ENTERTAINMENTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 139, 25 March 1935, Page 8

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE. There was a time when Hollywood could fake anything, but Cecil B. De Mille, director of Paramount's "Cleopatra," concluding at the Majestic Theatre to-night, would not stand for faking in his latest picture. Hollywood foimerly reproduced metal objects in wood, painted them with gilt paint to represent the metal, and supposed that no one was the wiser. But when "Cleopatra," which features Claudette Colbert, Warren .William and Henry Wilcoxon, was filmed, hundreds of swords, spears, suits of armour, daggers, and even the ornate brass scrapers with which Roman nobles scraped the oil from their skins when they came from the public baths were made of the metal originally used for such objects. It was De Mille's contention that such objects when made of wood or paper macho never gave the real effect for the simple reason that they Avere too light. "THE WIND AND THE RAIN." * To-morrow night at His Majesty's Theatre the J. O. Williamson Ltd. New London Company will present for the first and only occasion here the brilliantly clever and 1 very entertaining comedy triumph "The Wind and the Rain," which was written by the New Zealand playwright, Dr. Merton Hodge, and which has been running continuously in London for over 15 months. There has been a large demand for seats at the box office, and to-morrow night promises to prove one of the most memorable in the theatrical history of Ashburton. New Zealanders are proud of the fact that a New Zealander has made a name for himself among the world's best Known writers of plays, and that there is outstanding merit in "The Wind and the Rain" has been proved by the successes it has achieved not only in England, Australia and New Zealand, but in America, France, Germany and Belgium. Merton Hodge was born in New Zealand and playgoers of this Dominion should appreciate the fact that he is now regarded as the best young playwright in England. The piece is a deliciously simple story of a young student's adventure when he was trying to qualify as a surgeon at Edinburgh University. He had left a Jill in London with whom he had grown up and whom he expected -.to marry. He met an Anne in Edinburgh and for five years their love adventures were idyllic. It was Anne who helped him through his college tasks. He found afterwards he could not well go on without her, so he explained it all to Jill in London and went back to Anne in Edinburgh.