MAJESTIC THEATRE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20070, 17 October 1939, Page 5

MAJESTIC THEATRE

“lIEI TIKI:” OUTSTANDING MAORI PRODUCTION Enacted entirely by Maoris and staged in natural settings on an island in the Taupo district, with a primitive and passionate story, “Hoi Tiki,” which is showing at the Majestic Theatre to-day, in an appealing picture and provides a refreshing change from the stereotyped film with an American setting. The story is woven round an old Maori legend which says that the daughter of a chieftian must be given to a war god, as a bride, after she has come Of age. When Mala, the heroine, falls in. love with a warrior of a rival tribe she no longer fulfils the conditions for a war god’s bride. How the love of the two Maoris is ultimately brought to a happy end is the main part of the rest of the film. Skilfully wound info the main story is the tradition, the tribal custom, and the ceremonial of the Maori race. The film, which won acclaim from critics and rival directors as well as from “fans” and stars in the United States, should be seen by all. New Zealanders. Alexander Markey, the director, who played a big part in the finishing of the film, spent four years with the Maoris on a small island to win their friendly e'o-opera-tion. He has made a success of one of .the hardest tasks of motion picture work, the screening of a native play in a native setting. “Tribute should be paid to the director for ttje entertaining blend of romantic detail and authentic native spectacle, and to the skill with which be has handled his nil-native east,” writes the critic of Cinema, London. “Thus the acting is natural and realistically restrained.” —On Stage: Takitimu Maori Entertainers—• An added attraction on the stage each evening is a colourful blend of poi dances, action songs, and hakas by the Takitimu Maori entertainers, a talented party of Maori men and women with the additional novelty of a group of very small Maori lads in a realistic haka.