PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 345, 4 May 1928, Page 15

PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

BIG DOUBLE BILL Starting with a frolicksome and slightly naughty comedy, the big double bill at the Princess and Tivoli Theatres, shown for the first time last evening, leads up to an unusual drama based on a novel by Harold Bell Wright, “The Shepherd of the Hills.” It is a remarkably well-balancel programme with all the elements, not forgetting music, of an evening’s firstrate entertainment. “Pop,” who had in some miraculous way fathered a charming daughter, and “Speed,” who appreciated the charm, were both in disgrace in a family which had outgrown the shop counter luncheon business and they yielded to the lure of friends who ‘‘knew of a place.” The police were also “in the know,” and when the entertainment at this “place” was in full swing (the programme included “Salome and the Seven Veils”) they also asked to be admitted. However the “please enter” sign was not hung out for the stalwarts of the law and they had to splinter the doors. In the excitement of the raid someone doused the light and Pop and Speed justified their names and got out. They climbed through the first window in their haste and then discovered their plight, and incidentally the name of the picture, which is “Ladies’ Night in a Turkish Bath.” Experience gradually forced them to believe that it was not exactly the time to try the mixed bathing idea, and what with steam baths and thermal springs and reducing ladies in reduced costumes, they were led a merry dance. To make things worse they found the other parts of the family, including the charming daughter, in the place. [Dorothy Mackaill is the daughter, charming both in and out of the Turkish bath, and Jack

Mulh a 1 1 is the handsome hero who with the help of a delightful roughneck friend, has the last laugh. ' Out among the simple folk of the 4 Ozark mountains, ' the story of “The Shepherd of the ■1 Hills” is set, and Harold Bell Wright J tells a simple but

gripping story of the attempt of a

broken old man to right the wrong he had done. That is the theme of the tale, but it contains ever so much more. Romance among the hills, the humour of the vigorous country life, the trials of drought, the exploits of the village strong man, who is also a villain, make a vivid picture held together by the dramatic thread. Alec B. Francis is the mysterious “shepherd” who wanders over the hills to the home of “Old Matt” (Will Walling), and becomes the wise man and miracle-worker of the place. John Boles is the tall and comely “Young Matt” of the engineering genius, and Molly O’Day makes a vivacious “Sammy.’ Matthew Betz as Walsh Gibbs is the broad-shouldered bully, and Edythe Chapman plays “Aunt Molly.” A special musical score for the picture has been arranged by Mr. Charles Aves, late musical director of the Shaftesbury Pavilion, London. Among the numbers played at the Princess are “Yale Blues” (Vivian Ellis), Harvest Suite” (Haydn Wood), “Woodland Sketches” (E. Macdowell), “Colum-

bine” (Wallace Smith). overture. “Jeanne d’Arc” (G. Verdi), “Serenade and Pierrette” (C. Chaminade), overture, “The Black Monk” (R. Schlepegrell), “Canzonetta” (B. Godard), rustic suite, “In Downland” (T. J. Hewitt), overture, “Fair Maid of Perth” (J. Widdel); suite, “The Butterfly and the Rose” (Paul Andre) and “Melody” (Kreisler-Dawes).