LYRIC’S BIG SUCCESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 602, 2 March 1929, Page 15

LYRIC’S BIG SUCCESS

“THE PASSING OF MR. QUINN” | 1 ANOTHER BRITISH MASTERPIECE Yet another old bogey about British pictures was laid low at the Lyric Theatre last evening. Critics used to contend that British films had poor stories, and that the actors did not look the part. Both of these complaints have been made groundless long ago, but the indifferent lighting and photography have remained. That last fault has been disappearing and now gone for good. In the picture “The Passing of Mr. Quinn,” the photography and lighting are wonderful, id very character and every scene is brought out at its best, and the individual scenes remain in the memory. But it must not be thought that lighting is all that is in this picture. Far from it, for the story is also excellent. It could perhaps be regarded as a mystery story, for certainly the audience is in the dark as to the actual culprit right until the end, but there are no detectives, midnight ghosts, mysterious noises or any of the usual adjuncts of tlio mystery story. The story is a clear-cut one of a brilliant scientist and brutal husband who is hated by his household. One night ho is discovered poisoned. Three peoplo have had both the opportunity and the motive for the murder. Ilis wife, whom he had treated most shamefully, her lover, the resident of the next house and a maid, who had also been badly treated. Then follows the murder trial, where suspicion rests on the wife. This section of the film marks a new stage in motion picture technique. The brutal publicity and the torture of it all is shown in a series of views—but not one of them of the whole courtroom or one sub-title. The faces of tho judge, the prosecuting lawyer, the defendant’s lawyer, the woman, the street boys selling the news, the foreman of the jury, questions and crossquestions among the lawyers—all are depicted with, amazing detail. Stewart Home, as Dr. Alec Portal, the family friend and doctor, and subsequently Mrs. Appleby’s second husband, carries off the chief acting honours. Trilby Clarke and Ursula Jeans have the main feminine roles. “The Wife’s Relations,” a delightfully humorous comedy of domestic entanglements, is the second big picture. Shirley. Mason is her winsome self as the star. „ , . . „ A gazette and comedy and music by tho Lyric Orchestra completed the entertainmen t.