EXTENDED SEASON OF "THE BLACK WATCH"—MAJESTIC.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 285, 6 January 1930, Page 2

EXTENDED SEASON OF "THE BLACK WATCH"—MAJESTIC.

The Fox 'Movietone masterpiece, "The Black Watch," played to another house in which there was not a vacant seat at the nopular Majestic on Saturday night. Not oue member of the audience was found bu t had a full meed of praise for the picture as oue of the greatest epic masterpieces that has ever been seen. either on talking screen or legitimate stage. It had a particular appeal to those of Scottish extraction. There was heart-stirriug appeal in the scenes drpicting the leaving of the troop trains from Victoria station with their loads of cheerful Highlanders, bound for the mad and blood of Flanders and in the scene which showed the gollant piper swinging along the treuch parapet, with his pipes skirling. to hearten his comrades, waiting in the trencli below for the order to go over the top. There was another type of impression in the scenes anu ngst the hills of the north west frontier, with the liostile tribesman lurking at every hand. waiting for a chancn to kill. Tlien there' was the un^ergettahle scene in the officers' mess of the 42nd. Highlanders with the pipers playing in every eourse and there were few dry eves amotigst the audieiue after the singing of "Annie I-aurie" and others of the old favourites by one of Scotland's finest voeeJ'sts. It is morally certain that no p'Oture in the brief history of the talkies has approached within miles of "The Black Watch" for the vivid union of the art of photograirhy with that of sound. The indefinable charm of Tndia was earried to a vemarkable degree t'broughout this epic. which contained many scenes wliich seemed nlmost to live and breathe. As the story unfr lc'ed one forgot the faet that one was sitting in a theatre, gazmg at v. screen. and was transported tn the land of Kinling. with its bcdlaux of noise, the. rhytlunic beat of drums anr1 the multitudinous sounds that echo in the streets of the frontier towus. Softly, as if far off amo'ngst the hills, the- music of the pipes ran through the story as a silver thread. "The Black Watcli" was a feast for the eyes and ears and last niglit' s audience literally gasped at its sheer beautv. McLaglen was ruperb as the officer concerned. Captain Donald King. of the Black Watch, the man who threAv up all that was dear to him in order to best serve his countrv's interests. His hearing throughout was heyoic. without ever partaking of heroies. In Myrna Lov, the bewitching, seductive and eniumatic figure of a suner-wonian, McLaglen found an admirable foil for his art. The picture's many great qualities were excellently hlended. It was a tale of love and adventure, of intrigue and passion. From one situation to another the story moved, the duel constantlv mounting in iutensitv to a bveath-taking climax. It was all magnificept entertainment. stirring the emotinns to an incalculable degree and certninly no finer talking picture has yet been screened in Napier.