ARCADIA PICTURES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 22 December 1926, Page 2

ARCADIA PICTURES.

TO-NIGHT & THURSDAY. ZANE GREY’S "WILD HORSE MESA." Hail the movie cameramen! Unhonoured, unsung heroes of filmdom I The average picture-goer, who sits midst ease and comfort in a wellventilated, luxuriously-appointed theatre and watches the silent shadows flit across the silver sheet, little dreams of the dangers and hardships that fall to the lot of “the men who. turn the crank.” Yet, quite often, the cinema photographers experience greater thrills and have more narrow escapes than were ever flashed upon the screen.

"Wild Horse Mesa" is a case in point. This spectacular Zane Grey melodrama, which opens next Wednesday at the Arcadia Theatre, was filmed almost entirely in the rugged Red Lake section of the Arizona desert. When you see this production you will be amazed at the staggering climax, which shows a tremendous stampede of 5,000 wild horses, charging at break-neck speed towards a treacherous barbed wire trap, but you will hardly realise the difficulties and hazards connected with the photographing of such a breath-taking scene. Twelve cameramen were required to film the stampede. Bert Glennon, chief cameraman, stationed his assistants in shallow natural gullies, which gave some protection, and yet within range cf the charging steeds. Glennon himself took the most dangerous and exposed position. He located his camera in a small ravine “shooting” upwards with the entire herd racing high over his head. At times thundering horses swerved within three feet of his camera, and Glennon was momentarily afraid that some jost hng lof confusion among the spirited steeds would force one of them off the edge and on top of him. But he never stopped grinding!

Fortunately, no. casualties resulted. and one of the mightiest episodes ever caught by a camera was successfully screened in all its thrilling realism

FRIDAY ONLY. “WHITE SLIPPERS” STARRING, MATHESON LANG. —British Production.— An old sailor, tempest-tossed and battered, was rescued from the sea b; Lionel Hazard, a young Englishman seeking adventure. Before dying, the old man gave his rescuer a chart indicating the existence of an immense treasure in the Southern Seas. Hazard struck a bargain with the captain ot a barque and of a. motley band of contrabanders. Two years of fruitless search led them to Porto del Rej , where, in a cantina, Hazard won a pair of white slippers. Seeking the owner, he was directed to an English girl, whose beauty en • slaved him. To free her from bondage he again set out for the treas ure, braving the perils of the port and defeating the efforts of villains who tried to rob him. When he returned with the gold and jewels he learned that Alice, the girl he loved was wife of the proprietor of the cantina. On board the ship he fought Guitterez for the girl, while the crew fought to retain the treasure. Hazard won the girl and sailed home, with the gold and jewels.