STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 615, 18 March 1929, Page 15

STRAND

“THE WOMAN DISPUTED” “The Woman Disputed,” Norma Talmadge’s latest picture, which is now at the Strand Theatre, has been described as “a dynamic drama in which Miss Talmadge exalts a Magdalen to the level of a patriotic saint.” The story opens in a gay Austrian town before the war. Two young officers in the Austrian and Russian Armies form an affection for a girl whose life before she met them had been a sordid one. She had been a woman of the streets, but concealed under her mask of sophistication there is a desire to reform. The trio is happy together until both men realise they love the girl. With the outbreak of the war there comes separation, the girl’s acceptance of one of the men, the shattering of friendships, hatred, and the defeated lover’s oppovtunity of revenge. The film version of the successful stage play of the same name is equally unconventional, with the added realism of the screen in the development of the plot against a background of towns ravaged by war. espionage and adventure which leads to the girl having the choice of saving an entire army corps from destruction or sacrificing her honour in the name of patriotism. Gilbert Roland and Arnold Kent have the roles of the two friends. The outstanding feature "of the supporting programme this evening will he the appearance on the stage of “The Pirates Jazz Band.” directed by Alf. Healey, from the Milford Pirate Shippe, in selections of the latest and brightest music. The incidental music for the pictorial programme will be supplied as usual by the Strand Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Eve Bent-