STATE THEATRE

Southland Times, Issue 23182, 24 April 1937, Page 21

STATE THEATRE

“EAST MEETS WEST’ GEORGE ARLISS STARRED The brilliant George Arliss returns to the screen in “East Meets West,” which will begin a season at the State Theatre today. Abandoning his historical roles for the meantime, Arliss appears in a part similar to that which won him such popularity in “The Green Goddess.” With him are associated Godfrey Tearle, Stella Moya, Ballard Berkeley, and Romney Brent. The story is as follows:—Sir Henry Mallory, a British diplomat, is made governor at Tunstra, in the East Indies. He negotiates with the powerful Rajah of Renang to secure the harbours of the semiOriental town for England, There are British residents in Tunstra. Of Carter, the Customs officer, it is said that he is a drunkard, and ill-treats his beautiful wife, Marguerite. Nezim, the Rajah’s Oxford-educated son, falls in love with her. The Rajah contemptuously turns down the offers of the British diplomat and of the Japanese emissary, Shoshai. It is then discovered that Carter is the leader of some liquor smugglers, and he and his wife are arrested. Mallory is willing to accept any terms for his treaty in exchange for Carter’s wife, and Shoshai, fearing to lose his country’s treaty, persuades Nezim, who wants Carter out of the way, to foster lynch law among the rabble. This is easy, for the natives have suffered through the introduction of liquor. The Rajah, in the face of riot and revolution, signs a second treaty, this time with Shoshai, for another huge sum. Neither side, he teils the Britisher, need fear the other, for the Rajah controls them both. With/rhe last supreme gesture the magnificent Rajah spares Carter from the mob. With his own hands he takes the rope from Carter’s neck. At the feet of the reprobate crouches Marguerite, sickened with Nezim’s treachery, fearing only for her husband’s safety, for she still loves him. A brilliant supporting programme includes a coloured musical short and a

special film of the arrival of the American Clipper at Auckland.