STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 747, 21 August 1929, Page 17

STRAND

“SPEAKEASY” ON FRIDAY Only two more presentations will be made of the colourful all-talkie, “Show Boat,” at the Strand Theatre. "Show Boat” is a romantic and spectacular story of the early days on the Mississippi River, starring Laura La Plante as Magnolia and Joseph Shcildkraut as Ravenel. The entire cast is a worthy one. Little Jane La Verne plays Magnolia as a girl and Kim as a child. Alma Rubens is Julie, Neely Edwards is Sehultzy, Jack McDonald is Windy the pilot. Helen Morgan, the popular New York Ziegfeld star, and Jules Bledsoe, also from Ziegfeld’s “Show Boat,” are seen and heard in several of their song hits from that show. The musical arrangement of the picture was excellent. On Friday an entirely new programme will be presented, headed by a new ail-talking drama entitled “Speakeasy.” Two years ago the theatrical experience of Lola Lane, who appears in the leading feminine role of “Speakeasy,” consisted of appearances at local benefits in and around Indianola, lowa. Today she is under contract to Fox Films with two years of scintillating success behind her and a glorious future ahead. All this because Miss Lane's voice contains that peculiar quality of tone which goes to make perfect reproduction. While Benjamin Stoloff was m New York casting eager glances around for promising material he chanced to see "The War Song.” Miss Lane had the chief feminine role in this play. Her performance so impressed the Fox movietone director that he forthwith cast her in “Speakeasy.” The first scenes for the production were made in the great metropolis and her work was of such an outstanding character that Miss Lane was placed under a long-term contract before she deserted Broadway for California. Paul Page, Henry B. Walthall, Helen Ware. Sharon Lynn, Warren Hymer, Stuart Erwin and Erville Anderson portray principal roles in the all-talk-ing production. , . , "Speakeasy” presents Fox-Movietone again as a pioneer in the all-talking picture field as distinctive as the In Old Arizona” production, “Speakeasy emerges as the first attempt to encompass the Rialto night life in sight and sound. There is the rumble of the subways, the roar of the fight crowds at Madison Square Garden, the thud of the horses’ hoofs at Belmont Park, the clink of ice in the whisper joints of Broadway—in fine, everything that stands for Gotham and Broadway. And throughout all a w’ell made action and love story is skillfully interwoven. The new movietone supporting programme on Friday will include a number of excellent features of which the chief will be a talking film, in which the Bt. Hon. Ramsay MacDonald introduces to the audience the members of his Cabinet. DIXIELAND CABARET Dixieland. New Zealand’s most luxurious cabaret, with its delightful situation, comfortable arrangements, and perfect dancing floor, will be the scene of another pleasant dance this evening. The popular Dixieland Dance Band will again play selections from the latest numbers. The juvenile leading man in “Atlantic,” the 8.1. P. version of Ernest Raymond’s story, ‘'The Berg/* will be played by John Stuart, whose voice, after many tests, has proved to be one of the best of English screen actors to date.