ERRING SAILORS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 1 September 1928, Page 14

ERRING SAILORS

FUN AT THE MAJESTIC ! Some people are born seafarers; some acquire the art of seafaring - : others, again, have seafaring thrust upon them. In the latter class were the two worthies who found themselves in the forecastle of a trim little steamer, bound for the South Sea Islands where men are cannibals and maidens are sirens by instinct and choice. Their adventures ’mid tropic realms accounted for the gusts of laughter which floated out of the Alajestic Theatre last evening when “Why Sailors Go Wrong” was presented to a capacity audience. This Fox comedy special was all that had been expected—an intriguing and original laughter-maker of the first rank that captured the imaginations of the onlookers. From beginning to end the Alajestic programme proved one of the most popular that has been selected for many a day. Mr. J. Whiteford Waugh and his orchestra were in excellent form, and the evening was opened brightly with a stirring march. During an interlude there was a grander, more serious moment when Wallace’s “Alaritana” was given, while the incidental music throughout pleased everyone. The Alajestic screen news is a distinctly successful draw card, and last evening’s budget was an excellent one. It was followed by a number of interesting glimpses of contemporary events and a display of delightful fashions in colours. The fun began when a short Fox comedy dealing with the adventures of a music comedy company in Russia was screened. It provided an excellent hors d’oeuvres for the laughter feast that followed and was, in itself, a merry medley of incidents, probable and otherwise. The honours of “Why Sailors Go Wrong” must go without question to Ted McNamara and Sammy Cohen, whose work raised this picture far above the level of the average featurelength comedy-drama. The remaining members of the cast made the most of their many opportunities, but it remained for McNamara and Cohen to carry the audience through scene after scene with spontaneous gusts of merriment. The story is of the farce type and tells of a cab driver and a taximan who smash up their vehicles and decide to escape the wrath of their employers by putting to sea. Unfortunately for them, they select a steamer that is controlled by a ferocious first mate, and their introduction to the ways of the deep waters is, to say the least, sudden and striking. Then comes the storm, and after a night of chaos the intrepid pair are cast upon a desert island where dusky ladies dance hula-hulas and hungry - looking warriors stir their cooking pots. The adventures of the amateur sailors on the palm-fringed shores are of the most exciting and hilarious nature imaginable, but everything ends well, and laughter is stilled on a note of happiness. A clever little love story is worked into the action of the picture, thus giving it an appeal that is rather deeper than that usually plumbed by comedy. Eva von Berne, the 17-year-old Ariennese girl who was “discovered” by Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer on their recent trip in Europe, has arrived at the Aletro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, and will shortly begin work on some important pictures.