AMUSEMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 23 February 1928, Page 1

AMUSEMENTS.

EVERYBODYS PICTURES. JACK LONDON'S “THE CALL OF THE WILD ” —FIUDAY. The long-awaited picturisation of Jack London’s famous novel, “The Call of the Wild,” comes to the Princess Theatre on Friday. The hero of the story is a dog whose father was a .St. Bernard, and whose mother was a Scotch shepherd dog. The dog is called Duck, and, from puppyhood, is raised in the luxury of civilisation. 'I hen he is stolen away to Klondike, where he experiences a strange climate, meets strange men, and adapts himhimself to strange habits and labours. He is a bewildered dog—until the strain of his forefathers begins to assert itself—until he feels the call of the wdd. As Jack London wrote “The Call of the Wild” around the life ot a dog, so has the picture been filmed. It is Duck’s joys and sorrows and career that are dominant, and the human beings in the picture are there only in relation to Buck’s story. Buck, the personal property of Hal Itoach, who produced “The Call of the Wild,” for Master Pictures, was trained from puppyhood for his role, for Jack London is Poaeh’s favourite author, and it has long been' his desire to film this popular story. When he was two years old Buck was sufficiently “ rehearsed ” for his screen role. The supports on Friday are a topical, second chapter of “ Strings of Steel ” (serial), and a good comedy.

If the average man were cast away on a desert island and compelled to lead a Robinson Crusoe existence, his first thought (after the food and water problem was solved) would be: “How can I get something to smoke?” The craving for tobacco is insistent in the case of 10 men out of every 12 and to satisfy the universal demand hundreds of brands of the “weed” are on the market. They come from many lands, one of the latest countries to produce them (in a perfected form) being New Zealand. Strange to sav the barren gum lands of the North which won’t grow ordinary crops grow splendid tobacco, a mutter of the greatest importance to men on the land up there, because the average yield of leaf is worth £SO per acre, and the industry promises to become a source of national wealth. The local article is much appreciated .by those who had to give up smoking foreign tobaccos because of the excess of nicotine, which affected their health Try Biverhead Gold (mild), Navy Cut (Bulldog) medium, or Cut Plug No. 10 (ISullsliead) full—Advt.