MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 135, 29 August 1927, Page 15

MAJESTIC

VARIED PROGRAMME Brightness from the first selection by the Majestic’s new orchestra to the last scene of the picture characterises the programme at the Majestic this week. The supporting programme is excellent. Of particular interest to New Zealanders will be the scenic of the pearl of the Pacific, “Samoa,” presented by the New Zealand Government Publicity Department. That cinema photography in New Zealand is progressing by leaps and bounds is fully shown by the wonderful scenes of whitebait fishing in the South Island, gold dredging at Hokitika, and scenes of races at Trentham. A very unusual and interesting scene shown in the Eve’s Review is “A Play in the Making,” and a peep into the dressing-rooms. A very beautiful scenic is “Around About Overdorey.” This shows some of the wonderful scenery for which Wales is famed. Then for the special benefit of the kiddies—and the grown-ups, too — there is a screamingly funny juvenile comedy, “Funny Face.” This stars that fascinating little kiddy, “Big Boy.” Miss Etta Field is always a welcome artist, and sings two songs of widely different character bLit none the less beautiful for their difference. These are “Homing” (Del Reigo) and “St. Nicholas Day in the Morning” (Easthope Martin). The Majestic’s New Orchestra, which is now famed for its musical programmes, plays, under the direction of Mr. John WbitefordWaugh, an array of musical gems both classical and popular. These are superbly rendered throughout the whole programme, which includes “Slavish Rhapsody” (Friedmann), “In a Kentish Garden” (Rawlinson), "Flight of the Bumble Bee” (Rimsky Korsakoff). “Cavatina” (Raff), and “None But the Lonely Heart” (Tchaikovsky) . It is a far cry from such plays as “Ben Hur” and “Scaramouche” to Ramon Novarro's latest characterisation. One is the type of mighty drama in which physical action rules —the other no less mighty—but is based on mental rather than physical forces. This picture is “Lovers?”, * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s gripping new story of modern Spain, which is being shown on the screen at the Majestic, a vivid drama in which the villain is an army —an army of the whispering tongues of slander. Ramon Novarro plays the part of a young playwright, innocently involved through gossip that he is unable to trace or combat, in a scandal with the wife of his best friend. It is a dramatic situation, as powerful as though it required armies to portray, and is one of the most thrilling pictures seen on the screen. Alice Terry is seen in the leading feminine role. Her beauty is secondary only to a wonderful gift of acting, and the difficult part of the slandered wife is a new triumph for the heroine of “Mare Nostrum” and “The Magician.” John M. Stahl directed the new production, which has been staged on an elaborate scale at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio, and is a screen adaptation of “The World and His Wife,” the famous stage play by Charles F. Nirdlinger. An elaborate reproduction of a Spanish railway station, several miles of modern Spanish streets and a public square in Madrid are among the* lavish details included in “Lovers?”