STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 831, 27 November 1929, Page 16

STRAND

"BULLDOG DRUMMOND”

In the film, "Behind That Curtain.” now in its last days at the Strand Theatre, a lovely girl, niece of a man of wealth, rank, and power, defied the will of her proud uncle, and married a man of questionable character. In fact, Scotland Yard was interested in the groom.

When Samuel Goldwyn set about making his first talking picture out of the famous stage melodrama. "Bulldog Drummond," he proceeded with even more than usual caution, since he had purposely postponed any talking production until the mechanics of the thing were ready. The results will be seen at the Strand on Friday, with Ronald Colman making his talking picture debut as the star. Samuel Goldwyn's cast for "Bulldog Drummond” shows that he had carefully taken this new situation into account. Ronald Colman, whose starring role is that of the English army officer so bored with civilian life after the war that he advertised for trouble, was a prominent juvenile on the English stage long before he went into pictures, and had won his spurs as a picture actor in such famous films as “The Magic Flame,” “Beau Geste,” and ‘The Night of Love.” Lilyan Tashman, the villainess of “Bulldog Drummond,” is another stage veteran with a career as a Ziegfeld show girl preceding her appearance on the legitimate stage in "The Garden of Weeds” and “The Cradle Snatchers.”

Montagu Love, as well, the master criminal of “Bulldog Drummond,” had played everything on the stage from Shakespeare to vaudeville before coming to Hollywood. Claude Allister is not only a veteran of both stage and screen, but created the ro}e of Algy, which he now plays before the camera, when it was first produced in London with Sir Gerald Du Maurier in the leading role. Joan Bennett, heroine of “Bulldog Drummond,” is making her first prominent appearance on the screen in this picture. The “New York Herald-Tribune” said of “Bulldog Drummond”:—"lt proved to be, thanks to a brilliant and imaginative production and an admirable performance by its star, Mr. Ronald Colman, the most advanced of the audible photo-plays. Incidentally, it provides a good show. To a greater extent than has any other work in the new manner, ‘Bulldog Drummond’ succeeds in combining authentic cinema methods with stage dialogue. . . . ‘Bulldog Drummond’ moves with a gratifying rapidity talking pictures seldom achieve, and its atmospheric photography is brilliant.”

DIXIELAND CABARET The popular jazz orchestra, The Dixieland Dance Band, will play all the latest musical selections at the usual mid-week carnival at Dixieland this evening. Dancing will be enjoyed until a late hour. v