ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 283, 27 May 1912, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

EMPIRE PICTURES. A feature of the programme now - showing at the Empire Picture Palacs is the remarkable evenness of the films submitted. Every item of the lengthy programme is bright and interesting, and of particularly high merit, fully entitled to be starred on any programme. Needless to say, the large Saturday night audience went home thoroughly delighted and convinced that the management of this popular house of entertainment thoroughly understand the art of catering for their patrons. All the dramas are very powerful and are magnificently acted and exquisitely portrayed. In the Essanay drama, "Child of the West," a new actress is introduced to the picture world in the shapt of a tiny dot of three or four years,. and she will undoubtedly prove a favorite. "His Chorus Girl Wife" depicts the usual rich son who makes a mesalliance with a chorus girl, thereby calling down upon himself his father's anger. After various vicissitudes reconciliation follows. The Tannhauser drama, "The Signed Code," is a secret service intrigue, whereby a foreign countess in- ' duces a United States naval lieutenant who is infatuated with her, to lend her a secret code book, which she sells to a spy of another nation. While in the act of transference, a faithful sailor whom the lieutenant has befriended removes the code book and substitutes a brick. The intriguer's discomfiture on discovering the trick too late aroused the plaudits of the audience. "The Girl in the Motor Boat" depicts how ft faithful girl aids her poor inventor lover to outwit the machinations of his richer rival. The motor boat race, particularly, is a thrilling 1 circumstance. The Bporting series, "Wild Stag Hunt at Exmoor," was very attractive, the toning and light effects being very good, and the seen'' at the death after an exciting chose aroused sympathy for the quarry. One also wonders why some better use is not made of the vast expanse of,waste land which this picture shows exists for sport in the allegedly over-populated England. Variety and change of scene were provided in • a trip to various beauty spots of bonnie Scotland, and later on a skip across to the Continent showed the audience the famed Zuyder Zee and the quaint costumes of ths Dutch. The vaudeville turn provided by the Silver-Wire Queen entertained the audience immensely. The comedies created great amusement and indeed they are a remarkably fine lot, embracing "Winning an Heiress," "His Brother's Double," "A Diabolical Box," and "Joke or the Joker." The same programme will be screened to-night and to-morrow night.