STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 456, 11 September 1928, Page 18

STRAND

“SUNRISE” The great dramatic triumph “Sunrise” will be shown again this evening at the Strand Theatre. Here is a screen entertainment built around a plain story but startlingly thrilling in its effect on the audience. It is a story whose locale is anywhere, whose characters are downright human and whose time element is strictly modern. The two principal characters, a man and his wife, are portrayed by George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor. A city woman (Margaret Livingston) comes and fires the man’s body with new and irrepressible desires. She tells the man to drown his wife, sell his farm and go live with her in the city. The man takes his wife out in a boat, but the horror of his contemplated crime falls heavily on his conscience and he sullenly rows her back to shore. Hatred for the woman who conceived this evil’ crime takes root in his brain and with this comes a strange feeling of tenderness and rekindled love for his wife. Together they go to the city for a day’s pleasure, the wife deliriously happy in his new affection and the husband all kindliness in his repentance. They dance together in an amusement park; they go to a photographer’s to have their pictures taken. And when they start back that night across the water a squall capsizes their boat and the wife is carried away in the black current. In despair and with a new murderous impulse in his heart, the husband determines to strangle the temptress, who believes, when news of the disaster reaches the village, that plot has not gone amiss. But the wife is found by a searching party, alive, and together the man and wife face the sunrise in renewed happiness. An absorbing picture built on an unadorned theme, “Sunrise” is a treat for the eye and a constant tonic for the emotions. It is superbly acted. Neither George O’Brien nor Janet Gaynor have ever offered rpore delightful performI ances and the balance of the cast does equally well. “Sunrise” is a picture which one cannot afford to miss. “Sunrise” is preceded by a beautiful stage presentation entitled “The Angelus.” A full supporting programme is also being shown. Doroles Del Rio, appearing in the stellar role in “No Other Woman,” wears modern costumes for the first time in Fox Film production. Incidentally, she plays an entire sequence in a smart little bathing suit which she wears with a charming grace. This is the opening sequence on the beach at Biarritz, France, where many bizarre costumes and continental types appear in the colourful scenes. Don Alvarado and Ben Bard play opposite Miss Del Rio in this production.