STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 213, 28 November 1927, Page 15

STRAND

TWO FEATURE FILMS Like a chapter from real life rather than a combination of fiction and fact, “After Midnight,” a story of modern life, is attracting unusual attention at the Strand Theatre this week. Norma Shearer has one of the best roles of her career as Mary, the Cigarette Girl. The Cigarette Girl is one of two sisters, both of whom earn their living during the hours in which most people are asleep. Maizie, the other sister, being a dancer in the Four Hundred Cabaret where Mary sells her “smokes.” Mary is steady and saving. Maizie is flighty and careless. Again Madge Bellamy, the flapper star of “Sandy” and “Summer Bachelors,” scores a triumph. This time in an entirely different role, that of a demure and lovely Irish lassie in “Colleen.” The story of “Colleen” deals with an impoverished Irish lord, his son, played by Charles Morton, and their wealthy neighbours, the O’Flynns, the father played by J. Farrell Macdonald and the daughter by Miss Bellamy. There is a great deal of humour in this picture in the scenes between the two irrascible fathers of the young people and Miss Bellamy’s and Mr. Morton’s love making under difficulties. “Colleen” is the name of the racehorse with which the Kelleys expect to recoup their fortunes in America, where they come, followed by the O'Flynns, who follow them to enter their own horse against ‘Colleen” after a quarrel between the two families. There is action, humour, a very sweet and unusual love story and a plot that is novel and entertaining in this delightful entertainment. Interesting portions of the programme include an Aesop liable, cartoon, “Captain Kidd,” and recent events from abroad contained in the Strand Magazine. A bright musical programme is rendered by the Strand Symphony Orchestra, under Eve Bentley. As the overture, the orchestra renders a potpourri of musical gems from Gilbert and Sullivan operas.