STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 15

STRAND

LAST DAYS OF “MOTHER KNOWS BEST” Here’s a good tip to picture devotees who have not already seen the. current talking- attraction at the Strand Theatre. Try to crowd in before next Friday, which marks the last showing of Fox Films “Mother Knows Best,” a picture, by the way, which has caused more laudatory comments than any picture which has shown here in months. “Mother Knows Best” is an adaptation of Edna Berber’s talk-provoking story. It is the story of a mother s combat with her daughter, a mother who watches over and manages the daughter from babyhood, aids her to rise to stage fame, wealth and affuence and then destroys all she has built up because she stifles the only romance that has ever come into the girl’s life. Madge Bellamy as “Sally,” the daughter, Louise Dresser as the mother, and Barry Norton as the boy in love with Sally, give memorable portrayals. , . . Much of the success of the picture must be credited also to the talking sequences and the directorial work of John Blystone. „ ' _ The perfect figure and superb dancing grace which brought Louise Brooks fame on the stage and the opportunity for a screen career, was responsible, in a large measure, for her selection to play the role of "The Canary” in Paramount's big talking picture, The Canary Murder Case, which will be shown at the Strand next 1< ndai r. S. S. Van Dine, mysterious authoi ot this best selling detective story, describes Margaret Odell, “The Canary, as “the most beautiful, the most tantalising and the most expensive plaything basking in the glow of Broadway’s midnight sun.” „ In “The Canary Murder Case, Miss Brooks is the featured figure in a gov-. geous stage presentation which includes a chorus of 70 girls. In addition to unusual demands upon acting skill, the role also required that its portrayer display a figure which easily put in the shadows those of 70 of the most beautiful girls the casting department ot the "Paramount studios in Hollywood could assemble. _ ~ . -. “The Canary Murder Vase is easily the most fascinating murder and tnysterv story to be presented in England-