LAW’S ANOMALIES FORM THEME OF “PHANTOM JUSTICE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17907, 24 July 1926, Page 6

LAW’S ANOMALIES FORM THEME OF “PHANTOM JUSTICE.”

SENSATIONAL EXPOSEE COMES TO LIBERTY. “ The Law is a baffling machine, as much so to those who set it in motion as to those pitiable creatures who supply it with all its glory. Justice and the Law are said, are supposed, to be synonymous terms, but only by those who possess 4 inside information ’ can the exquisite irony of that statement be fully appreciated. For Justice and the Law are not synonymous; sadly enough, it would appear that they are not even compatible. Time and again the hardened criminal, society’s greatest menace, is set at liberty through the wheedling tongue or barefaced lies of a clever lawyer. Although this lawyer may know his client is guilty, yet will he strain every nerve, exercise every wit to secure the acquittal of the accused, thus increasing the lustre of his reputation, and incidentally, merely incidentall' l - compromising virtuous and innocent members of society. Conversely, the solicitor will send an innocent person, man or woman, to\gaol if he were to gain the esteem of men by so doing. The guilty go free, the innocent suffer, if—and here’s the rub—this modern Cicero will profit by it. The Court functions become a farce; the Bench and the Bar a lot of gibbering puppets; the whole ceremonial one monstrous pantomime. Why is this allowed to continue? Why should the intelligent men and women of our race be hoodwinked and bluffed in so shameless a manner? Because the clever, the unscrupulous lawyer is having his day.” But it will not continue. A document has been brought before the public in the form of a motion picture, a picture that reveals these travesties of justice, a picture that sends the eloquent pleader shrinking from the gaze of men—“ Phantom Justice," a cool, sane, logical statement of facts that shows the farcical machinations of the Law, and the tragedies resulting therefrom. For the woman offender this is more pronounced than for the man. Might is right and the weakest goes to the wall—always. But it is not only society in general that suffers from this legal luminary. There are always to be considered the members of his family. What sufferings, what humiliations he imposes upon them have to be endured before they can be understood, and it is mainly this phase of the situation that “ Phantom Justice ” deals with. The barrister brings the aroma of the gaol and the court room into his home, and with that peace and happiness fly out of the window.

Patrons of the Liberty Theatre, who will see the first screenings of this sensational indictment, are requested not to tell their friends of Herbert Kingsley's escape from the law. Escape? Yes. Kingsley, this brilliant attorney, found the tables turned on him with a vengeance, and all his wit, all his cunning were required to avoid the tentacles so mercilessly spread for him. A popular voung actor. Rod La Rocque, s plays the leading role, an actor on whose shoulders the cloak of a Barrymore appears to have fallen. lie is supported by a cast of famous players, who act in a realistic manner. The Liberty Concert Orchestra, under Mr Ernest Jamieson, will play a special programme of orchestral music. Patrons are advised to book their seats at The Bristol Piano Company to ensure admission to the theatre.