TALKIES DRAWING CAPACITY HOUSES TO LIBERTY THEATRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18785, 14 June 1929, Page 7

TALKIES DRAWING CAPACITY HOUSES TO LIBERTY THEATRE.

The “Talkies” are attracting crowded houses to Liberty Theatre, where a a trreat nroeramme is heiner nrpspntprl

great programme is being presented. The Fox Movietone News is the first to impress how very real is this new vehicle. For the first time in Christchurch a classic English horse race is not only seen in a theatre, but it is heard. The address of the King at the opening of the Tyne Bridge at Newcastle might have been delivered from the stage, so clear and absolutely natural was it. Mr George Bernard Shaw talks, the Royal Hawalians give vaudeville items and Miss Gertrude Lawrence sings a song. “The Star Witness” serves to prepare the audience for the principal film of the evening. It is a comedy in which a court scene provides the background for much lively humour. In “Mother Knows Best,” an absorbing drama of misdirected maternal affection, the first portion is sound synchronised to give the orchestral accompaniment, and the latter portion gives the dialogue. It is remarkable thus to witness an ordinary movie drama leap suddenly to life and to hear the story of the play told from the lips of the people in it. Any doubts that may have existed as to the capacity of the talkies to deal with scenes in which several characters take part are dispelled by this picture. The music is provided by the famous Roxy Theatre Orchestra of 110 artists, the accompaniment being synchronised throughout.