PLAZA’S NEW TALKIE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 16

PLAZA’S NEW TALKIE

THRILLS OF RUM-RUNNING “THE MIDNIGHT TAXI” Noi the taxi only speeds the exciting j rum-chase shown at the Plaza Theatre j last evening, but cutter (revenue and ! otherwise), runaway trains, and spiral- j ing, nose-diving planes. There are j rum-runners, lii-jackers, bond thieves, j and four-flushers of every kind, to say nothing of a host of get-your-man detectives —and two mysterious ladies —one of whom is on the trail of the thieves who hava robbed the bank by which she is employed, thus implicating the youth shb loves, from which it can be understood that “The Midnight Taxi” is an up-to-the-minute American story.

Antonio Moreno, the glamorous young Spaniard, who is remembered for his fiery love scenes, is here cast as an adventurous millionaire, who more for the love of excitement than for gain, agrees to accompany Brant, played vigorously by Bill Russell —in convoying an assignment of rum from Los Angeles to Vancouver. His desire for thrills is gratified by a hair-raising flight by plane over a runaway train, to which he drops, with the fair lady sleuth, only to engage in a rough-and-tumble fight with the desperadoes. Helen Costello, as the naive girl, who finds herself enthralled by the dashing Moreno, and deftly manipulates her search for the guilty, until she sees them in the clutch of the law, gives a performance which marks her as an excellent talkie star. Myrna Loy is seen in another intriguing characterisation, which calls for the allurement and sinister keenness of which she is mistress. William Russell is at his best as Brant, king of the bootleggers, and no better choice could have be?en made in casting the various “hard guys,” Lefty, Foxy, Squint, Corvinl, Dutch, Rastas and the rest.

Many new artists appear in the short talkies which make up the balance of the programme. There is, for example, a delightfully amusing interlude with Daphne Pollard, the clever English comedienne, and some enjoyable songs by Allan Prior, the celebrated Australian tenor. Other items are jazz music by Roger Kahn’s New York night club orchestra, bright comedy patter by O’Neill and Vermont, black-face comedians, and a set of songs by the Harrington Sisters. Perhaps the most remarkable of the shorter films was that showing the refuelling in mid-air during the 150 hours’ endurance flight of the United States Navy plane, “Question Mark.”