STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 385, 20 June 1928, Page 14

STRAND

“MOTHER MACHREE” “Mother Machree,” the screen version of the world-famous song, is now nearing the completion of its second week of screening. During the past week many thousands of Auckland picturegoers have been attracted to the Strand Theatre, and have left at the conclusion of the screening delighted and very enthusiastic in- their praise for this masterpiece. Miss Bennett, who won international fame by her unforgettable performance in “Stella Dallas,” brings to this sweetest of Irish stories a broad human sympathy and a full complement of mother love drawn from the recesses of her own soul. Studio critics have pronounced her present characterisation as one of the most touching roles she has ever attempted. Humour and pathos are adroitly blended in a swiftly moving plot, which reaches a smashing climax when Miss Bennett is confronted by the necessity of claiming or rejecting her own son. The Irish scenes and sequences are faithfully reproduced, as many of the backgrounds were filmed in Galway. The cast includes such outstanding stars of the screen as Ethel Clayton. Victor McLaglen, the Captain Flagg of “What Price Glory?” Ted McNamara, Eulalie Jenson, and Constance Howard, while Phillippe De Lacey, one of the most beautiful and remarkable child actors, is cast .in the role of Brian, the son of Mother Machree. A very effective musical prologue, during which Mr. Birrell O’Malley sings the famous ballad, precedes the screening of the photo-play, while Eve Bentley and her Strand Orchestra play “Emerald Isle” as their musical interlude. Many delightful and favourite old English gems are included in the incidental music given throughout the evening.