MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 123, 15 August 1927, Page 15

MAJESTIC

BIG COMEDY PROGRAMME A most successful laughter campaign is being carried out at the Majestic this week. The whole programme is bright and varied with not one dull moment. Each film is different and yet each one is a sparkling attraction. “Laughter makes good blood” is a medical truism, and for mental health a poet says “gaiety is the soul’s health, sadness is its poison.” Therefore, to achieve a healthy body and a healthy mind one must laugh. “One laugh is worth a hundred groans,” says Charles Lamb. There are certainly no groans at the Majestic this week. It is just one long laugh. The Lupino Lane comedy is this brilliant comedian’s best yet. It not only has all sorts of funny gags and stunts, but there is also really clever comedy acting. An excellent scenic of Wellington is of particular interest, while a film novelty of the London Piccadilly Hotel and its Midnight Follies show is a triumph of skill and sparkle. Vieing with the big picture for honours is the musical programme by the Majestic New Orchestra. What a wonderful musical programme! It would be impossible to be depressed or gloomy while the orchestra plays such spirited happy music in such a masterly fashion. A popular item which brings the house down is the playing of popular melodies and Brahm’s “Hungarian Dance, No. 6” from the stage, in a setting that is a triumph of colour lighting. The xylophone solo by Mr. Alec. Ridgway, his professional name is Reno, is a marvel of skill and artistic interpretation. A prize of £1 is is offered to anyone who cah guess the names of the popular airs in the musical switch. A British scenic and a fine topical film of the world’s latest news complete the supporting programme. “Tin Hats” is rightly called “this year’s laughter sensation.” Introducing characters in a “movie” has been » director’s problem down through the motion picture ages. Most directors have been content to use an introductory title, and then use the name of the player underneath. Ernst Lutitsch has introduced his characters with the aid of place cards at a dinner table; von Stroheim in one film used spoken titles in which one player called the other by name. In filming “Tin Hats,” the MetroGold wyn-Mayer picture, now being shown at the Majestic Theatre, Director Edward Sedgwick conceived probably the simplest, yet one of the most unusual methods for introduction ever used It is a revelation in simplicity. In fact, it adds to, rather than detracts from the effectiveness of the picture. The principal roles in “Tin Hats,” a comedy-drama of the army of occupation in Germany are played by Conrad Nagel, Claire Windsor, George Cooper, Bert Roach and Tom O’Brien.