CIVIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 855, 26 December 1929, Page 15

CIVIC

SPLENDID ENTERTAINMENT Superlatives can do no more than bare justice to “Three Live Ghosts,” the IUO per cent, talkie comedy drama which heads the splendid programme at the Civic Theatre. It is entertainment brought to the peak of perfection, with splendid reproduction, excellent characterisation, and delightfully humorous situations. The film was produced in America, but in every other respect it is English through and through. The setting is London at Armistice time, and the story deals with three British soldiers who return from a German prison camp, after being officially declared “dead.” Such a situation presents intriguing possibilities for both comedy and pathos, of which the fullest advantage has been taken. Every character is a masterpiece, whether it is a Cockney, a belted earl, or a Yankee visitor who is being portrayed, the part is made to live, and the speech of each actor is utterly true to type. The reproduction of the voices was almost faultless in its clarity, and what few words were missed were merely drowned in the laughter which runs from end to end of the film.

Chief honours must go to Beryl Mercer, who played the role of the delightful Mrs. Gibbins, the garrulous old Cockney washerwoman, with consummate skill; then comes Claude Alister, well remembered as Algy in “Bulldog Drummond.” It is enough to say that he played the part of the shell-shocked “Spoofy” with even greater skill than that of Algy. Of the other members of an exceptionally well-chosen cast, Charles McNaughton Robert Montgomery, Hilda Vaughan, and Joan Bennett were worthy of the highest praise. The remainder of the Civic’s programme is of an equally high standard. There is a gorgeous stage presentation, “The Dawn Of a New Show World.” with dancing by the Continental trio, Ramon, Madeline and Pedro and by the Civic’s own ballet, also two delightful selections by Fred Scholl at the Civic grand organ. The playing of Ted Henkel’s Symphony Orchestra is, of course, a treat in itself.