PRINCE EDWARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 122, 13 August 1927, Page 14

PRINCE EDWARD

“DEVIL’S ISLAND” Off the coast of French Guiana, in South America, is Devil's Island, the French penal colony, perhaps the least known land in all the civilised w r orld to-day. Here is the prison home of France’s life prisoners, dregs of the earth, who are doomed to a living death on this island, from which there is no escape. Since the celebrated conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus of high treason in 1595, Devil’s Island, then converted into a prison settlement, has been the centre of much discussion throughout the world. Pressure brought to bear in the Dreyfus case, subsequent to his own commitment, indicated that his conviction was the result of religious persecution, and he was released within a few years. Devil’s Island, however, has always remained in the news. Only reeently rrance shipped 340 men to the island,

the first group of convicts to be sent there in two years. Interest in this unique settlement was again revived, and newspapers and magazines devoted many pages to news stories of this little known land. Now Master Pict u r e s introduces what it is expected will prove a dis-

tinct' novelty in screen dramas in its production of the Leah Baird story, “Devil’s Island,” starring Pauline

Frederick. which is now being shown a,t the Prince Edward Theatre. This production, which was recently completed under the direction of Frank O’Connor, is the first motion picture to use Devil’s Island for its background. The cast includes Richard Tucker. John Miljan. George Lewis, Harry Nortlirup and Marion Nixon.