NEW EMPIRE THEATRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 23 December 1911, Page 4

NEW EMPIRE THEATRE.

ALL-DAY PICTURE SHOW TO-DAY. • This morning at 11 o'clock the Empire Theatre opens its doors to the public, and from then onwards to 11 p.m. the pictures will be shown continuously. Business men can drop in during the lunch hour; mothers busy with shopping for Christmas can safely leave their little ones at the new theatre; country folk can drop in any time during the day, and at night the 'merry Christmas Eve crowd can enter or leave at any time during the hours from 6.30 p.m. to 11.15 p.m. and view the full programme. On Tuesday, 20th (first race night), the grand opening will take place with a programme that will prove a series of startling surprises to the ordinary picture patron. Prominent on the programme will be

''The Panama Canal." a unique industrial picture, and the great star attraction "Zigomar." As regards acting, setting. and general preparation there is nothing to be desired in the film. The story itself is brimful of exciting incidents. Zigomar. a notorious hotel robber and all-round thief, leader of the "Z" gang, pits his criminal genius against the art of Paulin Broquet, a leading member of the Paris Prefecture of Police. Broquet tracks the robber to his lair, b.ut is frustrated. Undaunted, he follows Zigomar wherever he goes, meeting the criminal's disguise with counter disguise. Zigomar goes mountaineering, and Broquet, in the role of a guide, accompanies him and arrests him on the brink of a precipice, when the robber's awompleies are far away. But Zigomar takes advantage of a difficult passage in the descent, and is again free. At last a capture is effected at a ball where Zigomar has started a lire in order that the ensuing panic may afford him opportunity for robbery. Once more the daring thief gains liberty, only to die buried beneath the ruins of his hidingplace. Incidental to the picture is the brilliant and fascinating "Will-o'-the-Wisp" dance by -Mile. Esmee, of the Moulin Rouge Theatre. The "Zigomar" picture is supported by a number of excellent scenic, comic, and dramatic films. Besides this is an excellent picture of the work on the great Panama Oanal, in itself worth going, a good many miles to see. iSoats may be reserved at Collier's without extra charge.