LYRIC PICTURES.

Otaki Mail, 14 February 1923, Page 2

LYRIC PICTURES.

TO-NIGHT. "AT TIIE MERCY OF MEN.” A gripping story of Russian romance and intrigue comes to the Lyric Pictures to-uiglit, entitled ‘‘At the Mercy, of Men, ’ ’ in which Alice Brady plays the most sympathetic role of her career as Vera .Souroff, who is wronged by tlio Czar’s Imperial Guard. The especially tragic element of the girl’s misfortune is aggravated by the fact that it fell on the very day v hen she was to celebrate her betrothal to Boris Eilofsky, a young radical, whom tlio shock of his fiance’s fate drives to mad revolutionary activity. Ho persuades the father, a retired major, of the Russian Army, to lead “the forces of the people. ’ ’ In the meautiinu the Zuptiue, a patroness of Vera, interests the Czar iu her plight. How he punishes the officers asd especially Count Niclio, the eldest of the trio; how Vera refuses to accept their patrimony or even to live with Nicho as his wife after the Czar compels him to marry her; how she later shows her reoie love and wins his undying affection, make a thrilling taiQ of “At the Mercy of Men” in these days of topsy-turvy adjustment, political and social. A timely phutodramrt, with Alice Brady’s delineation of the unfortunate heroine reveuling this actress at Ler best. A splendid supporting programme include a Hallrooiu comedy “Wild, Wild Women,” chapter seven ol “The Blue Fox” serial, a Canadian scenic and Selznick news.

FRIDAY NIGHT. “TIIE MAGIC CUP.” Playgoers who craw the wholesome and optimistic rather than the sensational and morbid, will have a rare

treat served them at the Lyric Pictures, when Constance Binney’s latest Healart picture is shown for the first time on Friday next. The story deals with the adventures of a little working girl who is lifted from the scullery of a great Mew Fork hotel to a life of luxury in a wonderful Long Island country place by a gang of crooks' who have learned from a pawn-shop keeper, that the girl owns a rare old silver goblet which bears the crest of a distinguished family of Irish nobility. The girl doesn’t know much about her ancestry, but her mother had told her that the goblet was a family heirloom; the [crooks pretend to represent this family • and for a time the girl is very happy with her supposed grandfather. Then the real grandfather appears, arid claims not only the cup but the gisl. and the fake jewel scheme of the crooks, to which the girl was to be an unconscious assistant, is foiled. Miss Binney is supported in this picture by a capable cast which includes Vincent Coleman, Blanche Craig, Cecil Owen. William H. Strauss, Charles Musset, .7, H. Giirnour and Malcolm Bradley. John S. Bobc-rtson directed, with Eoy Overbaugh at the camera. The play is by E. Llovd Sheldon.