TALKING PICTURES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 128, 12 March 1936, Page 10

TALKING PICTURES.

CHATS ABOUT THE CINEMA. (By “ Spotlight.”) Metro-Golchvyn-Mayer have bought the talkie rights of Sienikiewiez’s “Quo Vadis?” Irving Thalberg will produce Previous versions of the story were made in 1921, 1925, and 1929. Richard Tauter. Ilichard. Tauber has a magnificent reputation as a tenor, and his concerts all over the country were packed and his recording discs sold by the thousands. Yet when he appeared in “Blossom Time,” his first English film, he was acclaimed overnight as one of the foremost singing film stars 'in the world. The film broke records throughout the world wherever it has been shown. The readers of the “Film Weekly” one of the most influential and jopular fan journals printed in England, adjudged it to be, in their opinion, the most popular British film of the year. Tauber’s latest film “Heart’s Desire,” the week-end attraction at the St. James Theatre has a much more powerful and human story than “Blossom Time,” and has a modern background with modern thought and feeling. Tauber has a fine bunch of songs to sing. There are several by Schumann—the lovely “Devotion’-’ and “A Message Sweet as Roses.” Another number, featured with great success by Tauber on the records and introduced in the film is “Vienna, the City of My Dreams.” The others were specially written for the picture by the tenor himself. They are entitled “My World is Gold Bccauso You Love me,” “Let Me Awaken,” and “All Hope is Ended.”

Maureen O’Sullivan and Robert Montgomery, who appeared together in the successful film, “Hide-Out,” will be featured together again in “Small Town Girl,” which will go into production as soon as Misr O’Sullivan finishes her present Tarzan picture with Johnny Wiessmuller.

Zane Grey Story* “Wanderer of the Wasteland” which comes to the Majestic Theatre on Saturday is based on the famous Zane Grey novel of that name. The story tells of a man forced to roam the desert wastes as an outlaw after being unjustly accused of a crime he did not commit, preying on innocent prospectors in the romantic gold mining days of the western states. How romance enters his life and the way he absolves himself of guilt provide many tense, thrilling complications that wind up in an excellent surprise finale. The desert towns of Picacho, Yuma and others that since have become “ghost towns” of the West are familiar places to the author through his frequent journeys by horseback and on foot, gathering material for his novels. The supporting players in this thrilling western drama of the old gold mining days of the West include Larry “Buster” Crabbe, Monte Blue, Raymond Hatton, Trixie Friganza, Anna Q. Nilsson, Benny Baker, Fuzzy Knight, Charles Waldron and A 1 St. John. The uproarious comedy “Here Comes Cookie,” starring George Burns and Grade Allen is the associate feature on this double feature programme which is at present showing to packed houses at the Plaza Theatre, Christchurch.

A picture that is at once an outstanding dramatic entertainment and an intense psychological study is “The Flame Within,” co-starring Ann Harding and Herbert Marshall. The new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer special comes to the St. James Theatre next Thursday. Ann Harding, in the richest dramatic role she has played since she abandoned the stage for the screen, gives a vital, convincing, dynamic portrayal of a famous woman psychiatrist. Herbert Marshall, as the reliable, likeable pillar of the medical profession, makes the ideal team mate for the blonde cameo beauty. Maureen O’Sullivan, who probably has climbed toward stardom faster during tho past year than any other young actress, surpasses even her outstanding performances in such pictures as “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” and “David Copperfield.” The screen play, an original by Edmund Golding, the director, concerns a celebrated and beautiful woman psychiatrist, whose work of untangling the mental cobwebs of others is more than a profession—it is a religion. With capable advice and superior knowledge she finds solace for many persons caught in the emotional upheavals caused by frustrated romance. 'She believes that she herself is immune from these strange romantic ills, but coming face to face with the same dilemma of so many of her patients, she becomes the same hysterical, unreasonable, jealous woman that she heretofore had both pitied and inwardly criticised.

“The Silver Streak." The hair - raising thrillers of the Pearl White and Helen Holmes era, pale into insignificance when compared to the modern thriller of the rails, “The Silver Streak," which commences its Ashburton season at the ISt. James Theatre with a special children’s afterschool matinee Tuesday next at 3.30 p.m. ft shows a train going at an incredible speed, with the engineer at death grips in the cab. Around curves it goes, and through switches that open just in time,missing freight trains by an eyelash, over drawbridges that close in the nick of time. The relief from the thrills aside from a strong love interest between Sally Blane and Charles Starrett as the romantic leads, is the comedy team of funny men, Edgar Kennedy, Arthur Lake and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams. The picture features ■ the new streamline train of the Burlington Railroad which, together with Boulder Dam, comes to the screen for the first time in “The Silver Streak.” Also in the cast are Hardie Albright, William Farnum, Theodor von Bltz and ©oris Dawson.