“WHAT PRICE GLORY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 62, 4 June 1927, Page 19

“WHAT PRICE GLORY”

MAJESTIC AND STRAND Here is the leviathan of pictures—the film that has taken England and America by storm. It has been called the greatest comedy ever produced, as well as a vivid dramatic masterpiece. “What Price Glory” is the story of the comedy, the drama, the tragedy, the harshness, the cruelty and the futility of the war as it was lived by the men—and the women—who fought it. It isn’t overplayed, and it isn’t theatrical. Strangely enough, comedy forms the greater part of this masterful yarn of the war—rich, uproarish, screaming comedy. But the drama and tragedy is there, drama that thrills and tragedy that grips. The battle scenes are some of the greatest at which a camera has ever clicked, either in the real or make-believe. That “big push,” the streaming over the top, the confusion, the terror, the spitting machineguns, the roaring, tearing, thundering barrages, are enough to make any exparticipant want to dive for the nearest shell hole.

The story, of course, revolves around those two hard-boiled, swearing leathernecks—Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt —and their eternal clash over the feminine spoils of war. Victor McLaglen is the battered-nosed, foul-mouthed, hardened captain, and Edmund Lowe is the tough sergeant. Dolores del Rio is the charming, chic, detectable Cliarmaine, who reminds you 36 much of the girl you left behind—over there.

The excellent supporting: programme includes the latest budgets, cartoon, and a delightful entertainment of mirth and melody by Jack Lumsdaine. The orchestras at both theatres render a special musical programme in addition to the overtures, “Idyll au Moulin.” at the Majestic, and “Slavonic Rhapsody’’ at the Strand.