PALACE THEATRE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10310, 20 January 1927, Page 6

PALACE THEATRE

“THE GREAT DIVIDE.’’ “The Great Divide/ - * which comes to the Palace to-day, commencing at the matinee, is a Metro-Goldwyn picture, presented by Louis B._ Mayer. The story is of the West of to-day; of a woman, cultured, educated and with the repression of the East, living among the hardships of the western country. Critics and {public alike have declared it- tile “great American play.’* It is an epic of the West; a powerfully dramaticstory of the elemental clash of a woman, tvpical of the repressed culture of the East, and a man typical of the fiery defiant, lawless spirit of the West. Alice Terry and Conway Tearle have the two ' leading roles with a supporting cast which' includes Wallace Beery, Zasu Pitts, Huntly Gordon, Allan Forrest, Lord Sterling, and William Orlamond. The story concerns a prim Massachusetts girl with New England ideals meeting a strange, uncouth man of the painted desert of Arizona. The girl is captured by three marauders of the West who are drunken and bestial. They shake dice' to see which will possess her, and the other two are not satisfied when Stephen Ghent wins,. so he has to fight one and give the other a chain of gold nuggets 'to seal the bargain. He marries the girl and when she has not yet become enough of a reality for him lie becomes her dreamed-of ideal lover surrounded by romance and adventure. By his passion he tears, down the ideal she lias woven around him and her pride makes her see herself as the property of a beast who has bought her with gold. She weaves baskets and sells | them to get money to buy herself back and eventually she obtains the original chain of nuggets, gives them to Stephen, and triumphantly leaves him. A baby is born, after which Stephen by his love and his kindness wins Ruth back.