STORY OF LIMEHOUSE HEADS AT STRAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17835, 1 May 1926, Page 6

STORY OF LIMEHOUSE HEADS AT STRAND.

“THE OUTLAW’S DAUGHTER ” IS FINE SUPPORT.

“Curlytop” which heads the new programme at the Strand Theatre, is a drama of conflict and envy starring Shirley Mason, the popular William Fox star. The picture is adapted from one of the famous “Limehouse Nights” stories by- Thomas Burke. Shirley Mason as “Curlytop” is a mysterious waif of the London wharf district who incurs the enmity- of Bessie (Diana Miller) in love with Bill Branigan (Wallace MacDonald), a character of the underworld. It is remarkable how intensely interesting and thrilling the story, in w-hich the destruction of a woman’s crowning glory constitutes the principal motif, becomes on £he screen. While the work of Shirley Mason, Wallace MacDonald and Diana Miller in the leading roles is beyond criticism, the balance of the cast must not be overlooked. The other principal players are Warner Oland. George Kuwa, Ernest Adams, Nora Hayden and La Verne Lindsay.

“The Outlaw’s Daughter," starring Josie Sedgwick, is another fine film. Flora, the daughter of an outlaw leader, swears vengeance on the man she believes responsible for her father's death in a brush with a posse. She goes to kill the man but cannot bring herself to do it. Cole, a bandit, fires, but Flora throws herself in front of Jim King and is wounded. She is taken care of by- Jim’s mother and works for Jim in his office where Jim teaches her the true values of life. She sends for Cole to help her rob the safe, but changes her mind and fights him off. Cole threatens to expose her so she hurries to the bandit camp to steal her father’s papers, where she is caught. She pretends that she has come back but tricks Cole and takes away from him the money- which he had just stolen from King. She beats them in a race to the King mine, where a pitched gun battle takes place between the bandits and the miners. The sheriff’s posse arrives just in time while Cole slips out attempting to escape in an aerial bucket. Jim, though wounded, fights him in the bucket, while Flora grabs a sheave and slides down, saving Jim and knocking Cole out of the bucket to-his death. They are brought back to safety- by- miners and their horizon is unbroken by clouds. Other films are “The Scarlet Streak” (episode 3), a comedy and a news film.