“GIRL FROM HAVANA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 892, 8 February 1930, Page 14

“GIRL FROM HAVANA”

EXCITING TALKIE AT MAJESTIC STRONG SUPPORTING PROGRAMME “The Girl from Havana"—it sounds intriguincj, and so it is. This is the title to the big picture at the Majestic Theatre, which screened in Auckland for the first time last evening, provided a bright entertainment to a large audience. It is a melodrama, swift-moving in every sense of the word, in which the cunning plans of a band of thieves for a big jewellery haul are badly upset by a girl detective and a young hero whose true identity is not betrayed until the end of the picture. He had joined the thieves for the purpose of finding out the murderer of his father, and he “gets his man." For the most part the cast includes those who appeared in “Speakeasy.” It includes Lola Lane, Paul Page and Warren Hymer. Miss Lane with her easy and rather blase manner makes the ideal woman detective. Except in a large jeweller’s store, where the daring robbery is made by the aid of a mad dog rushing round and putting to fright the shopwalkers, shop-assistants and others, the scenes are mostly on board a steamer bound for Havana. The “gang" make a get-away shortly after the "“stunt,” and are on the steamer for Havana when the girl is detailed to capture the thieves. A company of chorus girls is travelling by the same vessel, and she goes as one of them. Under this disguise, and assisted by a young steward, she soon has the thieves sorted out. A thrilling fight, in which is intermingled a little gun-play, brings the exciting picture to a finish. The supporting programme is a first-class one. “The Skeleton Lance,” a novel sound cartoon, spells a series of laughs from beginning to end. The antics of three or four skeletons dancing among the tombstones of a graveyard, while perhaps a little uncanny and even gruesome, provides a most amusing entertainment. Then there is a comedy which is chock-full of adventures. Its title is “Lancing Gobs,” and in this two actors dressed as sailors are taken in charge by a detachment of shore police. At the naval yards they break every rule in the book, and finally escape by dressing in admirals’ uniforms and marching past the guards to receive the salute with the usual pomp and ceremony. “The Irish Fantasy” contains some splendid scenes, and the singing of old Irish songs, while the Fox Movietone News, featuring life in Switzerland, brings a fine supporting programme to an end. The Majestic Orchestra under Mr. Whiteford Waugh plays several popular musical numbers.