ESSENCE OF PEP

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 810, 2 November 1929, Page 16

ESSENCE OF PEP

“FOX MOVIETONE FOLLIES” AT STRAND BRILLIANT REVUE TALKIE Speed and sparkle, snap and spice . . . Catchy music, groups of magnificent scenes, and brilliant dancing . . . Hosts of pretty girls, fascinating clockwork ballets, a chic soubrette, and tuneful songsters ... Costumes as dazzling as . they are abbreviated, a small army of clever solo dancers and the drollest of coloured comedians . . . .Mix all that into one scintillating dish, add a little pathos by way of contrast, and the result is “Fox Movietone Follies/’ as it was presented to a capacity house at the {Strand last evening. The screen’s first Follies revue is yet another big step forward along th€> road that the talkies are taking so triumphantly. With only the slimmest of stories to find excuse for the revue action of the show and lend a touch of outside variety, the producers of “Fox Movietone Follies’* have taken a mammoth stage revue, lifted it out of the theatre and into a studio, and photographed it in picture and sound. The result is a performance that is' the essence of pep—a modern extravaganza of youth and energy that carries its audience with it all the way.

Those who prefer pictures of the old type will have no use for Fox’s spectacular Follies. It is so different from silent screen films that previous

standards must be ignored, and the production regarded from the true show angle. In other words “Fox Movietone Follies” has deliberately challenged the legitimate stage revue in its own sphere, even under its own conditions; therefore criticism must be by comparison.

Admittedly the film lacks the pulsating life and atmosphere of the real show, likewise the personal touch is absent, but there is a host of compensating factors. Scenes of lavish brilliance appear, dazzle, then melt into a soft whirl of colour that emerges as another series l of settings. Action flashes back and forth from stage to dressing-room, '.front leading woman to comedian, from the shapely, twinkling legs of the chorus to the closejup face of a singer.

A comedian of the calibre of Stephin Fetchit —foremost coloured funmaker in America—is introduced in a screamingly quaint characterisation. A perfect dancing ballet, trained to a standard which, previously, was exclusively the hall-mark of London, Paris and New York, kicks and sways its way through the picture. . . . And so it goes. This celluloid show —greater in scope and richer in frontrank artists than any touring revue could hope to be—sets an altogether new pace for talkies. It should be a reeprd Strand box-office attraction. Of the players Sue Carol carries everything before her. This fascinating little soubrette lias needed talkies to drag her light from under the film bushel. If she is not “made” by the Follies, William Fox is both deaf and blind. Sharon Lynn, Dixie Lee and David llollins are among other successful principals. The song numbers include “The Breakaway”—a fizzy, catchy trifle —“Walkin’ With Susie” and “That’s You, Baby.” “Pearl of Old Japan,” a gorgeous song-scena in full colours, was introduced last evening on a specially enlarged screen. >the picture taking up the whole of the proscenium front and presenting a most striking effect. Supporting the feature film are a number of unusually attractive talkie shorts, including a Pathe Review, Fox News, an operatic Fox-Case song item and an excellent comedy. “Mind Your Business.” . . . Altogether a first-class programme.