MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 170, 8 October 1927, Page 15

MAJESTIC

“IS ZAT SO?”

“It’s a tonic, but no pink pill tonic—good rough stuff that picks you up and shakes you well, and sweeps through the brain like a cooling breeze!”

A tonic aptly describes “Is Zatj So?” one of the] most amusing] comedy - farces i that the Majestic] has screened for some time. A large audience! last night watch-] ed with delight' the adventurous : career of “Chick the Champ”; (George O’Brien) and Edmund Lowe, his enterprising personal mi

It does not always follow that a stage success means a hit on the films. Yet in the case of “Is Zat So?” it certainly does. In some respects the pictorial version is even an improvement on the legitimate production. The stage, after all, is limited in scope. The eye of the camera, on the other hand, is all-seeing.

Gum-chewing, slang-swinging, goodnatured pugs. Chick’s manager determined to combine the hefty left of his Protege with his own brains, and, forsooth, land the mboth on Fifth Avenue. He certainly did it. Not before, however, the audience is convulsed with laughter. “Is Zat So?” is the best tonic for the blues available in Auckland this week. The picture should not be missed. All will feel better for having seen it. Tile role of Chick is something entirely new for George O’Brien. A boxer with a single track mind. Brawn was there in abundance, but the cleanlimbed young pug was sadly deficient in brain. That is where his manager came in. A notable characterisation was that of Edmund Lowe, who, peered at the world through horn-rimmed glasses, and when not chewing, carefully placed the gum under the lapel of his coat.

Excellent work, too, was that of Douglas Fairbanks, Junr., cast as a drunken young man about town, whose association with the Quixotic pugilists resulted in an entirely new outlook on life. “John L. Barleycorn knocked out more men than ever did John L. Sullivan!” said Chick’s manager, as he removed the decanter, and placed it well out of reach.

The youthful Fairbanks gives more indication of promise in “Is Zat So?” than in any picture in which the actor has yet appeared. Some of his burlesque, particularly in the early scenes, is distinctly clever. London’s welcome to the Duke and Duchess of York on their return from the Empire tour, is one of the interesting items in the Pathe budget. Though assuredly wet, the ardour of the Londoners was not dampened by the rain. Even a glimpse is caught of ‘rincess Elizabeth in the arms of her