MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 15

MAJESTIC

“ANNIE LAURIE” Annie Laurie, beloved in song and romance . through the centuries, whose name is one to call up visions of the romantic Highlands and the delicate sentiment of Robert Burns and the ancient bards, has come to life again. She is holding big audiences enthralled with her charm, and the charm of the romantic land of hex' birth, the mighty romance of Scotland, at the Majestic Theatre, where “Annie Laurie,” Lillian Gish’s new’ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer vehicle, is being shown. Lillian Gish liter-ally is Annie Laurie. Those who imagined her as a myth or a legend will b© amazed at the actual woman—fox- Miss Gish is a faithful portrayer of the real Annie Laurie, who lived centuries ago, whose love and whose bei'oism turned the tide of Scottish history in a real life drama more powerful than any imagined by a scenai'ist, and whose romance has come down to the woi'ld in the song of the ancient . bard.

“Annie Laurie” is a tremendous drama of history. It deals with the gigantic ferment and struggle in Scotland that culminated in the Glencoe massacre. It is based on actual fact. Miss Gish, as the historic daughter of Sir Robert Laui*ie, chief of Clan Campbell, approaches the genius of Bernhardt, but always coupled with her own ethereal charm, in the mighty drama, in which she enacts the Scottish Joan of Arc. Norman Kerry plays the hero as lan, chieftain of the enemy clan of MacDonald.

The great battle scenes, with hordes of six-foot warriors in tartans and plaids, battling with shield and claymore, and the majesty of the ancient Scottish castles, all add glamour, but the charm of Lillian Gish pervades it all.

Hobart Bosworth is majestic as "The Wolf of Glencoe,” and Creighton Hale ideal as the sinister Donald. David Torrence plays the dignified Sir Robert, and Russell Simpson, Brandon Hurst, Patricia Avery, Joseph Striker and others are ideally cast. Mr. Whiteford Waugh’s Majestic Orchestra plays a fine selection of stirring Scottish airs throughout the picture. The excellently varied supporting programme includes an Aesop cartoon, a Majestic News, and another Max Davidson comedy.