NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 611, 13 March 1929, Page 14

NEW REGENT

’THE TRAIL OF ’9B” This evening: will see the final presentation at the New Regent Theatre of the current programme, which includes “The Bushranger,” an Australian story, starring Bale Austin and ! Tim McCoy, “Baby Cyclone,” a picture of domestic worries, starring Aileen Pringle and Lew Cody, also I the excellent vaudeville item by I Manual Hymans, the “jazzing violinj ist.” | To-morrow the Regent will screen ! the momentous picture. “The Trail of j'DS.Fifteen thousand extras and a east |of 35 well-known players make "The I Trail of ’9S" the biggest casting | achievement ever attained in motion pictures. It beats the "Ben Hur” rej cord by 2,000. j Three thousand of the extras had to be assembled in Colorado for the stupendous Chilcoot Pass sequence, where I they lived for nearly three months in j4O pullman cars on a specially built ‘ side railroad. The cars were electricj ally heated, as were also additional cars for dining, hospital, post office recreation, cutting and projection rooms, etc. At this point 1,000 dogs were also added, with harness, pro- j fessional veterinary attention, and 12 keepers to feed and house them. Several dogs died of pneumonia during the making of "The Trail of ’9S’’ as a blizzard occurred every second day, reducing the temperature to an average of 30 degrees below zero for the three months.

The dramatic critic of the London “Cinema World’’ wrote of "The Trail of ’9S”:

“This picture is playing twice daily ! tc > packed houses at the Tivoli Theai tre in London, and it well deserves all ! the praise that the critics can give it. It is without doubt an epic picture and one which ought to be seen by everybody who appreciates both the spectacular and the dramatic. The story of the greatest gold rush in history has been well and truly transferred to the screen by Clarence Brown, and, personally, I do not think one could improve on the cast selected by this famous director. It is headed by Dolores Del Rio, Ralph Forbes and Karl Dane, who made his name in •The Big Parade.’ “The scenes showing the great avalanche of snow and the shooting of the rapids are the finest ever ‘shot’ by a film camera. I have nothing but praise for this picturisation of Robert W. Service’s great story, and can freely recommend it to all and sundry.” A special musical accompaniment will be provided to-mororw by the Regent Operatic Orchestra under the baton of Mr. Maurice Guttridge.