PLAZA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 867, 10 January 1930, Page 14

PLAZA

NOW SHOWING “FLIGHT” “Flight,'’ the Columbia all-talking aerial drama which has been showing at the Civic, will be screened at the Plaza from today. It follows to the minutest detail the regulations and official conduct of the United States Aerial Marine Corps. The United States Government appointed Captain Francis E. Pierce, of the United States Flying Corps at San Diego, to supervise the making of the film. Pierce was chosen primarily because of his service in Nicaragua in 1928. As a sub-plot of “Flight” is the dramatisation of the Sandino uprisings in Nicaragua, Pierce seemed the ideal choice. His experience in Nicaragua coincide exactly with situations in the story. Pierce felt as though he was living over his Nicaraguan experience, as the technical details of “Flight,” the difficulties encountered by the actors, director and working crew, were not vastly different from the conditions he encountered in service. The battle scenes of the film that Pierce supervised are the most gigantic ever undertaken in motion pictures. For sheer realism nothing has approached them. Jack Holt, Lila Lee and Ralph Graves are the leading players. The Plaza programme includes a number of enjoyable talkie features. EMPRESS, NEWTON Two of the members of the all-star cast of “Three Live Ghosts,” United Artists’ all-talking comedy-drama now at the Empress Theatre, Newton, portray the roles they cheated in the original New York stage production of the famous play. They are Beryl Mercer and Charles McNaughton, footlight favourites in both New York and London. Miss Mercer, conceded the foremost character actress *on the stage, portrays the role of “Old Sweetheart,” while Charles McNaughton provides a brilliant characterisation of “Jimmie Gubbins,” her son. Others in the cast include Claud Allister, Robert Montgomery, Joan Bennett, Hilda Vaughan, Shayle Gardner, Harry Stubbs, Jack Cooper, Jocelyn Lee, Nancy Price and Tenen Holtz. The fine Lon Chaney drama, “Where East is East,” is the second attrac-’ tion. ROYAL, KINGSLAND "The Hole in the Wall,” the fascinating drama to be shown at the Theatre Royal, Kingsland, this evening, is a most unusual film. For one thing, it deals with a much-discussed subject—the thin partition between sanity and insanity. Secondly, the story, which deals with jew r el thieves and necromancy, is enacted by a . long and most capable cast, and all the actors are unknown to screen audiences as they are really New York stage players. "Stark Love,” the second attraction, is a true story of the lives and loves of people in the famous Kentucky mountains. “TONIGHT AT TWELVE”

One of the most colourful and best balanced all-star casts ever assembled was signed for Universal’s mysteryfarce, "Tonight at Twelve,” Owen Davis’s stage success, which has been made into an all-talking special under the direction of Harry Pollard. Madge Bellamy, whose return to the screen since her last success has been eagerly awaited, has the featured feminine role, while Robert Ellis has the featured masculine role. Margdret Livingstone, Mary Doran, Vera Reynolds, Norma Trevor, Hallan Cooley, George Lewis, Madeline Seymour, Josephine Brown and Don Douglas complete the cast. Lewis will appear opposite Miss Bellamy, an assignment which marks his graduation from the popular Universal “Collegians” series in which he was starred. _