NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 702, 29 June 1929, Page 16

NEW REGENT

“SHOW PEOPLE” THIS EVENING “Show People,” a film of life in the movies, made by Metro-Gold wynMayer, which opens at the New Regent Theatre this evening, has one scene in which Marion Davies and William Haines, co-stars of the piece, are helped out by Douglas Fairbanks, Norma Talmadge, John Gilbert, Mae Murray, Rod La Rocque. Renee Adoree, Leatrice Joy, George K. Arthur, Karl Dane, Aileen Pringle, Estelle Taylor, Dorothy Sebastian and Polly Moran. There’s another sequence in which Charlie Chaplin does his bit in making realistic this peep into the inner circles of cinemaland. Lew Cody and Elinor Glyn also are among the atmosphere players. In her role as an actress in the movies, Miss Davies watches John Gilbert and her real self arrive at the studio for work. King Vidor, who directed, also is shown directing a film within a film.

Why other wellknown players were not included in the crowd scenes has not been stated officially. It may be because they didn’t need the extra’s daily wage of 7.50 dollars, which Fairbanks, Chaplin and the rest collected for their labours.

The story is the romance of a girl who comes to the film colony, enters pictures by the comedy route, becomes a dramatic star, nearly loses everything because her success goes to her head, and is saved at last by the machinations of William Haines, and by her own sense of humour. John Gilbert, one of the most popular actors on the screen, is the star of the second big picture to be shown this evening.

His latest picture is “The Masks of the Devil.” In it the audience will see him as a wealthy, fascinating idler, to whom every new and alluring feminine face is a challenge. He conceals his inner feelings behind the masks of friendship and false love, until his evil life eventually transforms his face into the appearance of a devil. In the cast are Alma Rubens, Theodore Roberts, making his return to the screen after a long absence, Ralph Forbes and Eva von Berne, a new European find. In addition to these two fine pictures, an outstanding supporting programme will be presented. It will include piano-playing by Vincent Lopez, king of jazz,” several popular songs by the Broadway favourite, George D. Washington, who will sing “Lovely Little Bluebird,” “There’s a Rainbow” and “Sonny Boy.” Finally, Arthur G. Frost will play on the big Wurlitzer organ.