NICHOLL'S PICTURES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 177, 31 March 1915, Page 4

NICHOLL'S PICTURES.

“SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.”. Concerning this great cinema, to be shown in Taihapo on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at the Three Stairs Theatre, the Wellington Post said: — “Sixty Years a Queen,” a remarkable historic animated picture of a characb ter never previously attempted, was introduced before a thronged attendance at the King's Theatre last evening. The subject is more than a mere cinematographic enactment, it is a moving chronicle 'of famous landmarks in national progress during the longest reign of any British sovereign. The reign of Queen Victoria was singularly notable for the vast strides made in literature, science, and the arts. The film is the- work of .the Barker Company, a British firm, and is a creditable achievement from many standpoints. There are no palpable stage and makebelieve, no ill-fitting disguises or obvious scenic fakes. The mountings are magnificent, the costumes elaborate and carefully adapted to the various periods, and the two principals have been so carefully selected that one could almost imagine that the real persons have been conjured up from the past to act their parts over again. The screening of the work was punctuated -1 by frqeuent outbursts of applause. It would be impossible In the limited space available to detail every event or episode. The prelude to the work is the deathbed scee of William IT, Then follows the hasty journey on horseback of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham from Windsor to Kensington to announce to the young Princess Victoria that she is Queen of the British Empire. Everything is quite natural, whether it be the young Queen holding her first Council at Kensington Palace, or mounted on her white charger watching her first review at Windsor Park. A feW of the most impressive spectacular scenes are the Coronation •ceremony, a Stale Ball , the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert in IS4O, the Christening of the Prince of Wa'cup opening the first; international exhibition at Crystal Palace, the Queen receiving a body of wounded soldiers home from the Crimea. Presenting medals to the Crimean troops, a. heroic incident in the Indian mutiny, presenting the Victoria Cross, marriage of th-i; Prince of Wales, Queen opening Park iament for the first time since the death of her husband, and the jubilee service at Westminster Abbey. The running commentary by Mr. Barrie Marshal is., instrucitvc and entertaining.” The production occupies almost the entire pro-, gramme, which contains only one other item, “The Pathe War Gazette.” ,•