SEASON EXTENDED FOR “PONY EXPRESS.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17865, 5 June 1926, Page 6

SEASON EXTENDED FOR “PONY EXPRESS.”

CRYSTAL PALACE FEATURE DRAWS BIG CROWDS. “The Pony Express” is to run a second week at the Crystal Palace Theatre, and judging from the attendances at the theatre during the past week, this move on the part of the management is amply justified. It is a type of picture to appeal to all tastes, Western notwithstanding, for it has none of those impossibly heroic feats and none of those too-blackly*-painted villains which are. only too often, so lamentable a feature of most Western thrillers. It is a story of the pioneers of the Golden West; but its main mission is to portray the achievements of the riders of the Pony Express, and this it does in ten graphic reels, a monument in celluloid to the most unselfish and modest of the United States. But “The Pony Express” is infinitely* more than a record of courageous exploits, for such would ultimately become tiring. Behind the picture there is a powerful story, dramatic, romantic, profoundly* interesting in every* respect, and which acts as a softening tonic to the dynamic action of the film. The scenery*, though scarcely beautiful, is rugged and grand, fit background for this sterling type of picture, and as the plot unfolds, a more than casual glimpse is afforded of pioneer life in America in the early ’sixties, a life that, although naturally much more hard and dangerous, must have been similar to that of the early settlers of New Zealand. A fine cast of play*ers appears in the leading roles. Ricardo Cortez is the star, for the most part a shooting star, and he acts with admirable ease, an onerous role. Supporting him are Betty* Compson, Ernest Torrence and Wallace Beery, who all give splendid performances, that of Torrence, in a blandly* humorous part, being particularly good. The Symphony Orchestra, under Mr A. J. Bunz, will play* a. specially-selec-ted programme of music, including the following numbers: Overture, “Lustspiel” f Keler-Bela) : symphony. “The New World” (Dvorak); “New Orleans” (Wilson); “America.” The entr'acte is “Danse de Stayrs” (Le Thiere), the piccolo solo being played by Mr Dobbie. The box plans are at the Bristol Piano Company*, where scats may* be reserved.