NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 653, 3 May 1929, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“THE BELLAMY TRIAL” The possibilities in talking and sound pictures are well demonstrated by the variety and excellence of the features now being presented at the New Regent Theatre. The programme comprises a main pictorial attraction with dialogue sequences to develop the story .also a number of short features of singing and music, each a firstclass vaudeville act. “The Bellamy Trial,” the big picture, is a sensational murder mystery story. A woman named Mimi Bellamy is found murdered in an old cottage. Her husband and a friend named Sue Ives were suspected and held for trial. Practically the whole story is developed in the courtroom. Witnesses are called both for the defence and the prosecution and the web of circumstantial evidence is woven around these two. The fingerprints of Sue Ives are found on articles near the body and it is established that she was at the cottage with Mr. Bellamy on the night of the murder. The latter half of the film is accompanied with a full dialogue—the audience hears the questions of the lawyers. the answers and descriptions by tho witnesses, and the sounds in the courtroom, the whole having a remarkable effect of realism. Leatrice Joy, a screen actress with considerable stage experience, has the leading role, and others are Kenneth Thompson. George Barraud and Margaret Livingstone. Charles H. Mailes and Charles B. Middleton, both wellknown stage actors, have the roles of tho two lawyers. The remainder of the programme is composed of a number of short “talkie” features, which include songs by Joseph Regan, the famous Irish-American tenor, and black-face comedy by Barnum and Bailey. Then there is a piano solo by Vincent Lopez, with every note perfectly recorded; also two songs by Ella Shields, the popular London comedienne, sung in her inimitable manner. She sings “Just Another One,” and “If You Knew Susie.” Finally there is a gazette with all the, latest world news, which is accompanied by a special sound effect. An additional attraction of unusual interest in the film taken at the recent attempts on the world’s speed record at Daytona Beach. This was taken by the late Mr. C. R. Traub, a Pathe News cameraman, who was killed when “shooting” scenes of Lee Bible’s tragic run.