CIVIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 966, 8 May 1930, Page 15

CIVIC

“ATLANTIC” ON SATURDAY Entertainment is almost sure to result from tho combination o£ Harry Richman and Irving Berlin, and it is just this combination which provides several of the songs in "Puttin' on the Rita,’* Richman's first United Artists . all-talking and singing picture. now in its last days at the Civic Theatre.

Berlin came to Hollywood from Europe to write original songs for Richman’s golden voice. “Puttin’ on the Kitr,” which was directed by Edward Sloman, has a long supporting cast, including Joan Bennett, James Gleason, Aileen Pringle, Eilyan Tashman. Purnell Pratt, Richard Tucker and Eddie Kane.

The Civic’s programme includes supporting talkies and new musical selections by Ted Henkel’s Orchestra and by Fred Scholl at the Grand Organ. The remarkable film, "Atlantic,’’ a drama of shipwreck, is coming to the Civic tomorrow.

The story opens with a group of passengers introduced to the audience in a novel manner; we have a glimpse into their private lives, their own little hopes and fears, hates and loves, that seem so very important to them. When the great ship crashes into an iceberg, her plates ripped, with water pouring in, and the knowledge bursts upon the people that they have, one or two hours to live, the atmosphere undergoes a complete change. There is a lot of humour in the sight of a pair of English gentlemen solemnly waiting at the ship’s bar for service that they eventually have to render themselves; there is tragedy and terror afoot, but there is a lot of that English stoicism that is a very near approach to lion-hearted courThese scenes, when everyone is just waiting for the Titanic to roll into the depths of the Atlantic, are sufficiently moving to bring a lump to the throat of the most hardened picturesoer or reviewer. Families are parted for ever, husbands send their wives away, some wives refuse to leave their men, children run madly about* screaming for their parents—it is not theatrical, if must be remembered that in essentials this “story” is nothing but the 11 And even that last great scene, when the band is playing ‘ Nearer My God. to Thee.” and the Titanic® decks ai® almost awash, is in the most perfect tU “Atlantic” must be definitely written down as a production that defies criticism. well staged, acted and spoken with dignity, a plot that is edifying and which points a moral—in short, a picture that comes as a most refreshing change after that plethora of comedv and drama we have had latelyIt is necessary to reserve seats.