MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 331, 17 April 1928, Page 15

MAJESTIC

LON CHANEY AT HIS BEST The most outstanding programme screened in any Auckland theatre for some months is now being presented at the Majestic Theatre, with "London After Midnight,” starring the “king of character roles,” Lon Chaney, as the chief picture. Lon Chaney plays a Scotland Yard detective, detailed to ferret out a strange plot cloaked behind the shadows of a haunted English manor house. A student of hypnotism and other modern sciences, he pits this strange art against the grim spectres and other superstitious beliefs; and solves a mystery that, when the supernatural is explained away, is a very remarkable scientific exposition of the craft of the modern investigator of crime. It is the last word in detective stories.

As the detective, assuming strange disguises and working a strange hypnotic spell as a scientific aid to detection, Chaney has a role that keeps the audience in breathless suspense until the amazing solution at the close of the picture. Marceline Day makes a very charming heroine, and Conrad Nagel a romantic lover for her, while Henry B. Walthall does a splendid bit of character acting as “Sir ' James,” about whom the plot revolves. A feature on the supporting programme is “Britain Mourns the Late Earl Haig,’ ’the last sad tribute to the great soldier who brought us to victory. There is also a very Interesting Majestic Magazine, with the latest topical budgets and world’s news, a beautiful New Zealand scenic of the “Huka Falls.” depicted all their picturesque and native beauty, and a hilarious comedy, “Commencement Day,” with that merry little band of laughter-makers, “Our Gang.” A popular stage interlude is presented by Mr. Fred Baker, the wellknown baritone, who renders “Bedouin Love Song” and “My Blue Heaven.” The Majestic Orchestra, under the baton of Mr. J. Whiteford-Waugh, their popular conductor, renders a delightful • musical programme. and specially features “Semiramide” (Rossini) and the “Slavonic Rhapsody,” in addition to the incidental music*.