AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18349, 21 August 1929, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

“THE RINGER” AND “BLUE SKIES” AT THE MAJESTIC. Thousands of people have read and enjoyed the book version of “The Ringer,” and many thousands more have seen and enjoyed Maurice Moscovltch in the stage version, but for those who have already become acquainted with this play through these mediums, or for those who have not, the film version, which is showing at the Majestic Theatre to-night, will be just as entertaining, or even more so, on account of the wonderful acting by Leslie Faber as Dr. Lomond. Mr Faber has been known in England for some years as one of the finest actors on the English stage. He has also appeared in many Broadway successes. Annette Benson is another asset to British films, as Cora Ann Milton. She is expressive and natural, and conveys the impression that she has played this part many times, which, of course, is not so. Other outstanding characters in the cast are those of Inspector Wembury and Mary Lenley portrayed respectively by Nigel Barrie and Muriel Angelus. The former has played many outstanding roles in American films, and the is a welcome addition to British productions.' Huriel Angelus is a winsome and talented young actress, who is coming to the fore in motion pictures. The story concerns an amateur hunter of criminals known as “The Ringer,” who has broken the law in pursuit of his obsession—iy> wanted by the police, but baffles their efforts to secure him, and vanishes. It is thought that he has died abroad; some say that he has returned to England to avenge his sister, who has killed herself as the result of her betrayal by a solicitor friend named Meister. This solicitor is found to be in league with thieves, and a noted criminologist, Dr. Lomond, is called to trace “The Ringer,” but he remains elusive. After episodes of ever-rising suspense, in a crashing finale, “The Ringer” is revealed. “Blue Skies” is a love drama that will lift you clear up the heights of romance and leave you between laughter and tears. The story of two waifs who find their happiness in sacrificing for each other, this new Fox Film is bound to make a lasting impression as one of the most gripping love stories of the year. Running the gamut of emotion, from deft comedy and touching pathos to tense drama and skilful I suspense, the direction, the acting, the clever situations, all that goes to make ! U P “Blue Skies,” in fact, insure you perfect entertainment. The cast includes Helen Twelvetrees, Frank Albertson and Ethel Wales. The Majestic | News also will be shown. Seats may ! be booked through ’phone 651. A matj inee will take place on Thursday | afternoon. JUVENILE TROUPE. I The Majestic programme was again ; brightened last evening by the act of the versatile Phillips juvenile troupe, j Maureen, the girl cornetist, Nada, an j accomplished pianiste, and Master Eddie, a clever little comedian and performer of the violin. Wee Trevor, the baby entertainer, took his full share in the entertainment. The dressing and lighting effects were artistic, and the whole act, which includes solos, duets and combined numbers, was enthusiastically received. The turn will be repeated this evening. “METROPOLIS.” THE WORLD IN 100 YEARS. Towering buildings connected at different levels by traffic viaducts, and

with aeroplanes gliding casually round them, peopled by a race of pleasureseekers and the business men who make their pleasures possible. Below them, buried deep in the earth, an unending vista of gigantic machinery, attended by a strange race of brokenspirited beings who live down below with their work and do not know what pleasure is. Such is the condition to which the world will come in another 100 years, according to “Metropolis,” the Ufa film, shown at the Theatre Royal from Wednesday to Friday. It is a concept somewhat similar to the world of the future pictured by Wells in “The Time Machine,” but it goes further than he does, and gives a realistic idea of the stage to which science will have brought machinery and electricity. So advanced mechanically are these people that they have perfected an automaton resembling man, and so advanced are they in the use of electric energy that they are able to transform that automaton into living flesh and blood. The figure is made at the order of John Masterman, the wealthiest man in Metropolis, in the form of a girl of the working people who. has been preaching equality of birth to the slaves of the machines. By his orders, she goes down to their meeting-place to preach obedience and subservience. Her maker, Rotwang, however, loses his power to control her, and she preaches class hatred and revolution. She inflames the crowd, who wreck the machines they have tended for so long. The result is that their homes are flooded, and their children, whom they had ..forgotten, in danger of drowning. They are saved by the intervention of Masterman’s son and Mary, the girl in whose image the automaton was made. Brigette Helm makes Mary a wistful and attractive figure, and the manufactured woman equally attractive in a totally different way; Gustav Frolich as Eric Masterman is a satisfactory lover and helper of the people, whom his father (Alfred Abel) hopes some day to replace altogether by machines. Rudolph Klein-Rogge as Rotwang is also excellent, and Heinrich George as the ursine No. 7 fireman of the Heart Machine, gives a remarkably fine performance. “Metropolis" will be shown at the Theatre Royal this evening, Thursday and Friday. Seats may be reserved through ’phone 570.

