STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 791, 11 October 1929, Page 17

STRAND

“COQUETTE” Mary Pickford, so long a silent heroine on the screen, has her talking premiere in the all-dialogue “Coquette,” which is now at the Strand Theatre. In this production, “the world’s sweetheart” offers a triply radical advance in her art. She speaks her lines. She plays a witching contemporary flapper role with, alluring bobbed hair. She plays an up-to-date stage drama in which a great social ordeal vies with the traditional Pickford sweet- ! ness and light, and in which significant ■ ; heart-wrenching realism tests the very j | soul of the Pickford genius. ■With her adaptation of the stage I success, “Coquette,” Mary Pickford : signalises the first entry of an ace j film celebrity into the new field of the all-spoken celluloid entertainment. Equipped for this pioneering by talent already demonstrated in a long career of, silent screen triumphs, and by her early experience on the spoken stage, the star brings with her the gift of , the perfect voice for theatre araplifica- ; tion. This is announced as the verdict j of all who have seen “Coquette.” It j is a final endowment of nature’s riches j with which this brilliant woman has been favoured in her remarkable career. And from a broader viewpoint, her venture is seen as a great turningpoint in the history of motion pictures, which are due to enter a tremendous upheaval if the unqualified success of Mary Pickford in “Coquette” is confirmed. The enjoyable talkie items on the remainder of the programme include two selections by the l'lonzaley Quarter. which has been called “the world’s foremost string ensemble”; a novelty item by Ruth Glanville, an American saxophonist, who is accompanied by the Vitaphone Symphony Orchestra; another comedy by George Robey, the eminent Eondon comedian: the latest ' edition of the Fox Movietone News; and a L’.F.A. gem entitled "Ancient j i Arl "*