MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 159, 26 September 1927, Page 15

MAJESTIC

1 LON CHANEY AS “MR. WU” Occasionally a picture comes along the theme of which is away from the’ * usual beaten track of motion picture

stories, and leaves one talkins' ' about it, long after others have been forgotten. “Mr. Wu,” starring the famous Lon Chaney, is one of these pictures. It leaves a lasting impression on everyone who sees it. Twenty-five girls, charming examples of Oriental femininity, in their gaudy brocades and silks, appear in the garden scenes in Lon Chaney’s new starring vehicle, “Mr. Wu.” And—with one exception—not one of them can speak the Chinese language. This is what the Oriental education has done for the third generation of overseas Chinese. The new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, adapted from the Oriental mystery novel by Louise Jordan M'lln, is a dramatic story of China, in which Chaney plays “Wu,” the sinister mandarin, working out a strange: revenge on an English family, and Renee Adoree, in a make-up almost as outre as his own, plays his daughter. The cast includes Louise Dresser, Gertrude Olmsted, Holmes Herbert, Claude King and others of note. Will Nigh,, director of “The Fires Brigade,” directed the new production. The picture is introduced by Jack Lumsdaine, who has; delighted Auckland audiences with his rendering of popular songs and his own delightful compositions. He; is appearing at the Majestic for his final week, prior to his departure for his home town —Sydney. Mr. Lumsdaine renders, in a unique and beautiful setting, one of his own compositions, “South of Shanghai,” as well as other popular numbers. Mr. Whiteford-Waugh’s New Majestic Orchestra renders a delightful musical programme. Lizst’s “Second Hungarian Rhapsody” is mangnilicently rendered, and was greatly appreciated by the enthusiastic audiences which crowded the theatre both on Friday and Saturday. Other musical gems are “Suite Oriental,” Popy; “Chanson Indoue,” Korsakoff; “Orientale,” Cui; “Chinese Festival,” Hegner; “Three Arabian Dances,” Ring; and “Serenade,” Drigo. The supporting pictorial programme contains the Majestic News, giving the latest world events; “Eve’s Review,” with its unusual scenes of the Homeland, including shipbreakers at work at Blyth, Northumberland; a London night club show, and a very beautiful scenic, “Up the River Coquet,” Northumberland, and a screamingly funny juvenile comedy, “Grandpa’s Boy.”