“THE SKY HAWK”

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 929, 24 March 1930, Page 17

“THE SKY HAWK”

ZEPPELIN RAID ON LONDON | THRILLING FILM AT CIVIC Ribbons of light follow the • raider across the skies. . . . The silence of the night is broken by the bark of the anti-aircraft guns, the vicious rattle of machine guns, the roar of the bombs as they find their mark. . . . The people not underground watch a duel of a lone airplane and a monster Zeppelin in an agony of stispense and when the Zeppelin bursts into flames a pandemonium of joy breaks out. Something of the enthusiasm that held the crowds which watched Lieut. Robinson, of the R.F.C., in 1916 bring dow nin flames the first Zepplin to land on English soil, has been captured by the producer of ‘*The Sky Hawk,” which opened its Auckland season at the. Civic on Saturday. “The Sky Hawk” depicts in unforgettable fashion London in the grip of a Zeppelin raid, and the achievement of a crippled and disgraced airman in an effort to escape from the undeserved reproach of cowardice. The imagination is taxed in fathoming how the thrilling air battle over the metropolis between the aluminium dirigible an i the fearless birdman was ever staged for the cameraman. It may justly be claimed for “The Sky Hawk” that it dwarfs most of the other air pictures which have been shown in this city in its realism—“lt tops all previous air thrillers by 5,000 feet,” as a New York critic put it. In “The Sky Hawk” the panic scenes in London when a Zeppelin appeared and dropped its missiles into the teaming areas below (practically at random because of the strict observance of the light regulations) are achievements which it is difficult to believe were accomplished by even such a worldfamous organisation as Fox Films. Glimpses are given in a most realistic manner of the effects of the alarm siren, the shattering explosion of the huge bombs dropped from the sky, the boom of the guns, on the convicts in the gaols, patients in hospitals, on the theatre crowds and the inimitable savoir faire of some of the publichouse habitues, introduces a spice of humour. Love interest has not been allowed to occupy the whole of the stage but has been skilfully woven into the fabric. John Bardell, the chief character. is the son of an English peer and is in training for the Air Force, aspiring to be an ace". On his first solo flight he narrowly but cleverly avoids .hitting Joan Allen, the charming daughter of a Canadian judge. Thus is launched a friendship which quickly ripens into love. Army orders must be obeyed and one which is to send Bardell to France comes when he is planning to get married. At the last moment a smash takes him into hospital and a court martial decides that he crashed from “causes under his control.” Although branded as a coward he acquires an obsolete airplane and equips it as a fighting machine. Just as his machine is about to be commandeered a Zeppelin raid gives him his opportunity. Nothing has been seen in an air picture more certain to grip an audience than the thrilling duel which ensues thousands of feet up. Like a sky hawk, Bardell, his flight followed by hundreds of thousands of eyes below, climbs into the void and finally engages the Zeppelin. The closing scenes

) of the fight are such as to stamp “The •, 3 Sky JJawk” as a masterpiece of pictur- j Z isatiion. 3 John Garrick, who plays the part cf j / the young airman, was seen in Aucke land recently in ‘Rose Alarie.” He was then known as Reginald Dandy. He speaks and acts splendidly, as do t Helen Chandler as the girl Joan, and Gilbert Emery as his chief, Alajor < t Nelson. The voice of every single • 3 player is absolutely correct for a part -in this typically English story. :* The Civic’s supporting programme , was also most entertaining. On the ? musical side there is a rich feast for 5 music lovers in the excerpts from | “Mignon,” played with rare charm by | Ted Henkel’s Symphony Orchestra. At 3 the Civic Grand Organ Fred Scholl s plays the beautiful "Humouresque” (Dvorak) and “On the Road to Man- - dalay,” with Rudyard Kipling's words. . Other items were a sound cartoon and - a talkie comedy, in addition to the s j ever popular Fox Movietone News.