THE LORGNETTE

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 50, 21 August 1915, Page 6

THE LORGNETTE

[By Peompter.]

A BRIGHT and varied bill is go- '•• ing along nicely at the Opera X - House. For one. thing, i J aul Stanhope's Musical Comedy Revue Company are doing "Pardon Me," an irresponsible medley of laughable nonsense, seasonable jests and ticklesoine allusion. The company dance and whirl andi sing and play with relresihirig abandon, and reach the intellectual and the others equally. The Jbrieco- Quartette is a fine xeature, and do tneir tuneful stunt to marked appreciation and glad applause. The "Jiuty Kom}.'' of feminine angeis (.nil angeis are female) gets the eye and the- ear of ail comers. Paul btanhope himself is no slouch as my Bostonian relatives would say in the moving act of burlesque, and he's a creative chap, too, full oi quaint notions and new devices. Fritaei de Guy, conrmedienne, dances, too. iSlia is a little sparkler, and dances as if she liKed it. Frank Norton does some character work which is very g-oou work. I'm applauding liim with my feet because my band is busy with the pencil. Miss Ruby Kennedy, is a dainty and dashing soubrette, rather out of the ordinary ruck, fcj'he cheers up a whole heap. The New loii'k Bailee, us a -sextette, and they whirl to spine purpose, and smooth dull care trorn .he .wrinkled brow, lies Bates can act or sing or imitate. His-imper-sonations of people make you think you know the originals: ihe -'Three ituddie Children are back again. The infant acrobats are clever and smart, and are apparently boneless. There are only three ol them, but they are so quick they seem like six. bam Pitcher, the comedian, has dug up a lot ol new material, and he heaves, it with effect. Many of the jests 1 have not heard before. It is well. Billy Wells and the Eclair 'Twins have returned to their many Auckland admirers, and then- skill is just as great as ever it was. Nat rlauley, too, has a deft entertainment that pleases ail hands and agitates ail feet. Frank Her her te is also an entertainer of marked merit with a quizzical manner and a facile use of his tongue.

"Within the Gates" is a film story made in Australia and made well. It . is at the Princess. It is a story of tbe German spy and his methods in Australia, and has incidentally to do with young Australians of German extraction who are vacillating between homage to the Fatherland and to the Commonwealth. The only possible fault to find with this film story is that the German characters are put in the hands of the highly intellectual type of actor, and some ot the Australian characters into,, the hands of the mental hod-carrier type. The incidents are carefully shown, there is no gusli or melodrama in it, and it is in almost ail respects equal to the imported' military drama type, and the military atmosphere is absolutely accurate. Tlie chief characters are shown by the Australian actress Dorothy Cuniming (who is excellent), Frank Harvey, Cyril Mackay, and Leslie Victor. There as a Charles Chaplin farce, "Charlie the Tramp," m which the renowned comedian is 'insanely clever, inducing one perpetual scream of mad merriment. He is supported by a number of people who try to be as clever as him, with more success than you would credit. The impossibility of describing a Chaplin farce is the best reason why you should see it. "Ward of the Mission" is a moving little picture story in which the atmosphere of religion induces pleasurable emotions, and is played with the tenderness and naturalness for which the A.B. Co. is world famous. The topical

war budgets show a wealth of soldiers with and without anris, ; and incidentally give some good, dear views of. the hated/ Huns. . All the German Red Cross men are shown to be wearing revolvers—probably to "cure';' enemy patients. .

"Checkmate" is the star film at, ■ the King's Picture Theatre,, played with the dignity and deliberation wniob is the .prevailing characteristic ol the Majestic Company players. Its •purpose is to show throughout the narrative that m the human game of chess that virtue .ought to beat vice hands down,' and that the wicked are pursued relentlessly and brougnt to bay at last., The incidental tableaux in this picture are exceedingly striking. '-Hie Clubman" is a good jiingnsn comedy or the wholesome, breezy variety, in which that excellent piayer UiUy Treves takes the largest, hand, it js a play that wives ot clubmen' should see, for it reveals the saUent characteristics of the gentleman wlio "lias been kept at the office till 2,30 a.m. mdear." A great story of adventure with rich colours ot murder and other crimes in it is told in "The Radium Thieves," who .don't mind wading in, gore to reach their bit of precious l metal. There are good conmcts in tins rattiling story. "Miss r'atty's Seaside .Lovers'' show Roscoe Arbuckle at his largest, and the remarkable raciiity ot __.ej_.one players in the water. It is a cheerful circumstance when the mind is haunted vvjjtih film orimes and neart-hreaking surterings of film lieroes and, heroines. T'ne J/athe Gazette covers a lot of ground, and many thousands ot solutiers, and telle all the real newis ot the day in various couutries. A beautiful series o_ views show xunis, tbe Baroary estate wn.cn, if you remember, touches Tripoli on one boundary and Algeria on anotner, and is thereiore oi potent interest at present.

