COMEDY AND MYSTERY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 601, 1 March 1929, Page 15

COMEDY AND MYSTERY

DOUBLE BILL AT PLAZA

“HOME JAMES” AND “HAUNTED HOUSE”

“Home James/' Laura La Plante’s new starring 1 production, opened at the Plaza and Tivoli Theatres lust evening to the tune of plenty of laughs and other sounds of enjoyment on the part of the audience.

Miss La Plante has an unusually good vehicle in “Home James,” better even than most of her past successes. The blonde star is able to show her genius for comedy throughout the picture.

There are many scenes that are outstanding-, notably that in which she pantomimes hex boss behind the frosted glass door of the office. Another is that in the rain when Charles Delaney, as the supposed chauffeur, saves her from a masher.

“Homo James” is the story of a, department store clerk, played by Miss La Plante, who comes to the big - city to be an artist. Instead she sells art goods behind the counter of a large establishment in which she is merely a cog in the wheel. Laura becomes the main cog, however, when she meets the boss's son while the old man is away. Thinking him a chauffeur she permits herself to fall in love with him. The truth comes out after about five reels of fun. The boss permits the marriage, however, when he learns that Laura has made his son work harder than ever before.

Charles Delaney has an opportunity for a clever performance as the son. George Pearce is the father. Others in the capable cast are Aileen Manning, Joan Standing, Arthur Hoyt and Sidney Bracy.

Capping- the climax, so to speak, and in a nutshell, offering the ultimate in thrills, comes the second picture, entitled “The Haunted House.”

This reviewer has always been partial to mystery plays and pictures, and looking- back over a long list of such works, it is hard to see how anything could have been added. Yet the producers of this latest thriller have found a way to introduce scenes and situations as well as characters, that are unique.

Admirable work is done by the cast. Chester Conklin, long- and favourably known as a laugh-master, provided an amazing lot of fun in his role of the henpecked husband forced by his shrewish wife to enter the haunted house in search of a hidden fortune. Thelma Todd, blondly beautiful, is the heroine; Montagu Love is a mad doctor. Larry Kent, Eve Southern, Flora Finch, Barbara Bedford, William V. Mong, Johnnie Gough and others make up a powerful cast. The settings are the best of their kind, the camera and light effects are the work of masters. Withal the picture is sheer entertainment and the audiences at the Plaza and Tivoli Theatres testified to their approval in no uncertain terms at the opening presentation of “Tl# flaunted House.” At the Tivoli Theatre Miss M. -Anderson’s Orchestra played “Coppelia” for the overture, and the following selections: “The Vagabond King” (Friml). “The Girl in the Taxi” (Gilbert). “The Girl Behind the Counter” (Talbot), “Gita nilla Suite” (Lacome), “Woodland Sketches” (Macdowell), and “Borgchild’s Dream” (Grieg).

A feature length comedy, "Homesick,” is acclaimed as a most hilarious screen offering, in fact, one of the most entertaining comedies yet to come from the Fox Studios. Sammy Cohen, remembered for his great comedy work in “What Price Glory,” ‘‘The Gay Retreat,” and ‘‘Plastered in Paris.” is featured with Harry Sweet and Marjorie Beebe. The fun revolves around a transcontinental bicycle race and a feud between Cohen and Sweet, which starts in New York and is continued intermittently, to the great joy of those who see the picture, all the way across the continent.