ARCADIA PICTURES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 9 April 1929, Page 2

ARCADIA PICTURES.

TO-NIGHT LAST TIME. “DIAMOND HANDCUFFS.” Outside an African diamond compound, Musa, a half-caste Kaffir girl, persuades Niambd, her native sweetheart, to steal a diamond for her. Blinded by his devotion, he does so, and conceals the gem in a gash in his leg, which he inflicts with a pick. Coming to the surface, at the first opportunity he gives the jewel to the girl—then sags at her feet through loss of blood —and dies. Musa turns up in London in the second episode. She is a maid. And by some freak of destiny the diamond follows her.—John’s wife admires the diamond in a big jeweller’s window-, but John refuses to buy it for her. Later he repents, but finds out that his best friend has, in the meantime, bought it for his wife. — Cecile tells him that the stone, given to her by the friend, was not real, that it was just an innocent joke. To test the truth of this bluff, John takes the gem from his wife and gives it to the maid, Musa. Later John overhears Cecile quarrelling with Musa over it —and John and Cecile part. In the third episode, Musa is a New York cabaret dancer, with Jasper as a half-caste partner. They dance in Spike’s underworld cafe. Tillie, a cabaret girl, -sees the diamond after it has been stolen, and mightily desires it. Spike, however, refuses to buy it for her. Larry who keeps a tobacco stall at the cafe, would like to buy it for Tillie, but provides her with a loan of £250 instead to enter a sanatorium for consumptives. It is his life’s savings, and he gives it to her through a local doctor. However, Tillie reckons that the diamond is more precious even than life, and buys it. When she shows it to Larry, he is dismayed. Spike is furious . . . . how did Tillie come by that stone? He traces the money to Larry, and is about to kill him when the police raid Spike’s cafe. During the raid, Musa urges Jasper to get the diamond from Tillie at any cost. Jasper grabs it, but is mortally wounded. So is Spike. Finally, the fateful gem is smashed to atoms under the wheel of a dray—and thus it passes, leaving Tillie and Larry together. They eventually find happiness in marriage.

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY “THE BATTLES OF CORONEL AND FALKLAND ISLANDS.” “The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands” was produced with the full support and assistance of the Admiralty, without which a film of such scope could never have been made. It is the greatest film ever produced in Great Britain. It is a!«i> the greatest naval picture produced anywhere. But it is something more Not only is it a pictorial enaetmen! of the most stirring and dramati< naval engagements of modern times but a national effort to put on re cord a national achievement m the national interest.

In the production of this greri naval picture no fewer than 35 ships were used, from the mighty SuperDreadnought “Barham” down to a humble dock-yard tug. Counting the crews of these and the dock-yard hands at Portsmouth, Malt, etc., between 38,000 and 40,000 men were concerned in the production. Orel 4,000 were actually employed by th: producing company. On one occasion 400 dockyard “maties” came on the pay roll for all night work at Portsmouth. To obtain effective shell explosions and gun discharges elabate tests were carried out in conjunction with Messrs Brock, the fireworks and explosives experts.- Depth charges detonated by electricity, and throwing columns of water into the air represented shells falling into the water. Smoke bombs gave effects of discharges or hits. For the sea scenes in the Mediterranean, 80 tons of explosives were taken to Malta.