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Star (Christchurch), Issue 18208, 15 July 1927, Page 7

The many readers of Sir Rider Haggard’s stories will remember the popular “ She,” a film version of which will be screened at Everybody’s next week. The plot concerns the adventures of Leo Yincey, descendant of an Egyptian priest, who visits the land of his forefathers where a mysterious queen has lived throughout the ages, defying death and time in an unheard-of man ner. Her name is Ayesha, which means “ She ” in English. Arriving in that portion of the country where •* She ” holds sway the hero and his retinue are amazed at the beauty of the woman. The queen recognises in Vincey the reincarnation of KaliKrates, her lever of centuries before. Ayesha takes the party of Englishmen into the mountains, where she proposes they shall bathe in the “ flame of life,” which is necessary to gain immortality. Ayesha tells them there is no danger, and to put her statement to the test, she steps into the flames and for a time is unscathed, but eventually they consume her. This is but the briefest outline of the story that has thrilled thousands as a novel, and is destined to please many more as presented as a wonderful film. Art. ingenuity and imagination have been skilfully blended to make “ She ” a picture worthy of its subject with admirable success. Betty Blythe portrays the queen, and Carlyle Blackwell enacts the roles of Leo Yincey and Kalliekrates. The second attraction “ Down the Stretch,” is a racing story of a jockey who, in the face of almost impossible odds, wins the hand of the girl he loves. Robert Agnew and Marian Nixon have the leading roles

44 New York,” a Paramount picture, to be screened at Crystal Palace next week, is described as “ a melodrama that runs its thrilling course, through all the spheres of life.” An insight into the night clubs and night courts of the big city, and the squalor and splendour is presented. The story deals •with a man who leaves the squalid Surroundings in which he has been brought up, and secures for himself a position where he is made the idol of the wealthy. He realises his ambition, and wins the girl of his heart. Everything points to his continued success, when fate plays a trick, and a charge of murder is made against him. Tha manner in which his friends fight his case and snatch a last-minute victory over circumstantial evidence provides a big climax. Ricardo Cortez, Lois Wilson, Estelle Taylor, Norman Trey or, and William Powell head the casi

“ Men of Steel.” which will be shown i at the Liberty Theatre next week, is a j powerful melodrama, unusual in theme i and unconventional in treatment. Milton Sills, who wrote the scenario,, has the 'leading role, and Doris Kenyon plays opposite him. A striking tribute to the film was made by an American critic. “ ‘Men of Steel ’ is bound up with super-thrills,” he says. “People will sit through the thrilling episodes of this marvellous film with bated breaths. They will see Sills clinging to chain and swinging over a cauldron of molten steel; they will see him trapped in a deep pit while a maniac prepares to empty a huge vat of liquid eteel upon him; they will see him grappling with a ferocious police dog when the merest slip would have resulted in his face being torn to ribbons. They will also see thousands of steel workers, their wives and families, giving one of the most remarkable mass performances that the screen has ever seen. They will witness a ‘ steel funeral,’ an event without parallel for sheer impessiveness in all the annals of interments. More than 2000 participated in this scene. ‘Men of Steel’ is an amazing screen masterpiece. It is a picture that will live on as one of the really transcendentally excellent film creations.” Fox’s super feature, “ What Price Glory?” which has attracted full houses at the Grand Theatre during the week, will be screened for another week. Except for introductory sequences in China and the Philippines, which indelibly establish the characters of Tlagg and Quirt, two happy-go-lucky soldiers, the entire action takes place in France during the Great War. Although the war scenes form no small part of the picture and are as fine as any ever screened . “ What Price Glory?” is a story of soldiers rather than war, the drama and the comedy I of the lives and hates of these two 1 *nen to whom “ soldiering was a pro- 1 fession.” Cropping up continually I through the humorous aspects is the deep-set admiration of each for the ether as a soldier, and hatred because of their rivalry over women. So intense is that that every time Flagg and Quirt come together there is an electric thrill in the atmosphere and great suspense. Dolores del Rio takes the part of Charmaine, 44 the sweetheart” of both Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt. The roles of the captain and the sergeant are held by vector M’Laglen and Edmund Lowe. Tn 44 The Gentle Cyclone,” which will be screened at the Queen's Theatre next week, Buck Jones appears as a fighting pacifist. As Absalom P. Vv ales, a harmless looking individual, he is selected to act as arbiter in a chronic dispute between two families of the est. The harder he tries to bring about peace the more difficulties \ he encounters, and his troubles arc ' enhanced by the fact that each of the j possesses a handsome daugh ter. When the girls dissappear he is i accued of having kidnapped them. The ; feudists forget their own differences and j combine against Buck, who has his ; hands full in proving his innocence. | This he does, and the climax is sad-; den and surprising. The second at- 1 traction, “ Battling Mason,” is the * story of an idle, rich young man, sent to the city to make his mark in the ! business world. The picture intro- ' duces a new figure to the screen in ; Frank Merrill, a famous American ath- i lete. Eva Novak is the star.