GRAND AND LYRIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 752, 27 August 1929, Page 15

GRAND AND LYRIC

“THE AWAKENING” The oust oL The Awakening," Vtiiu<i Banky's first individual United Artieis starring picture which is now screening at both the Grand and Lyric Theatres, is cosmopolitan enough to surprise even anyone acquainted with the exact number of foreigners in pictures. Miss Banky lierseif. one of Samuel Goldwyn’s mainstays lor the last thre~ years, is a Hungarian. Walter Byron. Mr. Goldwyn’s new find, who plays opposite'her, is English. Yvonne D’Avril is as French as she sounds. Oar! vo;> Hartmann and Ferdinand Schumann - Heink. the son of the great singer, are obviously German. To round off the selection, the na\ airy troop which plays an important role in “The Awakening" is made up of former soldiers from Russia. Germany, England. Finland, Turkey. France and Spain. And th*» picture itself is appropriately laid in the racial no-man’s land of Alsace. In “The Awakening," Miss Banky < role presents her In a new mood, fitting enough for her final elevation to the height of a picture career. In previous . pictures she has been nearly always a i young woman of beauty and charm j enough, but lacking an opportunity display the dynamic part of her nature. Marie Ducrot. the heroine of “The Awakening." however, is a little A 1 naj tian peasant girl capable of defying ; whole regiments of cavalry and man- ! aging a farm, a household. and ** | grandfather without taking time oft | from her day dreams. ; “The Veiled Woman'* the second feature, is a drama of the damfin*: (daughters of France starring Lia Tor* 1 and Paul Vincent!.