PRINCESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 196, 8 November 1927, Page 14

PRINCESS

“HELD BY THE LAW”

Two men, life-long friends, are in a room alone. One is murdered by a mysterious shot. A smoking revolver is found on the floor. The other man is unable to say where the shot came from. Circumstantial evidence convicts him of the murder and he is sentenced to die, an innocent man. That is the whirlwind start of the sensational plot of “Held by the Law,” the murder-mystery picture now thrilling patrons of the Princess Theatre. Last-minute efforts of his friends and relatives to discover proof of his innocence while the condemned man waits his end in the death cell works the plot to fever heat and the climax, when it comes, is as unexpected as it is dramatic. The large cast does exceptional work throughout. Marguerite de la Motte and Johnnie Walker play the leading roles. Ralph Lewis is splendid as the innocent man caught in the net of circumstantial evidence, Robert Ober, E. H. Ratcliffe, Fred Kelsey, Maud Wayne and others play prominent supporting roles.

Ramon Novarro, who had to become an expert swordsman before he could play the- stellar roles in “Scaramouch e” and “1 overs?” and who learned to drive a four-liorse team attached to a chariot, so that he could adequately fill the title role of “Ben Hur,” is now called upon to master the trick of manipulation of playing cards. This is in order to enact the starring role in “Romance,” a screen version of Joseph Conrad’s novel.