PLAZA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 737, 9 August 1929, Page 15

PLAZA

“THE WOLF OF WALL STREET* In “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which is being screened at the Plaza Theatre, there is provided an entertainment that must make a very wide appeal. This picture, by the way, has given emphasis to yet another aspect of the many advantages which the talkies confer—that of permitting the motion picture actor who possesses a good voice to bring to the picture in which he is acting the embellishment which his voice confers. That is the case •with George Bancroft, who takes the leading role in this film. For some reason, many people have always refused to regard motion picture actors as being on the same plane with the leaders on the legitimate stage, and this attitude was perhaps due to a feeling that the silent film exploited only one side of an actor’s capabilities, and left completely in the realm of speculation the qualities which his voice was able to confer. But Bancroft comes to the screen vocal. The talkie has enabled the audience to see and hear the actor, and to enjoy to the full the fruits of his histrionic genius. To all the other attribute of the talkie, therefore, can be added the virtue that it is able to bring to us the world’s greatest actors, as distinct from its greatest silent film actors only. On the same programme there is a number of most enjoyable short talkie features. There is a charmingly humorous one-act play entitled “Miss Information,” interpreted by Lois Wilson and Edward Everett Horton, two noted cinema stars. Other items are a Paramount talkie cartoon entitled “Old Black Joe,” and excerpts from grand opera by two Italian opera stars, Gigli and De Luca. They sing “Del Tiempo al Limitai,” from Bizet’s great opera, “The Fisher of Pearls.’’ Finally there are jazz selections by Reb Spike’s negro jazz band, and a number of songs by the Brox sisters.