unsympathetic role and is the direct cause of much of the comedy. Belle Bennett gives a. sympathetic performance as the mother, who becomes half-crazed; Sally O’Neil is natural as an unsophisticated home-girl who is instrumental in bringing her estranged parents back to the domestic fold and Don Alvarado as Jimmy plays the role of a male gold digger. The rest of the cast includes William Bakewell and Joan Batten. Invading fields of romantic and picturesque drama in the role of a sort of Spanish Joan of Arc. Evelyn Brent displays her real gift for brilliant character interpretation, and sweeps her audience along his her in a corking story entitled “Lady Robinhood,” which was also shown for the first time locally on the screen of the Majestic Theatre last night.

CIVIC PICTURES. LAST TWO NIGHTS OF WALLACE BEERY AND RAYMOND HATTON IN “NOW WE'RE IN THE AIR” AND MILTON SILLS LN “THE HAWK’S NEST.” “Now We’re in the Air” is the title of the latest laugh provoker being presented by Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton to packed houses at the Civic just now. Grotesque and laughable figures they make when dressed in kilts, but the fun really starts when they reach ap air force depot and become entangled in propellors and wind machines during which their already scanty attire becomes even more so. Up in the air they provide more fun, but the really big laughs come when they get behind the enemy lines and disquise themselves as a cow, using a skin which had previously been used for spying purposes. It would be impossible to convey anything like an adequate idea of all the laughs this picture contains. It must be seen to be fully appreciated. The Milton Sills picture, “The Hawk's Nest,” is a real underworld melodrama, with Chinamen, crooks, suspense and thrills all mixed up together. Especially fine are the sequences wherein the villain faces the terrors of his own conscience and goes through torment. Then there is a surprise when the villain and heroine are lead before the Tong leaders to be tortured. The heroine is killed and this plays on the mind of the cowardly boss, when he overhears orders to just keep him alive. When the confession of murder is wrung from him the heroine jumps out of the torture chair, she being in league with the Chinese. Sills is shown as a society man, who goes to the front, and is so battered and disfigured that he shuns the society of his former friends. He seeks sanctuary in the underworld and starts The Hawk's Nest, a night club where for a price the wealthy enjoy the thrills of the underworld. The success of the hero’s business so antagonizes a rival, political boss, that he plots to smash his cafe up. He misses fire in his aim, and he shoots a man in the cafe. The Hawk’s best friend is blamed for the murder and is sentenced to death. The Hawk goes to a specialist and has his face remodelled, and he is thus unrecognized in the underworld. By dogging the. footsteps of the boss and playing a dual role of friend and foe he eventually gets the confession he is seeking, saves his friend, and falls in love with the girl he rescues from the clutches of the gang.

PAUL PEDRINI’S ZAMBESI BABOONS,

AT THE CIVIC ON SATURDAY.

Natural comedians, baboons are the funsters of the monkey families. Positively human in appearance, their intelligence is quite abnormal. Savage, yet they are almost, human in their love and affection, and once one has gained their confidence, they will do almost anything. Particularly fond of babies, they lire more spiteful than a watch-dog if anyone does hurt or touch their charge. Five amazingly clever specimens of these baboons will be seen at the Municipal Theatre on Saturday, when Paul Pedrini, the .big game hunter, presents his Royal Zambesi Baboons in an astounding act of animal sagacity and comedy which will appeal to both old and young. Paul Pedrini, incidentally an acrobat and foot juggler of remarkable ability, has captured quite a number of these baboons himself in Belgian Congo. He has with great patience trained these five anthropoid comedians, and presents them in an act that has been acclaimed one of the most astounding animal acts ever seen in vaudeville. Pedrini and his royal baboons will appear, together with a specially selected picture programme, for a season of three nights with a special matinee which will be given for the benefit of the kiddies on Saturday afternoon.

NEXT THURSDAY’ AND FRIDAY

VANBRUGH-BOUCICAULT SEASON.

It is over four years since Miss Irene. Vanbrugh and Mr Boucicault delighted us in a brilliant repertoire of comedies and dramas, and playgoers will doubtless be ' glad to read the announcement by the J. C. Williamson Ltd. management to the effect that they are again to visit Invercargill, commencing next Thursday at the Municipal Theatre. The opening piece will be E. C. Openshaw’s brilliant comedy "All the King’s Horses” which will be staged for one night only and.it will be followed by "Mr Pirn Passes By.” It was in “All the King’s Horses” that Miss Vanbrugh made her reappearance in London after her triumphal tour of Australia and New Zealand, and as Alice Everett, a part that was specially written for her, she achieved a sensational success. Mr Boucicault has on former occasions delighted us in a number of notable characterizations, but judging by reports from Sydney this brilliant artist is at his very best in “All the King’s Horses.” The members of the new English company were all personally engaged by Mr Boucicault and they include Miss Annie Saker, a talented London actress, Miss Rowena Roland, the delightful young Australian artist, Mr Ronald "Ward, Miss Beatrice Fischer, Mr J. B. Rowe and Alan Chapman. Next Friday A. A. Milne’s famous comedy, “Mr Pirn Passes By,” will be revived and should prove quite as popular on the present occasion as it did five years ago, when it attracted record audiences. Mr Boucicault’s incomparable representation of Mr Pirn will always be remembered, as it is undoubtedly one of this artist’s greatest characterizations, while Miss Vanbrugh achieved one of her best I triumphs during her previous visit in the role of Olivai. The plans for both comedies will be opened on Thursday morning at the Bristol, , 1