PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 14

PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

“GLENISTER OF THE MOUNTED” The forest is afire! A lurid glare, growing rapidly in intensity, turns black night into the light of day. Great rolling tongues of flames leap from tree to tree with incredible swiftness. The horses have scented the odour of pine smoke, and move uneasily in the enclosure. Then the ruddy advanceguard of the fire demon appears deep in the forest. Panic seies the animals; terror-stricken, they free themselves and dash off before the oncoming peril. Sergeant Richard Glenister, of the Royal North-west Mounted Police, stirs in his sleep. A tree crashed a hundred yards away, and in an instant he is awake. The very heaveps seem to be on fire, and the air is charged with pungent smoke, while towering pines ignite to form gigantic blazing torches. In an instant Glenister grasps the situation. He wakens his prisoners, a man and a young girl under arrest for murder, and, putting

them on parole, throws off their handcuffs. Such is a scene from a remarkable picture entitled “Glenister of the Mounted,” a story of the famous R.N.W.M.P. of Canada, heading this week’s film programme at the Princess and Tivoli Theatres. Rarely, if ever, has a more awe-inspiring spectacle of a bush fire been filmed, and it is said that the producers of the picture had some narrow escapes in its making. Vivid and swift-moving from the title scene until the end. the story tells of Glenister’s (Lefty Flynn) search for the murderers of Silas Partridge, and ; how he finds them near the Canadian border. Arresting them both —a young man and his pretty sister—Glenister is torn between duty on the one hand and his love for Betty Danrock (Bess Flowers), as the alternative. He masters his emotions, carries out his duty, saves his prisoners from the terror of the forest fire, and finally does some smart detective work, and. as revealed in the denoument of an ingenious plot, is able to establish the innocence of the brother and sister. The picture is outstanding in its magnificent photography, its manly appeal, and its unusual plot. Lefty Flynn has made a triumphant return to Auckland, and he makes an excellent Irish sergeant. In support of the big picture are a Gazette and a Hamilton comedy. The vaudeville section at the Princess consisted of acrobatic displays by Wilson and Miller; steel guitar numbers by the Tahitian Trio; and the Gilda Hula Impersonator, a remarkably clever exhibition of the famous dance by an equally clever fellow disguised as a be-matted and much ornamented native girl. Walter Vernon, the ventriloquist, with his dolls Sandy and Ginger, was well received. The Tivoli picture programme has the addition of “The Isle of Doubt.” The popular Asquiths, recently from Stoll’s Theatre, London, were again enthusiastically applauded in their delightful song and novelty numbers, “I’m Knee-deep in Daisies” was particularly meritorious, and drew the appreciation the rendering of the song deserved.