DOUBLE FEATURE PROGRAMME. AT THE GRAND. Picturegoers will be pleased to know that the Grand Theatre has secured one of the most thrilling of the year’s underworld films in “Eyes of the Underworld,” a Universal production. The picture will start to-night. “Eyes of the Underworld” deals with a gang named the “Racketeers,” who murder a newspaper publisher, because of his threat of printing all the facts regarding their operations. William Cody and Sally Blane play the featured leads. Cody is one of the few leading men in pictures who is also an outstanding stunt performer. Miss Sally Blane is a comparative newcomer to films, but has made a great hit by her beauty and performance in "Eyes of the Underworld.” In the cast are Arthur Lubin, Harry Tenbrook, ChaS. Clary, Monte Montague and others. If ever a motion picture star earned the right to shine in cinema constellation. that star is Ken Maynard, who comes to the Grand Theatre to-night in the first of a series of Western dramas, “£50.000 Reward." Few aspirants to cinema fame arc content to go through a rigorous training in the school of experience as Maynard has done. From a small waggon show with which he ran away as a boy, Maynard migrated to a Texas ranch, where he oiled windmills, roped horses when opportunity afforded, and indulged in trick riding. Later his par-

ents sent him to a military school. Here the cavalry outfit- won his eye, and he became captain. Various circuses and wild west shows claimed his time for several years, during which he did everything connected with circus performance, including clown numbers, swinging ladders, trapeze, rolling globe, slack and tight wire. Among the rodeo events in which he participated were trick riding, trick roping, steer bulldogging, calf roping, goat roping, wild horse racing, bucking horses, both bareback and with saddle. On a running horse, Maynard stands on his head in the saddle, goes under the neck of the horse, swings underneath the horse, shoulder standing, a dozen different somersaults from saddle to ground, vaulting from one side of the horse to the other, and one foot stand on the saddle. Maynard utilises several of these feats in “£50,000 Reward,” and others will be seen in the rest of the series he is making for Elfelt. He declares that the things which look hazardous to the theatregoer are all in the day’s work with him. The supporting programme contains the ever-popular “Oswald Cartoon, and the latest International News. Seats may be reserved as usual, ’phone 486. HEUGHAN AND THE AUSTRALIAN PRESS. On through the world Heughan continues his record-breaking concert tour, singing his songs and giving real pleasure to tens of thousands of people, making them life-admirers of his wonderful art. The critics have showered on him such praise as is seldom won by any artist. London has written about “his magnificent voice and art.” New York “welcomed him to its fastidious music circles.” All Chicago Press acclaimed Heughan “the finest bass in the world.” Last year he toured New Zealand and proved his worth. Since then he has toured Australia and the Orient. In Australia, over and over again it has been acknowledged “this peerless artist held his audience enthralled.” In Sydney the “Herald” said “His voice is indeed of remarkable range, and in his programme he exploited a wide field—won pronounced applause.” The “Telegraph” wrote: “His concerts were the finest he has given in Sydney. The Scottish bass has a voice which vibrates with rich tones and depth of feeling. He demonstrated that he is in the very first flight of British artists.” The "Melbourne Argus” said: "Mr Heughan has many admirers and friends in Melbourne. This is not hard to understand. He has everything in his favour—a magnificently resonant voice, a remarkable instinct for style, an impressive presence, a persuasive manner, an immense repertoire, and a very powerful dramatic sense. His use of gesture and movement could not be bettered." His concerts are at the Theatre Royal. The box plan is at the Bristol.