MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 249, 11 January 1928, Page 13

MAJESTIC

NEW PROGRAMME ON FRIDAY “Paid to Love,” the amusing comedydrama with Virginia Valli’ and George O’Brien, which is being presented as the chief pictorial attraction at the Majestic Theatre, will be screened for two more nights at that theatre. The musical programme presented this week by the Majestic Orchestra, under Mr. Whiteford-Waugh, is up to that conductor’s usual very high standard. Auber’s “Massionellio*’ is specially featured as the overture. A special stage attraction is the appearance of the Majestic String Quartet, which renders a selection of popular airs. • A Majestic Magazine, an Eve’s Review, a hilarious Fox comedy, “Twenty Legs Under the Sea,” and an interesting scenic conclude a notable evening’s entertainment. From a circus marvel—Alonzo the Armless—to a Russian peasant. This is the amazing leap in characterisation of Lon Chaney, who plays the part of Sergei, the brutish peasant in “Mockery,” which will be shown at the Majestic Theatre on Friday. He went from '“The Unknown,” in which he played the circus freak, directly into a role so amazingly different that it is difficult indeed to believe that the same man did both. Chaney’s uncanny ability at disguises makes almost anything he does plausible, but, while his disguise in the present picture is one of the strangest he has ever essayed, the real illusion of it all is in the delicate artistry by which he portrays the complicated character —a peasant, fruit of generations of oppression, swept into the revolt to become a dominant, dangerous power, and then, through the gentle touch of love, rendered harmless to his enemies —almost a saint. The new play portrays Chaney as Sergei, a strange, brutish creature, thrust against his will into the red struggle, where he becomes enmeshed in an astounding plot of revolution and intrigue. Barbara Bedford is a charming heroine as Tatiana, the woman for whom in the end he sacrifices his life in a climax that grips the very heart, and Ricardo Cortez, as the young officer, Dimitri, has a romantic role that he plays; with all his consummate skill. A special musical programme will be presented by Mr. Whiteford-Waugh and his Majestic Orchestra. Included in the supporting programme will be the usual Majestic News, and Eve’s Review, a hilarious comedy and a beautiful scenic. Director Ray Enwright and his company of Warner Brothers’ players have returned from Arizona, where they were engaged in filming exteriors of “Tracked by the Police.” Bob Perry has an important character part in this production, starring Rin-Tin-Tin.