ALL-BRITISH FILMS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 601, 3 November 1932, Page 3

ALL-BRITISH FILMS.

“ England Awake ” and “Lucky Girl.”

“ The Washington Masquerade ”, in ■which Lionel Barrymore gives another outstanding characterisation, will be shown at the Crystal Palace Theatre for the last time to-morrow night. The box plans for the inaugural presentation of all-British programmes at the Crystal Palace Theatre on Saturday are tilling rapidly at The Bristol Piano Company. The initial programme for this first all-British theatre is well diversified, and should make instant appeal to all picture-goers. “England Awake”, an inspiring film of Britain's progress, and “Lucky Girl ", Gene Gerrard’s latest musical comedy success, Will be the major attractions. “ England Awake ” is a singularly remarkable picture. It is a very well constructed reminder of England’s place in the world, and the deeds and discoveries of a century, which have given her that place. The film begins with the unrest in England which followed the Napoleonic wars, and reviews pictorially the deeds that won an Empire—the discovery of the steam locomotive, its application to steel-hulled vessels; the discoveries in electricity by the great scientist Michael Faraday; the evolution of the internal combustion engine, and what it meant to speed: the settlement of Canada. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and the mighty development of England’s industrial resources, the whole forming an epic in national achievement the like of which has never been equalled in the history of the world. Gene Gerrard, the famous British comedian, is the star in “ Lucky Girl In this whimsical

farce, which is full of laughs and embellished with some catchy songs, Gerrard plays the part of a young man who has just come to the throne of a pocket - handkerchief kingdom, and flrfding the treasury empty, goes to London to •* raise the wind ” on the Crown jewels. Lob* don suggeste amusement, and when the new king

meets with a comrade of the war they set out together. The rest of the film is devoted to the humorous adventures of “Mr Abdullah ”, as the king is known, and of his American efficiency expert in the house of a duke; there are encounters with burglars and conflicts for love and jewels. Everyone has a false idea of the standing of everyone else; the duke thinks the king a thief, and the king thinks the duke an impostor. Eventually everything is smoothed out, after* many hilarious happenings.