PLAZA AND TIVOLI

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 620, 23 March 1929, Page 15

PLAZA AND TIVOLI

“BEGGARS OF LIFE” The lives of 50,000 wanderers are torn wide open to startle a smug world, and the habits, lives, and motives of tramps are revealed for the public in "Beggars of Life,” Jim Tully’s story of tramp life, pictured by Paramount, which a large audience received enthusiastically at the Plaza and Tivoli Theatres again last evening.

Here indeed is a picture with power for a public satiated with pap and spineless stories. Here is a picture to tap the vein of wanderlust in every man: a picture in tune with the changing times Hero is a picture of pic-

turesque fellows with romance in their eyes, kicked, cuffed, beaten, hounded, but finding adventure at . every turn. Here is a picture or those living without the law, wandering, drifting around, beggars of life.

To say that Paramount’s cast, headed by Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks, and Richard Arlen, handled the characters well, would be a platitude. Each individual lived his part, his strange, revealing part, in letter and spirit. The thrills of a police hunt, the care-free humour of the careless, the blossoming of love in loveless Hobohemia, a great sacrifice among the selfish, are only a few of the possibilities in "Beggars of Life.’

Gorgeously beautiful Billie Love never appeared to better advantage than in "Adoration,” her newest picture, which is the second attraction at both theatres.

In exquisite garb, with a role that calls for stirring emotional acting, and supported by a superb cast, she has a splendid opportunity for again proving her ability, as well as once more assuring us that there is no lovelier woman gracing the screen to-day. The story deals with the plight of Russian royalty and aristocracy following the revolution.. They flee to Paris, and there their destinies are worked out. The theme of jealousy forms the basis of the story, and involves the lovely Princess Elena and her consort, Prince Serge, played by Antonio Moreno with great skilb The settings are superb, the story is well handled, and the direction leaves nothing to be desired. A powerful love drama, with a background of revolution, although with no battle scenes, this picture is wholly satisfying. and ends on a note of uplifting happiness. At the Tivoli Theatre’Miss M. Anderson’s orchestra played “The Midnight Dream” for the overture, and the following selections: "The Stoeet Singer” (Fraser - S imsoii) ; “The Beloved Vagabond” (Glass); "Summer” (Chaminade); "Ler Bauerein Schelm” (Dvorak): "The Grand Duchess” (Offenbach); "Mam’selle Mannequin” (Fletcher): "A Vineyard Idyll” (Didier); and "Brahmsiana” (Brahms).

Nagel recently completed an import ant role in Cecil B. de Mille’s firs all-talking picture, "Dynamite,” ; story of society life.