AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 June 1916, Page 6

AMUSEMENTS.

EMPIRE PICTURES. A striking programme will be finally presented at tlje Empire Picture Palace to-night. The series is headed by the extraordinary picture entitled, '"The Second Commandment." As the title would imply, this film is a fascinating subject, full of thrills and strange situations. It is a Kalem production, containing an abundance of adventure, and it includes a love idyll with romantic episodes of an unusual character. The Edison players interestingly depict "The Little Sales-lady," a sympathetic story of the shop-girl's life In' a large city, where wages are small and temptations are l)ig. Two fine topical films are included, and the comedies, which are highly diverting, are "Sweeney's Christmas Bird'' and "The Quest of the Widow," both Vitagraph productions, the former featuring Flora Finch, Hughie Mack, Kate Price, and William Shea. Commencing at the matinee to-morrow another big London Film success will be shown.

"THE DERBY WINNER." To-morrow heralds the screening at the Empire Picture Palace of the London Film Company's picturisation of the famous military and sporting drama, Drury Lane's big success, "The Derby Winner." which was such a boom when Bland Holt's Dramatic Company played it through the Dominion twenty years ago. The play has a military strain running light through its various scenes; the plot hinges on the fortunes of Lord and Lady Desliorough. The production has a special interest to the Dominion, as Miss Eve Balfour, who is well known in this country, has the principal part in "The Derby Winner." Miss Eve Balfour went Homo to try her fortune on the legitimate stage, and after various lips and downs in the provincial towns she achieved success and became a sta' in fading London theatres. The London Film Company, recognising her worth, engaged her for this production, and critics pronounce her as equal to the best actress that has ever essayed the difficult part of Lady Muriel. The play is brimful of incidents which rivet the close attention of the audience, and the culminating sensation is a realistic representation of historic Ascot, which shows Lord Desborongh's horse Clifstone winning the English Derby, and restores the fortunes of the Desliorough family. "The Derby Winner" will be shown first at the matinee to-morrow afternoon. THEATRE ROYAL PICTURES.

"Peculiar scar on a dead man's hand' smashes prosecutor's case. Innocent man freed. In spite of the terrifying accumulation of evidence against him, John Morton, found guilty of nnirder in the first degree, was saved from the chair by a witness recognising on the victim's hand a peculiar scar." This, in brief, is the story of Vitagraph's "ripping three-part feature, "The Scar," which forms the main feature of the new programme shown at the Theatre Iforal last night. A remarkable tale is unfolded of how the cocaine-crazed assassin had tried to cover up his crime and fasten it on another. The murderer is landed in a cell to await the time when he shall walk through the little green door, while the prisoner is freed and reunited with his loved ones. Another prominent American drama was "Hearts in Shadow." in which sweet Vivian Rich appears to great advantage. Such favorite players as Maurice Costello, Leah Baird, Betty Young, and Van Dyke Brook made the eomedv-drania, "The Romance of a Handkerchief." one of the most enjoyable items of the entertainment. Other films shown were the 7th instalment of the "Trev o' Hearts" (serial drama). "Patho Australian Oazette" (topical), "A Beadv-made Maid," and "Knock-out Dnggan's Find" (comedies). The same programme will be repeated to-night and also at both performances to-morrow (Saturday).