ARCADIA PICTURES

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 27 November 1925, Page 2

ARCADIA PICTURES

MONDAY & TUESDAY. , “MANHATTAN” (Richard Dix, .of “The 10 Commandments” Fame). Riehard Dix has attained the heights—stardom. His picture at the head of his own company is the Paramount production, “Manhattan,” directed by R H. Burnside from an adaptation of Jeffry Farnol’s immensely popular novel, "The Definite Object.” In the picture Dix has the role of an active young New Yorker whose ancestors had left him more millions than he’ll ever know what to do with. He is bored by the dull routine of the teas, dances, and idle amusements of his set. More than anything else he craves adventure and the stodgy old island of Manhattan seems utterly unable to provide it. There’s but one thing left to do and he does it—goes out in search of action, anything that prom ises excitement. His quest brings him to Hell’s Kitchen of the city and more thrills to the square foot than he ever dreamed were in store for him. If it’s pell-mell action and a real he-man story with unusual heartappeal you're looking for. why don’t trouble yourself to look further. Combine all the hair-raising scenes of all the high spots of the funniest comedies you’ve ever enjoyed and there you have "Manhattan,” Jacqueline Logan plays opposite the star in the leading woman’s role. Gregory Killy, well known on the legitimate stage, is also well cast, as are George Seigmann, Gunboat Smith and a host of others just as prominent. “Manhattan,” one of Paramount’s “Famous Forty,” opens next Monday and Tuesday at the Arcadia " WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY BETTY BALFOUR IN—"SQUIBS M.P.” No screen character has ever appealed so' much to the imagination of the British public as has the the character of “Squibs,’’ the little flower-seller, played by Britain’s Queen of Happiness, Betty Balfour. The reason is that Squibs has been invested with a wonderful personality—all joy, all life, an incorrigible optimist i with a heart of gold; she is that rare character, one who believes in the joy of living for herself and for others. This personality comes over from the screen, radiating happiness—and that is the secret of Squibs’ success, as it is of Betty Balfour's popularity. In ‘Squibs M.P.”’ our national heroine forsakes, for all but a brief spell, the familiar shawl and short skirts of the Piccadilly Circus days, and appears as a becoming and well gowned young lady seeking means and methods of using the windfall she won in the Calcutta Sweep to her own and ether people s advantage So, from a philanderer in Paris, she becomes a philanthropist (clean milk for the poor) in London, and then a Parliamentarian pleading the cause of babies before battleships, and finally she tackles such an elusive and illusory subject as ghosts. All of which sounds deadly serious ; but it is nothing of the kind ; except for just one or two touches of pathos, the play is a rollicking farce. Laugh succeeds laugh in swift succession, and “Squibs M.P.” proves to be the funniest film in which Betty Balfour has ever played, and her own performance is certainly her cleverest. No need to dilate upon that—the fame of the picture will svjeep the country. The master touch of George Pearson is apparent throughout the pro duction, but never more than in the characterisation. Hugh Wright’s “Father,” Frank Stanmore’s “Honeybunn,” and Irene Tripod’s “Fitzbulge' are all characters which are a sheer delight to watch—they are, to use the colloquial expression, “priceless;” and, of course. Fred Grove’s “P.O. Lee” is Squibs’ perfect sweetheart. Thursday. Dec. 3, picture benefit in aid of Waimate Athletic Club.