PLAZA AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 532, 8 December 1928, Page 14

PLAZA AND TIVOLI

“THE HEAD MAN” Charlie Murray is in town. For years—even before the genial genius of stage, screen and vaudeville comedy made his debut in splitreel “mirthquakes” of the silver sheet, —that announcement has had special meaning. To adults, children, folks of all ages and both sexes, it was the equivalent of saying “The circus is here!” In “The Head Man,” at the Plaza and Tivoli Theatres, however, there . is a new and even

more appealing Charlie Murray. The picture, First National’s elaborate production of the delightfully whimsical novel by Harry Leon Wilson, “The Boss of Little Arcady,” is by far the best in which the famous comedian has ever appeared.

While it is brimful of every sort of fun, from burlesque to whimsy, it is also a logical, cleverly-evolved and very human picture. Things happen as they do in life, not with that inconsequential haphazardness of farce comedy. And Murray, in the featured title role, gets his first chance at pathos, drama and realistic character portrayal. Capably supporting him are Loretta Young, Lucien Littlefield, Larry Kent, Martha Mattox, Hot Farley, Irving Bacon and other notable players. The story is woven around small-town life and politics, with an appealing love tale involving Miss Young and Kent. One of the fuhniest comedies by Glenn Tryon, “Hot Heels,” is the second picture. The story concerns the hilarious adventures of a young small-town hotel owner who swaps his hotel for a full ownership of a travelling theatrical company, playing a racing melodrama, because he has fallen in love with the leading woman. His escapades and tribulations in putting the company on a paying basis make a merry tale.