HIPPODROME

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 23, 19 April 1927, Page 12

HIPPODROME

“THE WILD BULL’S LAIR” The multitude of picture patrons who within the last year have become ardent admirers of the wholesome breeziness and dynamic personality of Fred Thomson will be delighted in his latest production, released by Master Pictures, which is now showing at the Hippodrome Theatre. “The Wild Bull’s Lair” is the title of the most recent Thomson vehicle; and, like many others which have made this young star nationally famous almost overnight, it is from the pen of Marion Jackson. It is well cast throughout, and gives Silver King, Fred’s wonder horse, a chance to go through every pace in his large repertoire, both physical and histrionic. The story of “The Wild Bull’s Lair” differs materially from the average western. It is never banal, and sweeps on to a stirring climax; perhaps the most unusual ever screened. With Fred, as Dan Allen, in a death struggle with the “wild bull”—a hand-to-horn contest, in which the hero is tossed in the air, only to eventually overcome the big animal—the suspense of the fate of Eleanor Harbison and her father, is splendidly held until the very last.

Eagle Eye, a renegade Indian, who hates the whites, is one of the motivating impulses of the picture. His plan to breed a vicious and devastating strain by crossing old Harbison’s wild bull with the bison blood is woven skilfully into the legends of the supernatural influences at work on “The Wild Bull’s Lair.” The result is a picture distinctly “different,” and very much worth while, without any loss of fast action and comedy.