The Globe Theatre shows a film story wiiicli is a sermon on unautnorised drin__. "Who Violates tlie juaw ' gives internal glimpses ot a siy-grog fesliauty, an<l tne events tiiat occur in tlie den. Among otner sensational items is a lignt oi a; very vrimijg description. A lamp is overturned, and tlie place set on nre, and tnings are very middling indeed. It's rather an education to teetotallers, and makes you want to taKe tlie ±_. ot Iv. pledge. A Keystone farce, "Love, Loot and Urakti," is ciiaractenstic of the desperate risks comedians take to induce laughter. On an average each comedian tails 15 leet per second, is •Dlown up every two yards, and is mortally injured 20 times to the spool. "Tlie Champion Bear Slayer" is a desperately comic thing, and- as the bears are bears and nothing but bears tile fun is fast and furious. A magnificent series of films of the French! Army in the YV'oevre district is the French official record of our gallant allies. The pictures more than anything emphasise the unimpeachable vivacity of our friend Piou-Piou, andl the cheerfulness with which he carries his enormous pack and does his duty so gallantly. There is also a fine Pathe Gazette covering the events that occurred before the last mail left.

The Lyric Theatre's chief attraction this change is a large pictorial commentary on life at its best and at its worst. "The Outcast" is full of a real human poignancy, redolent cf amiable weaknesses and great sins, and ilhimiinated with the heroism of tremendous sacrifice. Mac Marsh is in the leads, and the acting is superb. "The Lucky, Strike" is of intense interest to people who sow a penny and expect it to grow into a sovereign tree. Commercial comedies that are really funny are (rare. Anybody Avho has won the big money in Tatt.'g knows what a humorous thing it is and how it makes one laugh. The gentleman who wrote "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" is a boon and a blessing, for cinema artists have been falling over each other ever since to take movies of the sweet little village. A gentleman in the audience created some amusement by rising at intervals with "Bedad, here's Paddy Malone's

,'shebeeip';' "Och! the Widdy O'Brien's Tittle shop!" "Arrah thin, 'tis the' sthore that Bill Duggan 1 kep' on the corner!" and so on. • "Hooey and Axel" was possibly not manufactured! by the Allies. It's a comedy of tho uproarious type. By the way, how can a film be uproarious? The Gaumont Graphic is an up-to-date budget of news from both front and rear, and skips from •country to country'-in ah educational manner. . There. ■-; are.-.,a'; number of other pictures .of /great excellence. The. Queen's has a. fine large programme which includes a grotesque Charles Chaplin story entitled "Charlie the Tramp," in which Charles refuses to be sane for a single moment, and makes all his original gesture in an astonishing manner. There are two acts in this Chap film, and by the time the label fades away the people are limp with laughter. Interest in the heroic V.C. man, Flight Officer Warne■ford, is not cold yet, and a record of him is received with admiring applause. He is the chap who destroyed thie Zeppelin single-handed, and was afterwards killed in a mere exhibition flight. "The Other Woman's Picture" is a heart-searching dlrauia which shows how thickly strewn with thorns the path of a woman who isn't the "other" may be. It rakes the emotions fore and aft, but ends to. the satisfaction of the woman who suffers, which is the convention. I am waiting _ for the drama that shows the triumph of evil—for the devil often gets a win. "Her Adopted Mother is almost unique in its construction and novel tj- of plot. To a student of the dramatic conventions it is a refresher, because it does not end in the way j-ou decide it ought to end. ■' liow Ida Got a ,may or may not be a hint to the 20,000 NeAv Zealand girls whose boys have gone to the war. "At the Bosphorous" is incidental to the present moment, as it is the water into which those charming .Turkish Sultans used to throw the ladies they didn't want. The scenery is excellent, and will appeal to the Australian troops—in December. The war news per film is of excellent quality and very varied. It easily beats all other picture dramas for "situations."