“TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN”

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

“TRIAL OF MARY DUGAN”

COMMENCES TO-MORROW At His Majesty’s Theatre to-morrow evening the famous international actor, Mr. Leon Gordon, and the J. C. Williamson Ltd., dramatic company, including the brilliant young American actress, Miss May Collins, will appear in the first production here of the big dramatic sensation, “The Trial of Mary Dugan,” which recently achieved a great triumph in Wellington. Mr. Gordon proved himself in “White Cargo” one of the best and most effective actors who has ever visited New Zealand and it is said that he has scored his best success as the District Attorney in “The Trial of Mary Dugan.” Owing to the brevity of the New Zealand tour only four presentations of “The Trial of Mary Dugan” can be arranged, and on Monday and Tuesday next, the last two nights of the season, will be staged that delightful comedy

“Scandal,” in which Mr. Gordon and Miss Collins both created a furore in Sydney and Melbourne. In “The Trial of Mary Dugan” the audience, by reason of the fact that they are constituted the jury to the trial of Mary Dugan for the murder of the man whose mistress she was, is compelled to take an active interest. The circumstances of his death pointed to Mary as the murderer. He was found in her flat, dead from a knife wound, the knife handle bearing the finger-prints of Mary. This, in a nutshell, is the crime, and for the guilt of Mary Dugan the audience is to be the judge. A Sydney critic says: “The Trial of Mary Dugan” is a dramatic novelty that has created a furore wherever it has been played. It is different from any dramatic production previously staged here. It is not a “mystery drama,” but a play of wonderful human interest, presented in a new way. It makes a stirring appeal to theatre patrons as well as those who love the movies. It is refreshingly original, full of thrilling interest that sweeps everyone along with it till the remarkable and astonishing climax is reached. It is a new and virile entertainment that never fails to hold the interest.

“Lady Raffles,” the Columbia Master Picture mystery melodrama, which marks Estelle Taylor’s return to the screen, has passed the censor, and met with unanimous praise from all who saw it at its initial screening. The drama opens on a note of suspense which is sustained throughout the feature.