LIBERTY THEATRE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18420, 29 June 1925, Page 7

LIBERTY THEATRE.

A PROGRAMME OF .MERIT. "FORBIDDEN PARADISE" AND "BETWEEN FRIENDS. - ' Even though • it was wet and miserable outside on Saturday night, the "Full House" sign was swinging in front of the Liberty Theatre at an early honr. Pola Negri, the actress who not so-long ago took tho world by storm and who was acclaimed by Europe's most competent critics as the finest cf all moving picture actresses, is starred in the Parimount masterpiece, "Forbidden Paradise." Rod la Rocque, Adr.lphe Menjou, and Pau]ili3 Starke play opposite Pola ' Negri. "Forbidden Parad.se" is based upon incidents in the life cf Catherine the Great of Russia, and it has been adap'.ed to the tcreen from the well-known stage play entitle! "The Czarina." The story is eiithra.ling, A3 the beautiful Catherine, whose charms and ! eauty lured men to her, Pola Negri is 'iscrnatir.g. She was a woman who loved romance and love affa.rs. Her v.-iies ensnared the officers of her gorgeous Court. She played with, them cs if they were mere puppets, and when the became tired of them she would decorate tho uniform of tho lover with a bright ribbon and medal. But time ro:I.-d en until the real passion of love kindled deep down in her heart, flaming up and consuming her very soul. The tain works vivorously and progressively toward a S!ru3hirsg climax. No:hing like the Court tcene3 nor 'he groups of gaily-uniformed military mm have been eeeti in Christchurch nines the screening of "Lily of the Duit." "Between Friends'' (Yi'tagia'ph) is the second attraction. It 13 nn adaptation oi the novel by. Robert Cbambeis. The story tells cf David Drene and Jack Grey.ack and their loves. Drene was a sculptor, and such was fcia devotion to his art that his friend Greylock and his wife, Jessica, ars thrown together a great deal. Eventually they elope to Bermuda, where Jessica dies. Drene never knows the man responsible for tho disappearance ct Jessica, and that fact so plays upon his mind that it turns him into a morose and bitter fellow. Months after Jessica died Greylock turned up in New York and fell in love with a mcdsl who was very dear to the sculptor. It comes to ths knowledge of Drene that it V 733 his friend Greylock v.'h.i took Jessica away from him, . and he plans a. terriblo revenge. Greylock, who turns out to ue not really all bad, becomes vonsciousstricken, but when about to take his life Dreno stcp3 him. Lou Tellegen, Norman Kerry, Anna Q. Nilsson, and Alice Caihoun are the featured players. Besides tho two big pictures there, is a Mack Sennctt comedy, "Tho Lion end the Souse," and a topical budget-. ,Tho Liberty Quality Orchestra, under Mr Howard Mocdy, provided an excellent programme of incidental music. The entr'acte this week is the popular one-s'.ep, "Turned Up" (Rule). It was" excellently played and made an instantaneous hit with tho largs audience. Mr Arthur Gordon's violin solo .is the Beethoven "Romance," for violin and orchestra. Tho solo received a refined interpretation and was much appreciated. Two new fox-trots- in'roducEil are "Me and the Boy Friend" (Monaco) and "'Sob Sister Susie" (Bates). Both are catchy numbers and should become firm favourites with dance enthusiasts. ' An exhaustive selection from "I, Lombsndi" (Verdi) was played for tho first time in this theatre, and proved a welcome addition to the orchestra's extensive reoertoire. Othrr number?, inclt-.dsd: Ballet, "Faugt" (Gounod); symphony, "No. 39"-(Mozart)- suites, "Petite Suite de Concert" (Coleridge-Taylor), "L'Fnfant Prodigue" (Debussy); grand opera, "The Pearl Fishers" (Bizet); revue, - "The .Passing Show (Finck); juzz waltz, "Nightingale (Brockniann).