“LILY OF KILLARNEY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 15

“LILY OF KILLARNEY”

FINE MAJESTIC PICTURE STORY OF EMERALD ISLE Set amid the sylvan delights of the Killarney Lake Country in Southern Ireland, a story- of tragedy interwoven with the lilt of Irish laughter, heads the bill at the Majestic this week. “Lily of Killarney,” released by Cinema Art Films, is taken from the famous stage play, “Colleen Bawn,” by the late Dion Boucicault. The burning Irish passions of love and hate lead dramatic intensity to a story that holds the attention to an unexpected climax. It is the tale of the scion of an anicent house who makes a misalliance without his patrician mother’s knowledge. Endless complications arise—some laughable, some tragic. A grasipng mortgagee is an unpopular villain and his machinations meet with the failure one would wish for them. The only son of a declining house is told that to revive the fortunes of the family, he must marry a certain heiress. The young man proves a broken reed, being secretly married to the Lily of Killarney, a daughter of the people. A hunch-backed servant of the hero, possessing a baleful personality that dominates the early part of the picture, determines to drown the Lily in order that his master may be free to marry the heiress. His plans result in his own death and the heroine is saved for the grand reconciliation that is inspired by a remarkable climax. There is a whimsical Irish flavour running through the film and the shooting of the picture on the shores of the famous lake makes the scenic attractions unusually good. Rolling green sward, glimpses of sparkling water between old trees and a turretted old county home—all give a reality to the story that could not have been caught with any studio sets. A fine caste of English and Irish artists takes full advantage of the opportunities for vivid characterisation afforded in the tense though simple story. The supporting programme features a gripping drama of Bohemian Paris. “The Veiled Woman” is undoubtedly a splendid picture, simple in theme and because of that dependent upon wliat the cast makes of it. The leading feminine role is played with tenderness and sympathy by Lia Tora, who has opposite her Paul Vincenti, who handles the part of the young owner of a fashionable gambling house with fine restraint. The story tells of the buffetings of a trusting girl at the hands of an underworld rake, who by his machinations wrecks her happy marriage. How the girl’s wounded heart is made whole again makes a pleasing denouement. The Majestic Magazine, always entertaining, depicts a remarkable flignt of 30 militai'y bomber planes in a mock attack on Cincinatti. You see a horse race—the American Derby. You are shown the Pope’s Swiss Guard at drill in Vatican City. You watch the first woman cross the Channel on a cycleboat, and you are shown other topical items of picture news. The Majestic Orchestra, under the baton of Mr. Whiteford Waugh, gives several airs from Old Ireland in support of the featured story.