STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 521, 26 November 1928, Page 15

STRAND

“LOST IN THE ARCTIC” “Lost in the Arctic” is a surprise—a pleasant surprise. It is an amazing mixture of tragedy, of fights with wild animals and scenic grandeur. It even has its comic moments. There are no actors. Humans and creatures of the region struggle for life <and food with starvation hanging in the background as a dramatic menace. It is now being shown at the Strand Theatre. It is in no sense a travelogue. It begins moving with thrills while the motor-schooner Herman is battling through heavy seas northward. It contains an amazing pictorial record of a fight with a school of whales. This reaches a dramatic climax jyhen one whale tries to protect another. ‘ Lives must have been risked in close-up pictures of the capture of a polar bear. This is awe-inspiring in spots, and comic, too. The huge brute struggles with a wire lassoo and starts after its captors while being towed to the ship. Views of walrus and seal and bird life and reindeer are almost intimate. Drama is built up naturally when the expedition comes upon the dead members of the Stefansson expedition, whose fate had been a mystery for ten years. Mute souvenirs are uncovered one by one, bones are collected. It is elemental and gripping and overwhelms the audience with a feeling of the vast silent menace of the Arctic regions. To add to an excellent entertainment a vivid technicolour film is shown, written around the lives of Napoleon and Josephine—“ Our Lady of Victories.” English, American and Australian news photos ancT sympathetic music by the Strand Orchestra all add to the enjoyment of the programme.