TALKIE MASTERPIECE AT MAJESTIC, WEDNESDAY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 222, 21 October 1929, Page 2

TALKIE MASTERPIECE AT MAJESTIC, WEDNESDAY.

• Ever gince the preliminary announcer ment that the Majestic Theatre ^management was instaliing a Pacent talkie plant in the popular house of entertainment ihe town has been agog with l'umours in respect to the plant. and Napier pictn.regoe.rs have been eagerly awaitiug the further anno.uncement as to -the opening night. Ihe Pacent equipmeiit, the first complete instclllation of its kind to b6 fitted in a New Zealand picture , house. has been. in Napier for some days now and a competent staff of mechanicians, under the direetion of the Pacent agents' own engineer, has been engaged in. .the: work of instaUation. The. main kevnotes of the Pacent equipnient are its simplicity and its compactnej?s and the work has thus far proceeded without a singie hitcii. Jt is the pojicy of the Pace.nt^ Corporation, however, to leave nothjng wlia-te'ver to eliance and therefore, while the plant will probably be in complete working-order by the beginning of next wee'k., the, new t.alkie season at The popular Majestic wiU not open until "Wednesday night next, giving tbose concerned an opportunity to carry qut eshaustive tests and remedy _any minor default which might occur within the bounds of possibility. The Pacent has been accjajmed by experts as the master product of its type 011 the mafket and its repu.tation in this respect h.as been further en'hanced by the remar.kable number of American theatre proprietors who have abandoned other -plants in its favour. At any -rate Napier theatregoers will have ap -opportunity of judging the machine's merits for themsejves on ,'Wednesda.y evening next and for their opening picture the management cpu'ld not have hit upon a happier choice than "Father and Sou," the colossal Cojumhia masterpiece, which proved so popular with audiences tlirougliout A.mejica. The dialogue in this production., -one_ of -the very latest- releases-to ar-ri-ve- in the---' Dojninioii. — -frbn|"the land of -the stars and bars," is etated. to be particularly fine, rivalling anyfhing yet heard in the talkie sphere. Jack Holt is the featured player, supported by Dorothy Revier, Helen Chadwic'k and Micky : McBain, to name but a few in va br.illiant caste. The theme of this screenic masterpiece, while not unlike "Sorrell and Son" in some respect®, is said to be something quite outside the usual run. The story. tells of the wonderful friendship existing between a father and his young son—a .great comradesbip, which it seems notbjng cap ever sunder. It is broken, however, when the father marries for the second time, ignorant that the woman he has taken for his second wife is notbing more or less than an adventuress. The son senses this and thinking to bring his father to reason refuses point blank to stay in tlie house. The re§ultant sequences are full of drama, involving tnurder and tlie apprehension of the father o n a .eproner's wnrrant. His inherent love of his father coming to ' his aid, the son makes a false con-. fession to save him from the chair, preferripg to go himself, but as it happens he does not do so, since the whole mystery is finally solved in the most simple and yet the most ingenious manner possible. To disclose further would be inerely to utterly . ,.in the. enjoyment of Yvrednesday night's andience. The production has been hailed as- a greater effort in many respects than the much vaunted "SorrelJ and Son." The plot is worked out sympathetically. with welj snstained ' suspehse, an effective spnnkliug of comedy and- an excellent portrayal by the youthful star Micky McBain, quite outside of Jack Holt's vjrile and masterly. characterisation. The management is-sparxug oo painfs'to make this opening programme a record one in every respect and. the suppoj-tjng programme, to be announced-' later, * wfll be of an eqnajly high standard.' Intending patrons would be well advised to hook eai'ly and make certain of securing a seat.