“THUNDERBOLT” AT KINGSLAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 17

“THUNDERBOLT” AT KINGSLAND

Among the fascinating scenes of George Bancroft’s picture, “Thunderbolt,” at the Theatre Royal, Kingsland, those of Harlem —that strange black metropolis in the heart of the World’s greatest city. The intriguing sounds and sights of its pulsing streets, fts jazz-mad night clubs, its hidden retreats. This human drama is taken from the front pages of the newspapers —it strong-man terror who kills with one Punch; a girl gangster in the grip or environment; a youth “framed” into Sing Sing. Characters that flit across the news horizon daily and disappear into the void of the law. f Sing Sing—and the Death House! ~-are reproduced on the screen as they really are. Inhabited by the People who compose its transient population. . . . thinking, talking, fretting, active people . . . condemned people. There is a great dramatic climax • Bancroft, the killer, facing the ytetim of his “frame-up” across the fatal corridor in the death house; the rjj ß ' of his victim mirrored in the aiuer’s sardonic face.

Paramount’s talking, singing and ■ageing production, “Applause,” which Received its world premiere in New x °ik on October 1, contains many Potable innovations in talkie technique. Reuben Mamoulin, young American Theatre Guild director, gad© ‘‘Applause” for Paramount, peien Morgan. New York musical comWy star, is featured.