GERMAN FILMS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10308, 18 January 1927, Page 5

GERMAN FILMS

NEW DEPARTURE BY N.Z. EXHIBITORS. (Special to the Times.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 17. < One of the interesting events in Auckland cinema circles this year will be the presentation at a local theatre of a series of German films. The list will include several of the most notable productions of the U.F.A. studios in Berlin, owned by the largest cinema combination in Europe, and will be headed by “Variety”, acclaimed throughout Europe and America to be the finest photoplay over made. Public presentation in New Zealand of German films may be said .to be a new departure in the exhibiting policy, for, although good pictures have been made'in Germany for the past five years, nobody has had the temerity to import them in the lace of unfavorable public opinion. Last year, however, it was felt that the decline of the anti-German sentiment warranted the importation of a few trial films, with the result that two German pictures were shown at Auckland theatres last September. They were “Destiny” and “Her Dancing Partner,” two average films, whose counti‘y of origin was camouflaged somewhat transparently under the label “Continental.” Subsequent events have encouraged a bolder policy. “Variety” and other German films have been successfully shown in the leading London and New York theatres. “Variety” itself was shown in 43 London theatres simultaneously, and was booked to the extent ol £40,000, a record for a German film.