"DRUMS OF THE DESERT."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19146, 1 November 1927, Page 13

"DRUMS OF THE DESERT."

A ZANE GREY PICTURE. CRYSTAL PALACL. Zone Grey has never produced a more i'nllins and original story than "Drama of the Desert." The plot is one of continuous and absorbing interest, with a dramatic denouement. The story tells how a professor, beut on examining the ruins of ancient civilir.atiou in the lands of the Indians, travels into their reservation with his daughter Mary, unwittingly he penetrates to the very inner mnple of the Indians' God. They m'eet one. Curry, who warns them of the danger in which they are and advises them to return home. A little later they meet, Will Walton, who gives them the same advice. The professor disappears. Mary i? taken away by Curry, who lias been termed by Will a traitor and a renegade to his race How i: is pioved that his aim in life is a far nobler one, that of protecting the rights of the Indians against villainous white men, and how Walton's ultimate treachery i.-, disclosed, provides thrilling fare. The picture brings home with no little pathos the fact of the gradual disappearance of the race of vedmen, who arc compelled to stand by and see iheir anricnt hunting grounds turned into mines and farms by the pitiless onward march of the white- man's civilisation.' All the glamour of, the desert, of Indians, and the Mounted Police, of mystery aud intrigue, are here combined. Yet "Drums of the Desert" difl'ors in some ways from the usual "Wild West" picture in the air of reality it conveys, and in tho unwavering attention it demands. Perhaps this is due in no small measure to tho acting of Warner Baxter, who scores an emphatic success in the title role. Tho chief support is "Brown of Harvard," u rollicking picture of college life at one of the greatest of America's universities. The hero, Brown, proves himsolf really versatils in his activities. He ;s attracted, for instance, by rowing, and by football, and by other things—chiefly young ladies. Fate chooses as his room-mate one, Doolittle, whose simple but honest heart accords real heroworship to Brown. Brown's rival for the hand of Mary, a really winsome young lady in whom ho becomes interested, is one, Macandrews, stroke of the freshmen's crew. The day before the race against Yale Macandrew's hursts his wrist necessitating his withdrawal and tho choice of Brown as a substitute. But Brown, by tho irouy of fate, chooses that evening to gaze upon the wine, with a result that in tho raco he commits that unpardonable fault of "cracking up." Yale won, aud Harvard sent Brown to Coventry. Worse than that, Mary did, too. Next term came, and Brown returned to college resolved to redeem himself in the eyes of his fellows. In the freshmen's football team he gained a place. Through a misunderstanding he came to believe that bo has been dropped. His friend Doolittle, weak and ill, splashed through mud and rain to call him back from his journey he was about to take. Tho effort cost him his life, but Brown, though once injured, played tho match, and Harvard wins. And so is his prestige ronewed. in the eyes of his fellows. Mary and he find a bond of sympathy between them at the bedside of Brown's truest friond, Doolittle. One could not imagine a picture more successful than this one in portraying the love and laughter, sorrow and tears, that always go to make up life, even tho life of the carefree undergraduate. Boyish pranks abound, and those who love the thrill of sport—and who docs not?—will find excellent entertainment in the boat races and a fiercely-contested football match won on the call of time.

An excellently balanced programme of music is dispensed by the Symphony Orchestra under Mr Alfred Bunz. Worthy of special mention are "Poet and Peasant" (Suppe), and Haydn's "Symphony in G Major," and the request item, "Madrigal" (Simonetti).