"BEN HUR."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19162, 19 November 1927, Page 8

"BEN HUR."

♦ LAST WEEK OF SEASON. GRAND THEATRE, MONDAY. "Ben Hur" on Monday will enter upon the last week of its long and eminently successful Christchurch season. It will be remembered with pleasure, and some local pride, that "Ben Hur" opened its New Zealand premiere at the Grand Theatre, and that the Christchurch-born artist, Mr Winter Hall, plays in this devotional classic one of the most honoured roles of all history, that o£ Joseph the Carpenter. As was foretold during the week actually preceding the opening of "Ben Hur," the discerning and critical public of Christchurch was not long in recognising in this film all the good taste, all the quiet tragedy, all the refined romance and tumultuous drama that, discreetly biended, go to make the perfect motion picture. On Labour Day, the day the season commenced, thero was something of a riot outside the theatre at the earlier sessions, and (he good-humoured assistance of some police officers was necessitated. By their brilliant portrayals of the characters of "Ben Hur." the actors and actresses taking part in the film have enlisted thousands more, admirers, and Francis X. Bushman, especially, who was making something in the nature of a come-back, is in a position to oust the younger leading men at present enjoying a fleeting popularity. Betty Bronson, the little lady wtio plays Peter Pan, the very modern heroine of "Are Parents People." aud "Everybody' 3 Acting," and the Madonna, all with their own characteristic appeal, has taken her place in the first flight of real artists, and Ramon Novarro, who made his debut in "Scaramouche," has made screen history with his "Ben Hur." The director, Fred Niblo, accomplished much in transferring ancient Rome, old Antioch, and the staid courtesy of Roman Jerusalem, to the modern screen. By the artistic manner of its interpretation of the special score written for '[Ben Hur," the Grand Orchestra invites the sincerest- praise; all through the season its high level was never deserted, and while it must surely have been a strain on Mr David McGill to present "The Star of Bethlehem" every evening with the same feeling aud power as in the beginning, this pleasing tenor likewise sustained his reputntion. The quartette of choristers also, in their chanting of "Abide With Me" at the Via Crucis, havo proved themselves choristers of a high order. "Ben Hur" will be presented for the last time in Christchurch at the evening session on next Saturday, the 26th.