THE STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 60, 2 June 1927, Page 15

THE STRAND

“THE BIRTH OF A FLOWER” One of the most staggering tricks of the Indian fakirs has been to cause plants to grow and blossom before the eyes of onlookers. That is accomplished by clever duplication of Nature’s efforts, but in “The Birth of a Flower," which concludes its season at the Strand Theatre to-night, verbally explained by Mr. Clarke Irvine, he shows real buds in motion as they swell, burst into bloom, make love, then go to seed and die—and without any trickery—the whole process being the result of the slow-motion camera, invented by A. C. Pillsbury. It discloses in an amazing manner" the innermost secrets of Nature and shows several days' growth of flowers in only a few seconds on the screen. “The beauty of the picture is its genuineness,” stated an Auckland headmaster after viewing this astonishing film, “and I do not hesitate to recommend it to every parent in Auckland for children to see; it is indeed a marvellous lesson in botany, and readily understandable.” The picture is laid in the exquisitely beautiful Yosemite Valley, California, and is a complete entertainment in itself with its gorgeous scenery, rivers, waterfalls, and verdure, with light comedy in the winter scenes with snowball battles and .so on, to say nothing of the bird and animal features which are highly interesting to the adult as well as the kiddies. Mr. Irvine, who brought the picture, here, will finish his local tour and then will continue around the world.