MAJESTIC

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1014, 3 July 1930, Page 17

MAJESTIC

“THE GREEN GODDESS” The polish o t an English gentleman and the heart of a Chicago gunman. That is the nature of the role that George Arliss portrays in the exciting melodrama, “The Green Goddess,” a new Warner Brothers’ all-talking Vitaphono production, which is coming to the Majestic Theatre today. Mr. Arliss made this role famous on the stage and silent screen, and now he has put it into permanent Vita- j phone form. Only with the new medium ' of talking pictures could the famous star get, across to a new audience all the delicious devilry of the character of the suave Indian Rajah who baited his guests with taunts of torture and death, while entertaining them with all the lavish hospitality of an East Indian potentate. Arliss is past master of the polished and heartless roles, and always succeeds in both delighting and shocking an audience. - In the stage production of “The Green Goddess,” written by William Archer, ho delighted Arv»rwi«ir»r,« «silences for more than three years, and then took the play to Eon don, where it played for one year and a day. Tt was one of the m o s t successful plays ever written a melodrama that adapted itself perfectly to the stage and the screen. Following h i s success in the stage role, Mr. Arliss made a silent screen version which became an outstanding success. The new Vitaphone production promises to exceed its predecessors in popularity. Assisting Mr. Arliss is a notable cast, including Alice Joyce, H. B. Warner and Ralph Forbes. A 1 Green directed. Some particularly fine talkie featurettes will be shown on the new programme tonight. The best of these will bo songs by Madame Frances Alda, New Zealand prima donna, who will sing “The Last Rose of Summer.” ST. JAMES “NO, NO, NANETTE” In bringing the delightful musical comedy, “No, No, Nanette,” to the talking screen First National lias set a brilliant pace for other Hollywood studios to follow. This lavish spectacle, made partly in simply gorgeous technicolour, is showing to enthusiastic audiences at the St. James Theatre. It is impossible not to rave about the music. “King of the Air,” the big song number, has a swinging, virile tune that will live for a long time. It is sung by Alexander Gray, the youthful leading man, in a way that will make it stick to your memory. Alexander Gray, Bernice Claire, Lucien Littlefield, Louise Fazenda, Lilyan Tashman and others are in fhe cast of “No, No, Nanette,” which is proving one of the hits of the season. It contains the largest colour settings ever filmed.

Tlio remainder of the programme ut the St. James includes several shorter talkie items.