AMUSEMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18636, 4 August 1930, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS.

“BROADWAY.” BRIGHT SHOW AT MAJESTIC. It is seldom indeed that a spectacular “super-feature” comes to the screen able to justify all the promises which have preceded it. Superlatives are so common and exceptionally meritorious pictures so rare. That is why “Broadway,” which opened at the Majestic Theatre on Saturday evening, was found so completely satisfactory. For “Broadway” not only justifies, but exceeds, every anticipation. Naturally it was assumed that the production would have to be an exceptionally good picture, if only because of the excellence of the play from which the story is taken, a play that ran in New York for nearly two years. But, besides showing to great advantage everything responsible for the success of the play, the all-sound picture achieves dramatic and spectacular effects patently impossible on any stage. “Broadway,” perhaps more than any other picture yet witnessed in this town brings immeasurably nearer the ultimate in screen entertainment. Not only do motion pictures now embrace everything which has been hitherto considered in their own sphere, but, with the striking improvement in sound ; technique as is illustrated by the par- i ticularly attractive music in “Broadway,” they reach out to combine in the one medium everything in the realm of entertainment. While “Broadway” is a dazzling spectacle, the magnificence of its effects are subdued to a powerfully dramatic story of gang warfare in the metropolis. A murder committed behind the scenes at the Paradise Night Club forms the theme of the story, and round it are built many interesting developments. Glenn Tryon, one of the most promising young stars on the screen, has the principal role, that of an entertainer in the club who is drawn into the consequences of gang warfare. Tryon sings and dances most attractively, and is ably partnered by Mema Kennedy, a very charming player. Thomas E. Jackson repeats his brilliant success as the detective in the stage presentation. Paul Porcasi, another member of the original cast, is also an outstanding player. Otis Harlan and Robert Ellis give exceptional delineations. Among the “hits” sung by the cabaret performers during the course of the story are “Sing, Little Love Song,” “Broadway’s got Rhythm,” “The Chicken or the Egg.” and “Hitting the Ceiling.” The gorgeous scenes presented in the night club are remarkable. The most elaborate of all these are the sequences in colour that occur towards the close of the production. A huge, strikingly-executed example of cubist art is shown in all its dazzling colouring as a setting for the cabaret revue. Dr Paul Fejos, the young Hungarian director whose rise in the film world has been so phenomenal. has brought to the screen in “Broadway,” besides expert direction of story and “atmosphere,” photographic effects undeniably unique. BACKHAUS RECITAL. BOOKING OPENS TO-DAY. At the Bristol this morning, the box plans for the Backhaus recital will be on view, and, judging by the interest in the season, there will be a big demand for se&ts. In Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, every recital attracted larger and more enthusiastic audiences than at the corresponding concerts in the memorable 1926 tour. In every city he has opened and closed his season to packed houses, and additional concerts have had to be arranged. “Backhaus’s playing is a rich experience for the listener—perhaps the richest in the world as far as some pianoforte works are concerned,” wrote the critic of the “Dominion..” after Backhaus’s first recital in Wellington

early this month, and the “Post” critic wrote: “Backhaus’s interpretations or renderings must have come to many who heard him as a great and glorious enlightening.” Thursday’s programme will include “Pathetique” and “Moonlight” Sonatas (Beethoven), “Impromptu,” opus 142 No. 3. in B flat major (Schubert), “Moments Musical,’’, in F minor (Schubert), “Military March,” in E flat minor (Schubert), Four Chopin Studies—Opus 10, No. 12, in C minor (“Revolutionary"), No. 8 in F major. No. 5, in G flat (“Black Keys”), “Waltz.” opus 64, No. 1, in D flat (Chopin. “Scherzo,” in C sharp minor (Chopin), “Liebestraum” (Liszt), “Waldesrauschen” (Liszt), and "Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2” (Liszt).