MURDER AND MUSIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 70, 14 June 1927, Page 15

MURDER AND MUSIC

Imagine the situation in which a young man sits down at a piano and remains there all night composing a love ballad to his sweetheart —not knowing that in a room less than ten feet away lies the body of a friend ■who has been murdered! That's one of the punch situations contained in Paramount’s production, “New York.” Ricardo Cortez is the musician; Lois Wilson, his fiancee; and Estelle Taylor the victim. Briefly, the story is that of four Bowery boys who have evinced a “gang spirit” since childhood. All four attain matu.ity and branch out to make their own way in the w r orld. One becomes u politician, two join a jazz hand and the fourth develops into a Professional mob leader. Then, a shadow in the form of a woman come** between them. Miss Taylor finds it hard to hide her love lor Cortez, but ms mind is enraptured by a society belle. Cortez spurning her, she marries William Powell so that she may stay near his friend. One night the girl determines to make a last attempt to win Cortez. She koes to his apartment and telephones her husband. Powell arrives there hrst and in a jealous tirade shoots her ■ He places the body in it neighbouring a^d —. Sounds thrilling, doesn't