AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18614, 9 July 1930, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS.

BRITISH TALKIE AT THE MAJESTIC THEATRE. Nothing but congratulation is due to the producers of ‘Blackmail,” the first of the British talkies, and the principal film on this evening’s programme at the Majestic Theatre. Though it was the first talking film made by Hancock, the dean of British directors, it has not one hint of amateurishness about it, a perfectly turned out production, an excellent plot, superlative acting and speech, an action that has been directed with masterly precision, and which leads up, through a series of very dramatic incidents, to a climax that is unsurpassed in modem drama, whether it is of the stage or screen. “Blackmail” is an original for the screen, with dialogue by Ben Levy, the author of “Mrs Moonlight.” The story is a simple one, and is told in that very direct manner that is typical of English playwriting, no idle dilly-dallying about this and that, but a presentation of bald facts, and then “getting on with the work” in the manner beloved of the Englishman. The result, the finished article on the talking screen, is a magnificent example of the new entertainment. Even the American critics, including “Variety,” the official organ of the American theatre, have said that Californian producers may well take a leaf from Elstree’s book, and may carry on where the English started. The story of “Blackmail” is the story of, primarily, four people, the girl, the artist, the detective and the blackmailer, played respectively by Anny Ondra, Cyril Ritchards, John Longden and Donald Calthorp. The girl is the victim of indiscretion, and the blackmailer; the detective is the butt of his professional conscience and his love for the girl; the artist, who could tell so much, lies dead, and Scotland Yard broods like an inscrutable Nemesis over the whole drama. Admirable material, woven by a master hand into a fabric that has both strength and beauty. Short films on the programme include an excellent Paramount Sound News, May Usher, a vaudeville comedienne of note, and Giovanni Martenelli, the famous tenor off the Metropolitan Opera Company. A. matinee will be held on Friday at 2.15. Seats may be reserved through telephone 651.

“POINTED HEELS.” ROYAL THEATRE. William Powell and Fay Wray have the leading roles in the Paramount production, “Pointed Heels,” now at the Royal Theatre. William Powell runs off with the acting honours in the production. He is the suave man-about-town and producer of artistic stage revues who forms the third side to the romance triangle of which Fay Wray and Phillips Holmes are the other components. Miss Wray is the show girl who marries Holmes, the youthful song-composer. Their married happiness is almost curdled by the machinations of the urbane Powell, but at the finish the lyric admixture is cleared by a surprise twist in character on the part of Powell, who turns out to be not a villain, but just a demivillain after all. The comedy of "Pointed Heels” is supplied by Helen Kane and “Skeets” Gallagher. Helen Kane is the comedienne find of the year; the little girl who was “discovered” on the between-pictures stage of the Paramount theatre in New York and who became Broadway’s favourite daughter almost over night. Gallagher is the dapper individual who left behind him an enviable record on the musical comedy and vaudeville stages, to earn new laurels in the talking films. He was teamed with Jack Oakie in “Close Harmony” and “Fast Company." Miss Kane sings a new song hit, “Aintcha,” and with Gallagher is a great success in the “I Have to Have You” number. A number of excellent shorts are also shown.