“MICHAEL STROGOFF”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 45, 16 May 1927, Page 13

“MICHAEL STROGOFF”

BOX PLANS OPEN The box plan opened at the Regent Theatre to-day for the mighty screen epic, “Michael Strogoff,” the Universal film-de-France, which opens at “the Theatre Magnificent” on Friday next. That tremendous interest is already manifest in this magnificent production is shown by the big demand being made already for seats. The boundless scenic and spectacular possibilities of the screen compared to the material and physical limitations of the theatrical stage were never, perhaps, more forcefully contrasted than in this adaptation of Jules Verne’s famous melodrama. To quote a famous Paris cinema reviewer:—“Meagre decorations of the theatre, what are you ooenpared to the ball at the Imperial Court of the Czar; the invasion of the Tartars, the camp of the Grand Khan, the sensuous dancing of the bayaderes in the tent of Feofar Kahn, the assault by the countless horde of barbaric tribesmen on the Siberian city of Irkutsk, encircled by a burning sheet of naptha floating on the surface of the River Angara? What are the limited number of supers in the stage presentations of years gone by compared to the thousands upon thousands of Russian soldiers who defend with their last breath the city of Tomsk against more thousands of fierce Tartar cavalry?” What, indeed? Add to this magnificence and magnitude the further fact that the principal scenes are in full colour, that the acting of the principals, including Ivan Moskine, Europe’s idol of the screen, in the title role, is unsurpassed. Certainly no lover of the famous old book will hesitate to say that in the coming production he, or she. for the first time, has an adequate conception of the romance, adventures and perils of the “Courier of the Czar.” The film will be preceded by a special atmospheric prologue identical with that produced at the world-premiere in Albert Hall, London, and featuring Miss Valma Leich, premier danseuse. in the original London presentation, supported by a cast including the Grand Khan. Tartar soldiers, gnd whirling Bayaderes (dancers). A special musical accompaniment for both prologue and picture has been arranged by Maurice Guttridge for the Regent’s Oneratic Orchestra.