AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 247, 19 October 1939, Page 14

AMUSEMENTS.

REGENT THEATRE. \\ ith the man who first made the rem li kable bailiin.m phenomenon a prime t';n .mi i!c the world over in the leading film mle. Aucklanders have a treat in s ' e ~ '."i' them when "The Lambeth \\ a!k is released for a local season at the Regent Theatre to-morrow. It is Lupino Lane, star of the stage success "Me and My Girl," in which the Cockney dance was featured for the first time. In its screen version it is an outstanding comedy success. Xo attempt at serious treatment, was ever considered, anil the result is hilarious. Lane has the role of a cockney. Bill Snibson. from Lambeth Waik. Our Bill inherits a title and is thereby shanghaied into society. Needless to say lie enjoys himself, but the same cannot be said of the gentry who are forced to receive him as a wealthy gentleman. Sally Gray, an attractive English miss, has the main feminine role, while others in a fine cast are Seymour Hicks. No rah Howard, Enid Stamp-Taylor, Wallace Lupino and May Hallatt. The Lambeth Walk sequence is a spectacular one and t.his almost ritual dance is sufficiently good reason for seeing the film.

ST. JAMES' THEATRE. Joan Crawford, James Stewart and Lew Ayres are the outstanding stars in the brilliant skating extravaganza "Ice Follies of 1930," which to-morrow will begin a local .-leason at St. James' Theatre. Miss Crawford reverts to the type of role in which she lirst attained cinema stardom and is stated to make the most o: her part. Another factor to take into consideration is that Joan for the first time is introduced as a singer in some of the finest numbers to come out of Hollywood this year. The story deals with the rapid rise to stardom of a young iceskater. Her ascent, however, leaves her husband in the shade, and there is drama and romance as th c pair work out their destinies. The skating sequences are among the most spectacular ever to reach the screen. Stars of this section of the film are the noted International Ice Follies Company. Players with important roles in the film are Lewis Stone, Lionel Stander and Bess Erhanlt. "Ice Follies" appeals to be one of the most important releases of the Hollywood season. It strikes a new pnte in musical entertainment, and it is a note that should appeal to all. MAJESTIC THEATRE. Delightful comedy marks the production "The Girl Downstairs," which is scheduled to begin an Auckland engagement to-mor-row at the Majestic Theatre, heading a well-balanced programme. Co-starred for the first time Franchot Tone and Franciska Gaal make an attractive pair, as a wealthy young man about town and the scullery maid. The Story, written by the noted European dramatist Sandor Hunyady. has its locale m Switzerland and is a gay narrative of the love affairs of a cosmopolitan architect. He falls lightly in love with the beautiful daughter of a wealthy old man, and is barred from the house. Nothing daunted he poses as a chauffeur in order to get in. Once there, however, lie falls in love ,with "the girl downstairs" in the kitchen. Walter Connolly is in good form as the excitable father> and others . in the cast are Rita Johnson, Franklin Pangborn,. Reginald Gardiner and Reginald Owen. Norman Taurog directed. Second picture on the bill is "I Stole a Million," an exciting melodrama which co-stars 'George Raft and Claire Trevor.

CIVIC THEATRE. One of the finest films ever to leave a British studio is the screen version of the A. E. W. Mason adventure classic "Four Feathers," which i« screening before large audiences in its season at the Civic Theatre. It is another production from the fertile brain of Alexander Korda, leading figure in England's motion picture industry, and it was directed by his brother Zoltan Korda, also a force in the business in that part of the world. Spectacular in it«v magnificent settings, the film is also a stirring saga of an Empire in the making. It deals with Kitchener's Sudan campaign and presents a story of the young English boy who irf branded a coward by his colleagues and sets out to rehabilitate himself. John Clements is the young Englishman who proves himself so convincingly in "Four Feathers," while Ralph Richardson adds more laurels to a reputation gained recently with outstanding portrayals in "South Riding" and "The Citadel." C. Aubrey Smith has a good part, while the main feminine player is .Tune Duprez. The technicolour photography is flawless throughout. MAYFAIR THEATRE.

Tlrat king of screen detectives Charlie Chan operates ana in in a baffling murder mystery, the film being "Charlie Chan at Reno," which heads the outstanding programme to be screened to-morrow at the Mavfair Theatre. After a few "trial runs" in the title role, Sidney Toler is by now a fully fledged Chan and proves that he is more than worthy of filling the shoes of the late Warner Oland. Complications pile one on top of the other in this melodrama, after a murder is combined with a marital tangle and Chan is called out to pin the guilt on one person from a bunch of half a dozen, all of whom had possible motives for murder. An outstanding cast pla.\s in the film. It is headed by Ricardo ('ortrz and Phyllis Brooks, while the-com-edians Eddie Collins .and Slim Summerville also have prominent and amusing roles. Associate feature on this prowill he "Ask a Policeman," the "copper" _in question being the everpopular English comedy artist Will Hay, I aided, abetted and hindered at the same time bv Moore Marritt, Graham Moffatt and Charles Oliver. Marcel Varnel directed the story by Sidney Galliatt. STRAND THEATRE.

Latest, and from many angles the most attractive, film to star young Bobby Breen is "Way Down South," his seventh production. which heads the excellent doublet'eatuic biil to be shown for the first time to-morrow .at the Strand Theatre. Life on a Louisiana plantation of pre-Civil War days is the essence of the story. Bobby is supported by a capable cast of well-known plavem who inelnne Alan Mowbray, Ralph. Morgunt Clarence Mnae,.. Duna, Sally Blane and Edwin" Maxwell. It is said that no small part in the success of the film is played by the famous 5«tll

Johnson choir, a group of coloured singers. Included in the old favourites heard in

"Way Down South" are "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers, ' "Xobody Knows the Trouble I See and "Peter Go Ring Dem Bella." By its simplicity and its appealing muaic the film is a worthy one to head any programme. Muae, in addition to having an important role, wTote the story and screen play, and also collaborated in two new soiifw. Ltipe Velez makes one of her rare appearances in "The Girl From Mexico," which is the associate feature. Leon Errol and Donald Woods have good roles. EMBASSY THEATRE. That no personal glorification may detract from the motive behind the story, an extraordinary decision was reached (hiring the production of the notable "The Kour Just Men," which to-day had its first screenings before large audiences at the Embassy Theatre. It was decided that the names of the men who played in the title roles should not be revealed. The til m first and foremost was made as exciting and memorable entertainment. But it was also made to expose the spy menace in the Empire by revealing the endeavours of enemies of >the nation, ever seeking to undermine the Commonwealth's strength. "The Four Just Men" are symbolical of our manhood and when they discover a plot to block Suez to cut off Australia from Englajid, they act as would every true Britisher in the circumstances. With the world in a turmoil it is a neat concept to screen the late Edgar Wallace's idea of the four just men of England, and it is n film thait could not have been more courageous or more outspoken. The names of players who appear in supporting roles are Anna Lee, Griffith Jones, Frank Lawton, Francis L. Sullivan and Hugh Sinclair.

ROXY—TIVOLI. The thrilling Western drama "Timber Stampede" is being screened now at the Roxv and Tivoli Theatres. Co-starred in the lead are Oeorge O'Brien and Marjorie Reynolds. "Ride. Ranger. Ride," with Gene Autry, is the other film.