ESTELLE TAYLOR HAS LEADING ROLE AT CRYSTAL PALACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18522, 24 July 1928, Page 7

ESTELLE TAYLOR HAS LEADING ROLE AT CRYSTAL PALACE.

Haying made a notable success of the exacting part of Lucretia Borgia, Miss Estelle Taj-lor was selected by First National Pictures as the little spitfire in “The Whip Woman,” and here again she takes full advantage of her opportunities to flash as a star of the first, magnitude. From the points of view of physique, appearance, and talents, she is eminently suited to re-, present the strong-minded Hungarian peasant girl who keeps her wooers off by the primitive but simple process of wielding an ugly whip, which she does not hesitate to lay about, their shoulders. On the banks of the Danube, this kind of thing, apparently, is a recommendation. Miss Taylor certainly does not lack for admirers. Her unusual methods mereh* make the young peasants of her village more ardent and insistent. Wearing in her ploughing-field the uniform of her brother. killed in the war, she certainly is very attractive, and there is much to say for those who wish to wed her, in spite of her eccentricity. There conics a turn in her life which shows that behind it all she is quite feminine. One

river; he spends his last coin in drink. Befriending him in a characteristic manner, she first gives him a sound thrashing, and then puts him to bed. Her femininity asserting itself, she falls in love with him, still hatnight therfe reels into the village an aristocrat who is a great waster. lie threatens to throw himself into the ing herself for doir\g so. She wishes to marry him, but unforseen difficulties arise, creating many stirring incidents that try her temper and place a strain on her determination. They separate. She becomes proprietress of a cafe, and finally throws herself into the gayest life in Budapest. The man she loves comes again, forces himself into her preserve, and gives her a taste of her own medicine by lashing her with the self-same whip she used on others. There is only one ending to this. The strange pair realise that they love each other. They marry, and, with tastes so similar in regard to forcing home their arguments, should live happily ever afterwards. Miss Taylor rises to dramatic heights. She is a very beauitful and very charming madcap. She could not have had. in a picture of this stamp, a better vis-a-vis than Mr Antonio Moreno. Last week he was at Crystal Palace as an American. Now he, a Spaniard by birth,

is an Hungarian nobleman. Another notable player in "The Whip Woman” is Miss Loretta Young. The setting for the story is picturesque and full of colour, and incidentally there is a graphic representation of Hungarian peasant life of these times. Detective stories rank amongst the most popular in fiction. “The Warning,” the second big picture at Crystal Palace last night, is not an ordinary detective story, but it has a good deal of that character, and -it has ail the intrigue, mystery, thrill, and suspense of the best of them. It is powerful without being ultra-melodramatic. It has a secret temple in the hills near a Chinese city, and the Oriental atmosphere of sinister shadows, snares, traps, and perilous adventures. The heroine is Miss Dorothy Revier. a Californian who danced her way into popularity, and who has taken vampire parts in the movies. Opposite her in “The Warning” is Mr Jack Ilolt. He is well known to all regular patrons at Crystal Palace, where he was welcomed last night as an old friend. Mr A. J. Bunz and the Symphony Orchestra continue to give much pleasure to lovers of good music. The most important item on their programme last evening was Mendelssohn’s “Third Symphony,” to which full justice was done. The overture was Friedman’s “Slavische Rhapsodic.” Strauss’s “Blue Danube” always is popular. Another notable item was Tschaikowsky’s “Valse des Fleurs.” Other items that should be mentioned arc Cuviller’s “The Naughty Princess,” Blaauw’s “The Clock is Playing,” Fletcher’s “Cairo,” and Norton’s “Chu, Chin, Chow.”