AMUSEMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 291, 8 December 1928, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS

THE NEW GRAND Chester Conklin, who has a large and ugly moustache, strong glasses, and a rare sense of comedy, is starred by First National in “The Big Noise,” which is the principal attraction at the New Grand Theatre to-day and tonight. “The Big Noise” is the romance of a subway guard. A subway guard might reasonably appear to be the most prosaic of creatures, but not so this guard. That he had a daughter might have something to do with the romance attendant on this subway guard. Whatever it was, he became famous overnight, a sensation, a celebrity, a personage. He stands before the microphone, broadcasting on a wave-legth of ten thousand smiles, he is afforded entry to the most excellent houses. And in these homes he behaves just as a subway guard is supposed to behave. There is no pathos, or unkindness, in these scenes, for there is none of Chaplin’s subtlety about Chester Conklin. Ho revels in broad farce, laughs at himself, as a clown should, and keeps his audience in a constant simmer of expectation and merriment. “The Big Noise” would never have created the big noise it has done, were it only pure comedy. The public loves a good love story, and there is romance aplenty between the adorable Sophie, and two adorers. Alice White, who plays Sophie, has also played Dorothy in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and she is a smart, sophisticated young lady with a bright tongue, red hair and vivacity that keeps things moving. The two principals make this picture a comedy such as the screen sees only a few times a year, and it is a new sort of comedy. Supporting this picture is that popular star Laura La Plante in “Finders Keepers,” a scream from start to finish. Don’t miss it.