GRAND THEATRE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 361, 24 October 1932, Page 3

GRAND THEATRE

TO-NIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE PROGRAMME. Bill Boyd will appear on the screen of the Grand Theatre to-night in "The Big Gamble," the story of a man who gambles with death and loses, only to realise that he wants to live. In this tense modern drama of love dawning under the shadow of death, RKO Pathe has given Boyd what is said to he the greatest vehicle of his entire career. Not even in "The Volga Boatman," the picture that raised him to stardom, did he have such opportunities for a moving, powerful portrayal as are afforded him in "The Big Gamble," it is declared. A new angle of mother love is strikingly revealed in the drama, "Wicked," which opens at the Grand Theatre to-night, with Elissa Landi in the starring role. Miss Landi is seen in the role of a young wife, who on her honeymoon finds her hopes and happiness go on the rocks when she learns that her husband is" a notorious bank robber. She sees him di'e from a pursuing detective's bullet and later finds herself in prison convicted of being his accomplice. The state grants her a short reprieve so her baby may be born beyond prison walls, and then takes it from her. Her efforts to regain her child later make for some of the finest screen drama we have ever seen, and is higblighted by the marvellous emotional work of this brilliant young actress. Victor McLaglen, in the leading male role, deserves unending praise for his intelligent handling of a difiicult part, as does Una Merkel, Allan Dinehart and Theodore Von Eltz.