PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 115, 5 August 1927, Page 15

PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

THRILLS FROM EAST AND WEST Thrills, Oriental and occidental, help to make the big new programme at the Princess and Tivoli Theatres a most entertaining one. Both the big pictures on the bill have intriguing names and their substance is more intriguing still. “The Lady of the Harem” appears in the gorgeous settings of Caliph’s palaces, ancient walled cities, and purple nights. This is the screen producer’s idea of the famous poem and play, “Hassan,” by James Elroy Flecker, and though it does not tally in every particular with the imagination of the original, it is fine to look upon. “Butterflies in the Rain,” the star attraction, is a modern play complete with a problem, perhaps the problem of existence. It is not a heart-rending play, but a happy comedy-drama moving forward easily on the castors of humour, and unfolding the romance of a lady whose ancestors “came over” with William the Conqueror,” and a descendant of a Cornish miner who had made millions. Special mention must be made of the delightful prologues to each picture. These colourful things are danced by sprites, and rarely is one given the chance to see a more accomplished children’s ballet. In the “BLitterflies

in the Rain” prologue, they flit lightly as thistledown, and gaudily as humming birds, making a fascinating little scene. The dances form a pleasant break in the moving pictures, and in a programme containing pictures with such widely different themes, the idea is an excellent one. The splendours of “Chu Chin Chow” and “Cairo” pale slightly before the settings of “The Lady of the Harem.” This is a drama of the East, magnificently produced on the scale which defies the sanctity of American dollars. It is a Paramount picture, and all the tricks of the trade, the majestic illusion, which this famous studio has learnt in one hundred “spectacles” is embodied in the film. The tale is of true but illicit love and of the fiendish cruelty of sultans. James T. O’Donohoe brought ' the story to the screen. The role of the hero is taken by William Collier, jun., and other featured players are Ernest Torrence, Greta Nissen and Louise Fazenda. That most accomplished comedienne Laura la Plante dashes merrily through "Butterflies in the Rain,” and carries James Kirkwood, the modest hero, completely off his feet. She is a frequenter of London night clubs and he the soul of a puritan. All sorts of things happen. The members of the supporting cast include Dorothy Gumming, Robert Ober. Dorothy Stokes, Edwards Dayis, Clarence Thompson and Ruby Lafayette.