THRILLS AT LIBERTY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20234, 19 February 1934, Page 3

THRILLS AT LIBERTY.

Powerful Love Story and Exciting Drama. Lovers of drama will find this week’s double-feature programme at the Liberty Theatre well suited to their tastes. The two productions, “ The Crooked Circle” and “Disgraced!” are both of high standard. Ben Lyon, Zasu Pitts, James Gleason and Irene Purcell are the principal players in “ The Crooked Circle,” and gain further laurels for their fine performances. Lyon is cast as Brand Osborne, an amateur criminologist, who finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of breathless adventures. Zasu Pitts has the part of the housekeeper at “Melody Manor,” an old house where a number of Osborne’s friends experience ghostly thrills and suffer far from ghostly manhandling. The role allows Zasu Pitts plenty of scope for her particular style of lugubrious comedy. James Gleason, as Grimmer, a cock-sure but rather dence traffic-policeman, is a further source of merriment. Irene Purcell, as the fiancee of Osborne, and a good supporting cast, provide the background for the story. “ Disgraced! ” is a powerful and unusual love drama. Helen Twelvetrees takes the principal role, that of Gay Holloway, a young mannequin, whose father, a police captain, objects to her going out with a rich young customer. In spite of the father’s objections a romance develops, with disastrous results to all concerned. Bruce Cabot and Ken Murray are the admirers of the mannequin. William Ilarrigan, as the police captain, has a part well suited to his type.