ROYAL PICTURES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2093, 21 February 1920, Page 3

ROYAL PICTURES.

Al lhe Kovel 10-night Hex Beech's tremendous (lr;nii;i of Alaska, “The J >j:i nd,” will be screened. This is Rex Bench's most powerful screen drnmn since “The Spoilers," in which Kny Lanrell, Bussell Simpson, nnd Robert MeKim are- featured. Laid in the Alaskan wilderness, life story is the creation of a man who knows Alaska "as we know New Zealand, and the result is practically a flawless production. “The Brand” ranks well to the front a,mon<? screen triumphs. The name is no mere psychological stigma; it is applied physically and stands for (lie haired and contempt of one man for another, who, lie says, is not fit to kill. Years of anguish and infamy lie behind this notion, horn of the monotony and loneliness that, comes >vith the hush of the white wild. The story is virile nnd vivid to a, degree, and is one that will be long remembered. A further episode of “Stingnvec 1 will be shown as an extra. For Monday night the star item is “Life’s Greatest Problem.” The story is founded on the U.S.A. “Work or Fight” law, the action showing how four loafers of different (dasses in the community are caught in a slacker round-up and introduced (o the realities of life, Dick Craig is the neer-do-well son of a millionaire ship-builder, spoilt by his mother. He marries his father’s typiste, who eventually leave 4 him in disgust at his dissolute ways and disappears. She is about to commit suicide, thoroughly disheartened, when she encounters big Steve Reardon, a cheerful and soUndly lazy tramp, whose whole object in life is to escape work. He lias a pal, Little Lefty, with the same enthusiasm for avoiding toil. Then comes the “Work or Fight” roundup, and Dick Craig, Big Stevo Keardon and little Lefty are caught.