MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 426, 7 August 1928, Page 15

MAJESTIC

“THE GARDEN OF ALLAH” There are no dull moments in the programme now being offered to Auckland picturegoens at the Majestic Theatre where there is a sparkling programme of pictorial and musical attractions of a very high standard. A special attraction on the supporting programme is a film showing General Nobile and his chief helpers leaving home, Captain Wilkins is seen flying over the endle-ss wastes of ice in the search, Amundsen is seen leaving to search for the missing aviators, and scenes are shown of the Arctic wastes. The Majestic News is crammed full of bright and very interesting news items, and shows the Prince of Wales opening the new Tweed Bridge, and presenting the English golf championship cup to Walter Hagen, the annual Scottish gathering at Chelsea, and the last stages of Lady Heath’s flight. Max Davidson, that lovable character comedian, is starred in “Blow by Blow,” a story of married life. Then comes the chief pictorial attraction, “The Garden of Allah.”

As a novel, “The Garden of Allah” has remained steadily in public favour for a quarter of a century. Telling a story that is ageless, depicting human characters that are just as real to-day as when the author first created them and presenting with unparalleled dramatic force man’s oldest mental travail—his love for a woman struggling with his sense of duty—time could not diminish the appeal of such a story.

“The Garden of Allah” comes to the screen, given added beauty and still greater dramatic power by the mastery of Rex Ingram. The picturisation was carried out in the locales described by Robert Hichens at Biskra, Algeria, a sparkling green oasis thrown down amid a sea of sand; on the great Algerian de«sert where a wind storm of tremendous magnitude was employed to furnish the picture with one of the most spectacular thrills ever provided solely by nature. Mr. Whiteford Waugh’s Majestic Orchestra presents as a special stage interlude “A Chinese Temple Garden,” a vividly descriptive musical composition, conjuring up a picture of an Eastern garden, a love scene, a Manchu wedding procession, a noisy Chinese street scene, and the religious music of the temple.