HIGH PRAISE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 868, 11 January 1930, Page 23

HIGH PRAISE

“On With the Show ” is A Success COLOUR PICTURE TRIUMPH ‘•On With the Show,” one of the first all-talking, all-colour pictures. is the greatest event in the cinema world since D. W. Griffith produced “The Birth of a Nation.” That is the opinion of the film critic lor the London "Daily Chronicle.” Here is something entirely new, he jjeclares. The story is just the old, old tale p a theatrical company which had to • nake Broadway or bust,” and the fact that it is told with a pace, a tempo and a zip which makes the picture move like an express train is only incidental to its success. There are many other incidentals—lor example, the introductory chorus and dance, a thing of such fervour and fire that, at the private view, when the audience was composed mainly of the actors and actresses from London’s current musical comedies, there was apontaneous and enthusiastic applause. The secondary plot of the picture Is the laie of a youth who indulges in what he describes in execrable Kagllsh as "a phantim sweetheart.” He has an accident in a musical-com-edy hunting field, and sees his “sweetheart” when he is almost unconscious. Then follows what is, without question, the most beautiful example of colour photography ever seen on the screen. This is fairyland on the film, end is the best of the incidentals waich go to the making of "On With the Show.” But, apart from these things, the picture is a landmark in the history of cinematography, in that .it makes dialogue natural and not artificial. "On With the Show” has lifted film ! fcntertainment to new heights. Those who have felt that the black-and-white picture would remain, even in spite of the best that colour could achieve, will now be convinced that colour can enhance the reality and the dramatic force of any motion picture story out of all comparison with anything done jn black-and-white. * ;