GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18380, 4 February 1928, Page 25 (Supplement)

GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

the people, the garb, the traits of character, and even the mental conceptions of Palestine two thousand years ago. The interest of the spectator is sustained throughout, indeed at times becomes so intense as to be almost painful. The delineation of Christ is excellently well given. lie is thoroughly human, yet suggests mystery, reserve, resource. He lights up with understanding and sympathy. Partieularly revealing arc his relations with little children. The Crucifixion and the Resurrection scenes, dread in anticipation, become gripping, almost too gripping, at times in their realism, yet theirs is no shock to pious and reverent susceptibilities. The artists connected with the filming and production of this picture have achieved a remarkable success.” :: “The Gorilla,” First National’s mystery thriller, from the stage, play now being staged in Australia, has been hailed as the mystery-melodrama of the decade, revolving round the most sinister killer that ever came out of the underworld. It strangles men, and kidnaps women. La'ughs, however, follow screams, so well is the comedy element provided by Charlie Murray and Fred Kelsey as two dumb detectives, who endeavour to solve the tantalising mystery of the man-killing, mysterydemon gorilla. Charlie Murray is responsible for much hilarity as Garrity, and the comedy situations and laughable twists in the eccentric, interesting plot get fhe fullest exposition from the remarkable work of the leading players. Until the mystery is solved, the principals are involved in sequences that are both hair-raising and humorous, a very entertaining combination. In the search for the killer, doors open and shut, persons suddenly vanish, strange noises are heard, and lights go on and out, without warning. Garrity is always looking for Mulligan, and Mulligan is always looking for Garrity, and when the Gorilla is eventually found on the premises, things are just beginning to move. How this terrible nine-foot beast draws Garrity through a high window and suspends him from the ledge, ultimately precipitating him into the solution of the mystery, constitutes a story that is the last word in spooky thrills. “The reign of the happy ending, without which no motion picture in the past has been considered complete, is about to be disturbed,” said Jesse L. Lasky, Vice-president of ParamountFamous Lasky. “A new contender for the throqe of popularity has appeared. The public, having tasted the unhappy ending for a change, finds it highly palatable, and a new path thereby is opened for the artistry of producers.” In proof of his contention, Mr Lasky pointed to the record kept on a huge signboard in the Paramount studio grounds, the Honor Roll, on which every month the ten current releases of the company scoring greatest theatre successes are shown with their records. This roll is exclusive of the super-productions, such as “Wings,” “Old Ironsides,” and “The Rough Riders,” which receive special classification. Leading the honour roll as the firm’s outstanding sensation of the year is “Underworld,” a picture of gangster life in a great city, which ends in a note of high drama. The third place is Emil Jannings’ picture, “The Way of All Flesh,” which closes with a tear. A little farther down the list is “Children of Divorce,” with Clara Bow and Ether Ralston, which has its final sequence inf gripping tragedy.

Tom Mix can write as well as he can ride, which is fulsome praise (says a New York paper). And he does write those articles of scintillating wit and incisive comment on foibles of the folk of filmland. “ Life,” the humorous weekly, and “Variety,” the magazine of show and cinema business, vouch for the fact he is the author of the clever epistles they run. He reached for his pen at the suggestion of friends whom he had long delighted by his slangy, typically American observations on the lives and activities of movie people. The high-browed critics have made the discovery that the “Horseman of the Plains” is in a fair way of being another Will Rogers, also a literary ex-cowboy.