AMUSEMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 January 1923, Page 1

AMUSEMENTS.

THE MATRIMONIAL WEB” WEDNESDAY. A life Calhoun the charming Vitagraph star, will bu seen in tier latest picture, ‘ The Matrimonial Web” at the Princess Theatre on Wednesday. In the story .Miss Calhoun has the role of the daughter of a revenue officer who lias charge of running down a band of smugglers. The father fails in his task, but his daughter, in order to save the position for the men, attempts to round up the band. In order to get the clue she mixes with the frequenters of an underworld dive and poses as a mouther of a hand of tools and succeeds in hoodwinking frequenters of the resort. She runs into an adventure tvhieli leads her to the headquarters of the smuggling hand and aUo wins for her a husband. The action is intensely dramatic and .Miss Calhoun handles every scene in a manner Hint does her credit and puts a realism into the production. The supports are Topical Budget, scenic, interest. industrial and comedy. On Thursday in her next picture ■■Her Social Value,” a First National attraction at the Princess Theatre, Mi ss Katherine MacDonald portrays I the part of a saleswoman in a department store. There are dramatic and spectacular thrills in the production, one of the latter being a realistic avalanche of rocks flown a mountain side, which buries towns and huts and knocks down trees as though they were matches, is one of the most impressive scenes ever filmed. A good supportI ing series will also he screened on i Thursday including the latest. Gaumonl j Graphic, Pathe Uoview and a two-red comedy. McLEAN’S PICTURES, | FIRE BRIGADE BENEFIT ; TO-NIGHT. To-night from Afcbean is giving a lienefit to tlie I<x:al Fire Brigade Demonstration team, when a. first-class programme, consisting ot two stars will he shown. The first star is “The Fire Eater”, the Universal special attraction starring Hoot Gibson. Paradise Valley is the supposed locale of the story, which concerns the rather arduous and perilous duties of a forest ranger- Great timber lands and a forest fire are shown. The second star is ‘‘One Glorious Day” with Will Rogers and llla Lee in the leading roles. Tec story is of a staid old professor who let himself go and woke up a whole town. This is a Paramount picture. ' I’lic Orchestra will supply a selected programme of music. ; MISS ROSINA BECK MAX. 1 CONCERT NEXT SATURDAY. ■ __ The programme for the forthcoming concert to he given in the Princess i Theatre. Hokitika, on Saturday next at 8..'1A |>.in. by Miss IE-sina Bucknian. i the famous New Zealand soprano, and ; Mr Maurice D’Oisley the EnglDli ten- ’ or. promises to be of more than usual interest .as both artists have aebteved I extraordinary sm-ecs.-i in Grand Opera i and tut the concert plaflorm, and art j abl eto combine the two with hanp.v ! results. Prior to leaving England fie New Zealand. Mi s Riieknan and Mi i irOisley made an extraordinarily .siic- | ee-sful tour of Grc.it Britain, embrac- . ing the principal cities. In .MaiiclicsI ter .which in the opinion of musicians ! is .one of the most critical towns in ; England, they were the principal suloi is is in a concert performance oi “C a-■.-alhriii Rustieana” with Sir Henry .1. Woods, and the Manchester Guardian reviewing the pcrlormance say.s: j “Opera. Companies are a little given, to a complete reliance on the melodrama to carry this work through, and we rarely hear their finest singers in it. Wo hear then, with a certain surprise the lino musical qualities uhiih .such singers as Miss Bucknian and Mr .Maurice D'Oisly reveal in the work. Mr D’Oisly has come on amazingly it: the purely dramatic sense also. and one could trust him to make tin Ttirridu of this opera effective without any help from the music at- all. Ihe Ireouent exclamations which demand m

; < lost' ;u> approach to the p.u'lant',. style ; were given in such a vivi<i way tha» j they 11101-0 than any other feature lili ! his performance above that ot tin noi- • inn 1 tenors in the part. In the Bet chain Opera he stood so much for the ; boantv of Mozart and the purely musical in opera that wo were apt In forget his dramatic capabilities, hut in , this work there is now no lorgoinng nor ignoring them, and when we hear him and Miss Buckman make su much of so little, it makes us chair ratliei at the delays of the National Opera in which we might hear them again, Mis*, Burkinan's singing was complete m a dual sense. We might have forgotUn irs dramatic purport and just hstenei with, ravished care to its delicious nmsi,.. or we might have forgotten all but the thrilling dramatic significance. In both ways it was perfect. 1 1 '■' 1 ' 1 11 ■ standard operas will he a tea Hire " . the. Bttekman-D’ Oisly concerts, and j success those, artists have enjoyed v th , these excerpts in Knglamt w.U .doM U ; less be repeated fourfold here. L Ik. imx plan opens at Miss Mclntosh s on . Thursday morning. i