“THE SILENT HOUSE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 392, 28 June 1928, Page 17

“THE SILENT HOUSE”

MOSCOVITCH TO-NIGHT To-night at His Majesty’s Theatre J. C. Wililamson announces the return visit for a short season of seven nights of the favourite actor, Maurice Moscovitch, and the brilliant dramatic company supporting him in the latest London dramatic success, “The Silent House.” A Dunedin critic said: “Last night’s audience fairly glutted itself with sensationalism, and Mr. Moscovitch surely was a delighted man when the last curtain fell and had to be raised at least six times. Nothing is more thrilling than a story of the East and a desperate search for wealth. Cunning Chinese in a mystery story are always an indication of dastardly deeds. In ‘The Silent House’ the Celestials provide all the thrills. Dark deeds are done in the morning room of the quiet mansion on the common reconstructed by the eccentric Richard Winsford, who lived for many years in the East and met his death by the “accidental” falling of a coping stone. The Chinese Dr. Chan Fu, his mute attendant, Hwang, Peroda (the sleek gentleman from Assam), and Mateora, the searchers for the “star” stolen from Chan Fu’s family god and bonds worth a cool quarter of a million sterling, are the main persons concerned. The bonds are supposed t*> be hidden within the mansion, which is occupied by Winsford’s heir, Captain George Winsford, and his friend, Philip Barty. The Orientals stop at nothing, and their methods are terrifying. ‘The Silent House’ is also a play of mechanical thrills, with the machinery cleverly manipulated. Nothing more brilliant in its realism and uncanniness than the Chinese den has been staged here. The company is certainly a fine one. Maurice Moscovitch seems to have no limits in his impersonations, and his portrayal of the terrible doctor was a masterpiece. For quiet acting, his doctor was striking. Next to Mr. Moscovitch, the outstanding performance was that of Nat Madison, a character actor who always gives a portrayal worth while. His delineation of Ho Fang was par excellent. Bertha Riccardo rose to dramatic heights in several parts, and her acting in the scene where she was forced into the gas chamber was perhaps the finest bit of acting in the whole play. The other parts by Roger Barry. Ashton Jarry, Guy Hastings. Reginald Xewson, Patric Curwen and Richard Webster were admirably played, every character being faithfully limned and carried with compelling realism. The box plans are at Lewis Eady Ltd., and day sales at His Majesty's Kiosk.

“Lilac Time,” Colleen Moore’s great First National special, is a very virile romance introducing the Great War, and revolving round the love of Jeanne, a wistful little French peasant girl, for a dare-devil British flyer, who. enlisting as a private, attains the rank of lieutenant. He is reported dead after making an unusually risky mission, but returns unexpectedly after the armistice. The story, which features a wonderfully touching climax, furnishes the piquant Colleen with a splendid opportunity to prove just how well she can interpret an extremely difficult role-