“THE WONDERFUL LIE” AT LYRIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 863, 6 January 1930, Page 14

“THE WONDERFUL LIE” AT LYRIC

One of the most artistic and satisfyingly dramatic silent pictures of the year, is “The Wonderful Lie,” now at the Lyric Theatre. The story is intensely human and holding while direction and acting are brilliant. Erich Pommer has produced another picture which marks the screen’s progress and adds to his reputation. Brigitte Helm is a wonderful actress, full of charm, temperament and intellectuality, and she has never surpassed her performance here. It is magnetic, compelling and wholly human. Neither has Warwick Ward been seen to better advantage than as the colonel. He is natural and effective in every movement and expression. Franz Lederer has the difficult role of the idealistic lover who refuses the most alluring blandishments for the honour of his ideals and love. He presents the character admirably. Ken Maynard is the star of the second big picture, a Western thriller entitled “The Canyon of Adventure.” “MADAME X” AT MOUNT EDEN “Madame X,” the powerful emotional drama of the stage, is now being presented at the Crystal Palace Theatre this evening as a talkie, with Ruth Chatterton as the star. Not only does the picture version retain everything that the stage play had, but adds a great deal more—and it is presented in a series of concentrated dramatic scenes that crowd three times the drama into the same length of time that it took to present the play. Lewis Stone is seen as “Floriot,” the stern husband, whose treatment of his erring wife drives her forth on her weary and anguished journey to the ends of the world. As the stern logician and clumsy lover he gives a splendidly restrained performance, while his talking voice, trained by long years on the stage, leaves nothing to be desired. Miss Chatterton makes her role one of the emotional triumphs of her career.