“THE BIG CITY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 16

“THE BIG CITY”

CHANEY AT HIS BEST No star in the film firmament is better fitted to portray the typical underworld gang leader than Lon Chaney. This is proved by “The Big City,” a production that exploits his genius uf characterisation in unique fashion.

The exciting and unusually entertaining picture took pride of place on the programme presented at the Majestic Theatre last evening. It was supported by another outstanding film—a comedy starring that master of burlesque mirth —Lupino Lane. In addition there was “In a Persian Market,” admirably played by Mr. J. Whiteford Waugh’s popular orchestra. “The Big City” is a picture that breaks old ground in a new and gripping way. It is a typical drama of the underworld in a great metropolis, but the sequences are devised from fresh and intensely real angles. The onlookers are transported to a new world —a place of feuds, hates, lawlessness and unruly passions. They are shown close-ups of notorious Harlem, the queer negro quarter of New York, city of queer cabarets and jazz parlours, where the coloured men devise the Black Bottom and a dozen other negro dances. They are introduced to the ruthless and cunning gangsters who hold sway in these places, dominating the weak and battling with the strong. Throughout the picture Lon Chaney maintains -without effort his leading place. His personality is the pivot round which the minor characters revolve, and his acting sets a standard that, alone, carries the film far above the common level. The story of “The Big City” is the story of a clever gang leader who carries out a daring jewel robbery by putwltting a scheming rival. After the crime has been completed he Is watched closely by the police, and saved from arrest by a young girl who Is unaware of his true, character. So impressed is he with the innocent faith of the girl that he determines to reform and reform his young ••Trtner with him. He succeeds, but when about to claim the girl, discovers that she has become engaged to his partner. Chaney is supported by a strong cast including Marceline Day. The photograph v of the picture is magnificent and the sequences have been trimmed up +o high speed. The first picture of the evening was an interesting and magnificently - photographed plant study, produced in England. In a series of amazing views it showed the distribution and development of tiny seeds, at many thousands of times the natural speed. The Majestic News provided an up-to-date oudget of news from far and near, and the onlookers were brought nearer home when the film. “Six Days in Sunny New South Wales, was shown. The orchestra’s interlude--“In a Persian Market” —was assisted with descriptive slides that greatly enhanced the Item. Lastly the Lupino Lane comedy—a frothy, scintillating little bubble of mirth, with Lane—that inimitable English comic—as the man who was locked up for the night in a spooky museum.