“THE ROUGH RIDERS”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 224, 10 December 1927, Page 18 (Supplement)

“THE ROUGH RIDERS”

BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL Fiercely, tigerishly, row upon row of steel-jawed rough riders fling themselves through the hot high grass in the blazing open plain before San Juan Hill. Death creeps with them through the jungle and decimates their ranks. Bullets whine and sting with lightning fury. But nothing halts their rush.

The rough riders have already taken Kettle Hill, taken it almost with their bare hands at a vicious cost of life, launching themselves directly into a concentrated fire which it seems no human life could withstand. And now they are rushing up the steep slopes of Hell itself with the joyous laugh of madmen in the harsh ecstasy of battle. This is what recently transpired less than 30 miles from the heart of San Antonio where Paramount’s film troops re-enacted the glory and tragedy of San Juan Hill in their picturisation of “The Rough Riders.”

The scene was identical with the famous Cuban battleground. Tall, feathered palms crowned the hillcrests where white-clad straw-hatted Spanish soldiery stubbornly defended their position. Cannons thundered and rifles cracked in the dissonance of hatred. As the rough riders leaped the trenches that lay before the blockhouses on the hill there was a hand-to-hand clash, and the enemy retreated, maintaining a heavy firing. Victor Fleming, director of the battle pageant, bellowed orders through his megaphone, sending the lines of fighters on, a detachment of rough riders here, a troop of the ninth infantry there. There you have but one of the many highlights that make Paramount “The Rough Riders” really great. Noah Beery, Charles Farrell, George Bancroft, Mary Astor, Charles Emmett Mack and Frank Hopper are featured.

One of the best of the Hal Roachproduced Charlie Chase comedies, “The Sting of Stings,” is two reel 3 in length and bordering on an “Our Gang” in merit. A bunch of kids are introduced, Chase and Edna Marian carrying them to a carnival, where all sorts of hilarious gags are jammed in in rapid succession. The picture shows originality, plenty of action and robust laugh-makers galore. It will help any bill.