AMUSEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19180, 10 December 1927, Page 7

AMUSEMENTS.

"THE SIGN OF FOUR."

CONAN DOYLE'S STORY. LIBERTY THEATRE, MONDAY. Conan Doyle at his best describes "The .Sign of Four," the melodrama to head Monday's bill at the Liberty. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, reincarnated after many seasons' absence irom the book stalls and the screens, go through alt their amazing pates iu this mystery thriller, which is accepted as too best of an the Snerlock Homies stories. Certainiy, for typical ingenuity, immense ilinlis, and baffling mystery, "The Sign ot four" is u great improvement on many others of the well-known ana popuiar series. The cast is comprised ot an those ip.net and secretive characters that Conan JJoyle fantastically sprinkled through his pages, the prince, the girl, the mnio man, the thief, the pigmy, all their fates strangely intertwined until Holmes and his dear Watson, in supremely entertaining manner, untangle the whole mysterious ravel, indeed, this pictures derives much of its charm, humour, and dramatic values from the breezy and theatrical personality of the great deteciive; for all its sensational melodrama, it gams immeasurably from Holmes, tho greatest figure in modem fiction. Dr. Watson, no loss, invests tho story with all the charm that is his iu the written scries, so that "The Sign of. Four," as a picture, is of just as high a standard as the book. Some of the scenes, photographically speaking, are excellent; Conan Doyle always sets his more spectacular and dramatic moments in surroundings of mist and mystery, and the camera has caught some remarkable "shots" of darker London in the course of the story. The acting in this production is up to the best traditions of the English theatre. The difficult roles of Holmes and Watson are well sustained bv Edward Norwood and Arthur Cullin, while the leading lady is placed by Isobel Elsom. The second picture is "Painted Ponies," starring the popular Hoot Gibson. While the Jannings, the ISarrymores, and the Colmans of this world parade in artistic manner along the screen, scattering the largesse of their art on an adoring world, it is. very often, the humble Hoot who provides the best of the low brow amusement; there is nothing artistic, sombre. or dramatic about his pictures; they are immensely practical, amusing and everyday, exceedingly likeable films to como across occasionally. "Painted Ponies" is no exception, a very pleasant effort in celluloid along thrilling and humorous lines. The Concert Orchestra, under tho direction of Mr Ernest Jumieson, will plav a special musical programme, with spocial effects with the big picture. The box plans nro now open nt The Bristol Piano Company, where seats may be reserved.