PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 259, 23 January 1928, Page 13

PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

“HINEMOA” “Hinemoa,” a New Zealand film production of a Maori legend, and acted entirely by Maoris, is attracting crowded houses to the Princess and Tivoli Theatres. The legend, which is a simple tribal story of love and hate, has been reacted in the original locations of Lake Rotdfua and in the sinister and fireswept volcanic areas with their hot springs, geysers, choking vapours of sulphur and gushing wells of boiling mud. which are New Zealand’s eerie heritage. Hinemoa was a princess of the Arawa tribe, who fell in love with Tutanekai, prince of the Ngati tribe, and sought him by swimming across the

Rotoruw Lake with its dangerous eddies and currents. The scenic values are exceptional, and the Maoris prove themselves very fine actors, while the photography is of the finest. “Hinemoa” is played by a very beautiful Maori maid, and “Tutanekai” is a handsome and muscular giant. The film was directed and photographed by Gustav Pauli. The star-director combination- which made that highly popular picture, “The Old Soak,” is together again in “Alias the Deacon,’ the second feature ttraction at the Princess and Tivoli. Jean Hersholt, character star of a score of notable recent pictures, plays the character in the picture from which the name is taken, and Edward Sloman, director of “His People,” “Butterflies in the Rain” and other pictures, handled the megaphone. The picture is based on the stage play of the same name by John B. Hymer, and was adapted to the screen by Charles Kenyon. A large group of well-known film players is seen in the supporting cast.