STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 656, 7 May 1929, Page 15

STRAND

“IN OLD ARIZONA” COMING Only a few more days remain of the Auckland season of "Street Angel’ and the current programme at the Strand Theatre. “Street Angel” is the sound synchronised picture of Naples, starring the popular young screen lovers, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. The supporting programme is of short “talkie” features, and is headed by the famous speech by the King at the opening of Newcastle-on-Tyne bridge. Other features are a speech by George Bernard Shaw, an item by Gertrude Dawrence, and an all-talking comedy. On Friday next the Strand will present “In Old Arizona,’ a Fox Movietone triumph, which is notable as being the first entirely “talkie” picture to be presented in the Dominion. “In Old Arizona” is a virile “Western” type of story, and stars Dorothy Burgess, Warner Baxter and Edmund Lowe. Dorothy Burgess, a brilliant young actress, will always consider her engagement with the “Squall,’ a stage production which enjoyed a long run at a Dos Angeles theatre, as the turning point in her professional career. At the Fox Studios in Hollywood production plans for the first feature length drama to be made wholly by Fox Movietone were halted because Raoul Walsh, the director, could not find a girl with all the requirements to play the important feminine lead of “Tonia Maria,” the half-caste girl who was a combination of Madonna and Carmen. Above all else the girl had to have a speaking voice of the right quality. When the search seemed hopeless Walsh, from a seat in the theatre where Miss Burgess was playing, found Tonia Maria. The girl got a call for a next day from the Fox studios for a test. She made sevei'al tests, exacting ones, and fulfilled every requirement. Present indications are that the talking screen will be her branch of acting from now on. “In Old Arizona” was written by Tom Barry, who also wrote the dialogue. Edmund Lowe and Warner Baxter are featured with Miss Burgess, and the supporting oast consists of more than a score of film brilliants. Every member of the cast is heard as well as seen in “In Old Arizona.” a milestone in motion picture production for that very reason. This great film will be supported on Friday with an all-talkie programme of Fox Movietone celebrities. Ivor Xovello has just completed bis part as "The Rat” in "The Return of the Rat,” and has written an original story for the screen. It is intended that Novello and Isabel Jeans will play the leading roles.