GRAND AND LYRIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 789, 9 October 1929, Page 17

GRAND AND LYRIC

“BLACK MAGIC” i While the South. Seas usually are I represented as idyllic paradises, where 1 • the inhabitants wander around in a ! sort of Garden of Eden and ha ye nothing to do but let bananas and bread-fruits drop into their laps, there is another side to the picture that is not so often mentioned. That is the side of cruelty and barbarism, of drink-sodden husks that once were men, of anguished dreams of a home to which they never can return, of native superstitions and witchcraft, of passion flourishing unwholesomely in an enervating atmosphere. Such a side is convincingly portrayed in ‘ Black Magiq," the film of a lonely island in the Arafura Sea, which is now at the Grand and i.yric Theatres. With a "terror-plot" based on the Papuan beliefs of a sorcerer's death-dealing powers as its unusual ; theme, the film is both spectacular and memorable. Josephine Dunn. ; John Holland and Henry B. Walthall have the principal roles in this pro- ; j duction. j •Power." the second big picture at 1 both theatres, is a strong dramatic ■ ' production starring William Boyd in a story with a background of a mourii '.aim hydro-electric aiatiSTl. j.