"SALLY OF THE SAWDUST.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17781, 26 February 1926, Page 5

"SALLY OF THE SAWDUST.”

A NEW GRIFFITH MATERPIECE.

For everybody, from the irrepressible schoolboy up to the most sedate adult, the circus, with its cosmopolitan troupe, its garish noises, and its enticing odour of sawdust, has a most remarkable fascination. It is easily explained. All of us love that which is unusual, colourful and daring, and the circus is the epitome of all these attributes; so that when a producer goes to the great white tents to make a picture he knows the public will follow him in a body. This is what D. W. Griffith has done in the most magnificent effort of his career, “ Sally of the Sawdust,” to be presented at the Liberty Theatre to-day. It is a vastly exciting, lavish and entertaining play to suit all tastes, a play that appeals as much to the erudite scholar as to the thrill-seeking junior, and bearing a.s it does that hall-mark of perfection. the name of D. W. Griffith, all picture-goers know that it cannot possibly be anything else than it is claimed to be—“ the greatest show on earth." It is the story of two characters as diametrically opposed as are the poles apart, Sally herself and her engaging guardian. The adventures of these two constitute the theme of the

picture. There is a wealth of the most exhilarating comedy, supplied mainly by W. C. Fields, one of the foremost comedians of America, and Carol Dempster, as Sally, runs the whole gamut of emotions from unadorned comedy to that which borders perilously near tragedy. As “ Sally of the Circus ” is one of the most lavish productions seen in Christchurch for some time, record attendances are anticipated, and intending patrons are advised to book their seats at The Bristol Piano Company, where the box plans are now on view.