GREATER CRYSTAL PALACE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17216, 6 December 1923, Page 5

GREATER CRYSTAL PALACE

The court of (he F/mperor Franz Josef, the most dazzling, most aristn cratic, most exclusive, most pompous and, it. must be confessed, most corrupt, court, in Europe, supplies all the elements of the kind of drama shadowed on the screen. Tim first at tempt to use this ready-made setting tor the movies comes to Greater Crystal Palace with tho Universal Super-Jewel brand and with the title of “ Merry-Go Round.” The title gives no idea of the character of the story. There is no frivolity in it, but only love, drama, pathos, sacrifice and the serious side of human nature. The main theme is the power of love, exert cd even when the man is an aidc-de camp to n proud Austrian Emperor and the girl is an organ grinder, the daughter of peasants, with an inherited hatred of the aristocrats. The fancy that selected the title is that, life is a merry-go-round, for over rotating and whirling, dropping here a person and there a person, hut never still. The story has ihe fascination of the best love stories in the “Arabian Nights ”

—of the affairs of Aladdin and the charming Princess Budda nl-badoor. for instance—with a modern setting more glittering than that of the fabled courts of Persia and China. There are about twenty actors and actresses in the piece, making an imposing list. The production occupied nine months, kept about 1000 persons busy, and cost \ large sum, but the results are worth it all. and are worth seeing bv young and old. 'lhe Greater Crystal "Palace Symphony Orchestra has a special programme. one of the most fljeritoriou.i it has given, for the special occasion. Martial music, the best of the great masters, predominates.