THE THEATRES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18012, 24 November 1926, Page 7

THE THEATRES.

ATTRACTIONS FOR THE WEEK. ©SAITS TKEATHE .. “ A 80IT OF THE SHEIK ” *TBET»OSY'S THEATRE ...... V “ THE THIEF ’V ITZHYBOPYS THEATRE .. /. “THE OlMt FROM MOXTMAHTRE ” GREATER. CETSTAX> FAX. ACE * “YOLCAKO ” . GREATER OXYSTAX. FAX. ACS “THE FX.ASTXC AGE” 2GXB&&TY THEATRE “ PANCE MADHSSS ” LIBERTY THEATRE “ BELOW THE QHBEH'S THEATRE “A BOY OP FEAKBSRS ” • OPSBFS THEATRE “ CORE OF THE WEST ” BTRAJfP THEATRE “ THE TRANBCOHTXNXVTA2. LTD ” STRAW© THEATRE “THE EAST MAH OH EARTH ” THEATRE ROYAL FERRIS JAESX.AHP REVUE COY. fULLBR'S OPERA HOUSE REVUE ft VAUEEVH.EE

“ Sparrows,” Mary* Pickford’s latest picture, has been well received in England and America. In England it is produced under the name of “ Human Sparrows.” The title, which has caused a great deal of questioning as to its meaning, is derived from the passage in the Gospel of Luke where it : is set forth that even the small short-lived sparrow is not lost sight of in the eyes of God. The reference is made to the nine foundlings on a farm in the swamps of Louisiana. There they are mothered by Mary in the role of Molly. She is the one who guards the tiny waifs against the cruelties of the harsh keeper and his equally brutal wife. The role offered Mary is one of the most sympathetic of hei career. There are thrills aplenty in the picture. An encounter with live alligators during the stirring escape of Molly and her little band across the treacherous swamp forms one of the most exciting sequences. Never, it is said, has the age-old problem of whether marriage for money is preferable to marriage for love been treated in so unusual and unconventional a manner as in “ Soul Mates,” the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film. It is an adaptation of the Elinor Glyn novel, “ The Reason Why.” Aileen Pringle and Edmund Lowe play the leading roles. As the dancing girl,, who becomes the premiere ballerina of the Imperial Russian ballet, Laura La Plante is playing her first serious role. Up ; to the present Miss La Plante has scored her greatest successes in frivolous, farcical roles. Now, as Olga Balashova, the dancing girl in “ The Midnight Sun,” a Universal-Jewel production, Miss La Plante has a role that critics say. will stamp her as one of the most capable of the younger actresses of the screen. “ The Sea - Beast,” an epic of the whaling days that are gone, starring John Barrymore, will shortly be released'by Master Pictures. No longer do four-masters sail forth from New Bedford to scour uncharted seas for the leviathan of the deep. “ The Sea Beast” preserves for future generations'the romance of those days of 1840. Douglas Fairbanks has long been noted for his lavish and ambitious pic : ture productions, but in “The Black Pirate.” which is to be shown here at an early.'date, he is reported as fairly having outdone—his own previous efforts. It is a thrilling epic of the,golden days of bujpcaneering ; near the end of the eighteenth "c&ptury," and depicts vividly, and colourfully the hectic fife of the dare-devil reamers of the Spanish main during that era. In “The Black Pirate” the star has thought up' a number of new stunts that are as Thrilling as they are novel. The cast supporting Fairbanks as usual is a notable one. The leading lady is the lovely Billie Dove. jj “ Good and Naughty,” is the somewhat contradictory title of a Paramount comedy-drama coming soon. The versatile Ford Sterling and the statuesque Pola Negri are the chief conspirators. Pola as a comedienne is something new to picture-goers. Tom Moore is also in the cast. « « Noah Beery, as Adjutant Lejaune in ** Beau Geste,” is one of the screen’s finest villains, but he gives a portrayal in this picture that excels anything that he has done heretofore. What a brute! what sangfroid! what a soldier! In command of Fort Ziiiderneuf, his soldiers comprise men of all nations—derelicts of the work seeking forgetfulness in the service of the French Foreign Legion—men who will stick at nothing and die for the glory of it. To command here, only a man .of the type that Noah Beery portrays could succeed. Ruthless in his punishment for disobedience, meting out punishment with a heavy hand, yet withal a magnificent warrior in battle, in the scene of the attack on Fort Zinderneuf, as each soldier falls dead, Lejeune places him back in the embrasure from which he has fallen, returning his rifle to his death-grip, giving the fort the while the appearance of a well manned defence. To the soldier who falters in the fight, Lejaune is merciless, bullying the-cowards, exhorting the brave, comporting himself like a raging lion, yet withal he is a magnificent beast, never really out of control or losing sight of an opportunity to harass and disconcert the enemy. If the whole of filmland. had been searched, no better type could have been found to portray the ruthless but brave Lejaune, and he will live in the minds of all who see him as a raging spectre against a bizarre background of desert drama. & a A move has been started to build a chain of theatres which will show only short subjects, and no films of over three reels in length (says an American writer). Some steps should be taken at once to stop this. If theatres start showing short pictures of the same quality that we are now getting, the patrons will no sooner be comfortably asleep than they will have to wake up again.