"ISLE OF LOST SHIPS” IS IMPRESSIVE FILM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19034, 1 April 1930, Page 7

"ISLE OF LOST SHIPS” IS IMPRESSIVE FILM.

Amongst many original features of “The Isle of Rost Ships,” the all-talk-ing pictures that heads the bill at the Majestic Theatre this week, is the fact that the story is set in the waste of seaweed and wreckage known as the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea exists in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by reason of a gigantic eddy, and for the purpose of the story it is presumed that the centre of the sea consists of an "isle of lost ships” that have drifted thfere throughout the centuries. The story is as original as its setting, and is interpreted by a strong cast headed by Virginia Valli, Noah Beery, Jason Robards and Robert O’Connor.

The audience is introduced to three of the characters on board the s.s. Queen, bound from I'or to Rico to New York. They are three passengers— Dorothy Renwick (Virginia Valli), a society girl travelling with her aunt, Detective R. L. Jackson (Robert O’Connor) and his prisoner, Lieutenant Frank Howard (Jason Robards), who has been arrested on a charge of murder. The voyage is tragically interrupted near the Sargasso Sea, when the Queen strikes a derelict and is abandoned, sinking at tlife bow. After nearly forgetting his handcuffed prisoner, Jackson rushes back for him, but in doing so the pair are left marooned on the vessel. Howard rescues Dorothy after the lifeboat she was in had been swamped. The Queen’s bulkheads prevent her from sinking, and, when she has drifted in to become part of the vast floating island of wrecks of every conceivable period and kind, the maroonted three find a queer colony of fifty men and two women, dominated by Captain Forbes (Xoah Beery), an ex-whaling master of the vrorst type. Forbes fastens covetous ej-es on Dorothy, and, according to the rule of the colony, she is ordered to choose a husband immediately, to prevent quarrels between the men. She chooses Howard, and the sequel is a great fight between him and Forbes. Howard proves the better man. but, knowing that they are still in danger, he. Dorothy and Jackson retire to the Queen. However, with the help of Burke, an Irish mechanic, and several others who desire to get away, and a stranded submarine, they make a spectacular escape, and, with Howard's innocence proved, the story ends happily. It is all very fascinating and leaves a vivid impression upon the mind. The scenery is remarkably good, especially the wreck of the Qu<een. and the derelict'vessels making up the isle. The supporting pictures include a laughable comedy about a “quack” doctor’s antics, and there is also an interesting sound news picture. Pictures

of the December hurricane along - the English coast are of special interest There is also a song narrative, “Tht Hut,” sung by Nova Tarasova.