ENTERTAINMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 298, 13 June 1912, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

JOSEPH BLASCHECK. Mr. Charles W. Thompson arrived in town yesterday to make arrangements for the appearance here, on Thursday, June 20, of Mr. Joseph Blascheck and Miss Mildred Wrigbton, the well-known entertainers, who made such a favorable impression when they appeared here some time ago.

EMPIRE PICTURES. "A Spartan Mother" was starred at the Empire Pictures last night, and rightly so. It was billed as a spectacular war drama, and it quite came up to expectations. The story is dovetailed round an episode of the American civil war, and opens with a regiment of soldiers marching to the front. Included in their ranks are the husband and two sons of a noble gentlewoman. All three are killed in battle, and the sole remaining child—little more than a. boy—arrives home from college. Love of her country is placed before all personal considerations, and the mother consent* to this son also going to war. In th# midst of the lighting, which is screened with startling realism, his courage wavers, and he deserts. Arrived home, he is confronted by his own mother, who, although devotedly attached to him, compels him, at the pistol point, to rejoin a detachment of his regiment, who are in desperate straits. He takes with him the colors, and, heedless of danger, rushes to the front. The men rally round him, and eventually carry the day, hut the widow's son vindicates his honor only at the cost of his life. There are several battle scenes, in which the photographic effects are perhaps an advance on anything before depicted by the cinematograph. A rival to the "Fatal Wedding" is provided in "the shape of '"Tis an ill wind that blows no good." It mainly concerns the adventures of one of the "sons of the rich," who, tired of society life, takes up the calling of a laborer, marries the right girl, hut his mother objects, and the girl leaves him on this account, ami years after both she and her child are accidentally but heroically rescued from a burning building in a crowded povertystricken tenement by her long-lost husband. The fire scene is particularly realistic. An interesting industrial film, descriptive of the herring fishing industry, was also shown, along with "several good comics, and a splendid scenic subject, portraying the world's largest' monastery.