ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 58, 28 August 1911, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

SAUNDERS' PICTURES. Excellent projection, clear and steady light, applied to the latest and best subjects in the motion picture world, it is little wonder Saunders' Pictures have gained a wide and well-deserved popularity. The pictures exhibited on Saturday night were, without exception, brilliant examples of the highest art in motion photography. Prominent on the list was the magnificent Shapespeu rian tragedy, "Hamlet." Another item ranking as a star was a Vitagraph. masterpiece, a tale of the French Revolution, "A Republican Marriage." The wonderful effect of light and shade throughout this film, combined with the exceptional' clearness and definition of photography, place this picture on the topmost pinyiaclo of the Vitagraph Company's success. "The Culture of Bulbous Flowers" (colored) is a pretty flower film, depicting the culture of bulbous flowers, and in particular the hyacinth, tulip and narcissus. "Hamlet" was shown for the last time on Saturday, and will he replaced to-night by a Neapoleonic classic, "The Price of Victory," a splendid dramatic subject, based upon one of the many more or less probable incidents of the martial life of the great Napoleon. | The picture is rich in scenic effects and | excellent photographic quality, and there I are dramatic moments that are intense. It is a matter of record that because of the great demands of Napoleon for recruits he came to be thoroughly hated by reason of the continual drafting of young men for his armies. The story opens at the home of a peasant whose son had been ordered to join the army, and the aged father becomes quite desperate as the boy marches to battle. A great battle is fought, ind the scene of the battlefield after the carnage is effectively portrayed. Napoleon and his generals ride slowly and mournfully past the heaps of the slain. As they pass out of the scene the aged father of the drummer boy comes seeking his son. He finds the corpse and conveys it to his home. The reverent handling of these scenes are most impressive. Later the great Napoleon and his staff enter the house of death, and Napoleon calls for writing material to send a despatch. A servant seeking a light attempts to take one of the candles which the aged father has placed at the head of his son's body, but is prevented by the father, who curses the great commander in bis grief. Napoleon enters the room and gazes on the corpse of his drummer and upon the father bowed in grief at its side. The scene that follows is especially touching and dramatic. Finally the great general takes a badge of honor and pins it on the breast of the dead soldier, spreads a flag over the lifeless form, and depart* mournfully from the room. Pathos and patriotism have been so skilfully blended in this subject, and the acting'so reverent and dignified as to result in a composition which will prove to be a class amongst motion pictures. The full programme will be repeated to-night and to-morrow night.