ENTERTAINMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1673, 10 February 1917, Page 1

ENTERTAINMENTS.

“OUR PICTURES.”

The current programme at the

Town Hall pictures includes a further instalment of the Stingaree serial. In this instalment Stingaree and his “pal” Howie set out to “purify” Mulfera, Mulfera being one of the worst of the small Australian settlements. During their adventures, Stingaree and Howie are secured in captivity at Mulfera, but happily Ethel Porter, Stingaree’s former sweetheart, is at the village, and assists in their escape at an opportune moment. This is a very good number of the series, and includes unusually good desert scenes and some real riding. Comedy and melodrama is freely intermingled in this number. The star item of the evening is “The Commanding Officer,” a drama by the Famous Players Company, a photo adaptation of (he noted military romance. It combines in a thrilling and absorbing manner a novel and varied environment and an original plot that often attains an intensity of dramatic

power and appeal seldom contained In a screenjalay. 'With the interest of the theme centred about the beautiful young wife of the commanding officer, who is unjustly accused of an immoral deed of which she is thoroughly guiltless, the development of the plot is marked by a. uniformity of merit and a consist-

ency of suspense that results in a complete conquest of the sympathies of the audience. Needless to say, before the termination of this four-part feature the intricate situations and circumstantial episodes that for a time endangered the honour of the accused woman are logically explained, and the pall that threatens the repute and happiness of the commanding officer’s wife rises into the clouds that drift into nowhere. A counterplot of remarkable power adds to the overwhelm-

ing interest of the story. There are ! a fine lot of supporting items, in-

cluding a (Urn of exceptional interest, depicting a visit to the Western Front by the late Earl Kitchener.