PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 387, 22 June 1928, Page 15

PRINCESS AND TIVOLI

A GREAT PROGRAMME Those who love the tang- of the se<. in their stories, and who can enjoy an excising race between two full-rigged ships, will be delighted at the picture "White Wings,” which was shown last evening at the Princess and Tivoli. "White Wings” can justly be called an epic of the sea, for it tells of one of the most dramatic periods in our British marine history, the period round about 1850, when the American clipper ships seriously threatened the English. We have not seen a picture since the production, of ‘‘Down to the Sea in Ships,” in which finer types of the seamen of that epochal period in maxitime history are presented than in “White Wings.” Here are sailors to the manner born. One sees them fighting typhoons, reefing sails, pulling ropes, skylarking in the foc’sle, drinking grog, suffering terrible hardships smilingly, and growing fiercely menacing iiv a mutiny. In fact, they visualise graphically a romantic era that has long since passed, and will never return again except on the screen. The story is of an agreement made in Foochow, China, that the first ship to arrive in Boston, U.S.A., should have the whole of the tea trade. The British enter the “Lord of the Isles,” and the Americans the “Yankee Clipper,” and these two magnificent old sailers set out on their momentous race. A delightfully charming romance runs through the story, between William Boyd as the captain of the Yankee Clipper, and Elinor Fair, the owner’s daughter. “White Wings” is of the class of pictures only too rare, the class that brings to life before one’s eyes the dramatic scenes of history. A second attraction is also provided in a picture called "Surrender,” a stirring tale of love and adventure on the Russian border in the early days of the war. The love scenes are a reversal of the old plot of the love of a prince for a beggar girl, as in “Surrender” the love- is between an Austrian peasant girl and a Russian prince, commander of the attacking forces. Mary Philpin is the girl, and the Russian prince is played by Ivan Mosjukine, who will be remembered for his great characterisation in “Michael Strogoff.” Finally, an interesting and enjoyable turn is provided by Lawrence Johnston, an American ventriloquist, whose remarkable talent delights the audience.