ENTERTAINMENTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 277, 4 September 1936, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

ST. JAMES THEATRE. The Marx Brothers furnish the fun, and three singing favourites of the Broadway stage, Kitty Carlisle, Allan Jones and Walter King, furnish the songs in “A Night at the Opera,” at the St. James Theatre finally to-night. Previewed on the stage to test original comedy situations before a single scene was filmed, the new comedy is the most ambitious and riotously funny of the Marx releases. The first of Cinesound’s “World Standard Productions” is “Thoroughbred,” the picture all Australia is waiting for, and this great epic of the Australian turf, culminating in a sensational climax revolving around the world-famous Melbourne Cup, brings you a lifetime of suspense, thrills, excitement, and glorious romance. The picture will show at the St. James Theatre to-morrow at the matinee and in the evening and on Monday. “Thoroughbred” will indeed, win the enthusiastic plaudits and recommendation of everyone who has a spark of sportsmanship in his make-up. The specially selected “Thoroughbred” cast of international players is headed by the glamorous Hollywood star Helen Twelvetrees, with John Longden, popularly remembered as “The Dean” in Cinesound,’s “The Silence of Dean Maitland,” Frank Leighton, Nellie Barnes, Nellie Ferguson, and Harold Meade. Miss Twelvetrees’ name will naturally be a decided, asset, for overseas release, and this same charming little Helen, who so endeared herself to all with whom she worked on the production of “Thoroughbred,” is certain to captivate the hearts of audiences everywhere. Other production highlights of “Thoroughbred” are the photography, which has always been of the highest standard in all Cinesound productions, and the Cinesound (AllAustralian) recording—features indeed worthy of every praise.

MAJESTIC THEATRE. The story of “Boulder Dam,” showing finally at the Majestic Theatre toright, carried a glamorous romance m which a pretty singer in a dance-hall inspires a shirker, disgruntled with the world, to do heroic deeds and to make something of his life. There are scenes showing the construction of the dam, including the wrecking of a runaway dynamite car and the saving of a man hanging from a boom hundreds of feet above the river-bed—an actual ingA double feature programme, “Beggars in Ermine,” and “The Moonstone” will be shown at the Majestic Theatre to-morrow and on Monday. Lionel Atwill, incomparable delineator of sinister characters, adds furtner to his reputation by his splendid portrayal ol : a powerful role in “Beggars in Ermine,” and the production itself is worthy of the best efforts of its notable star. Here is the story, a picturesque, romantic one of a beggar, who, brought to a calamitous state by “outrageous fortune,” hoards his savings for that day when he will he able to claim all that was once his, and to gain revenge on the man who tricked him. There is poignant drama and deep pathos in the story that tears at the heart-strings ; and there is comedy relief, too. 'Lionel Atwill gives a soulstirring portrayal of John Dawson, who, after losing both legs in an accident in his own steel mill, is tricked out of his interest in the mill, and loses his wife and daughter, who ran away with the man responsible for his financial loss.

And now comes that great mystery story that for more than half a century has sent chills and fetter racing up and down the vertebrae ol this and at least two preceding generations. Wilkie Collins’ mystery melodrama “Moonstone,” which too long has been neglected by the picturemakers, although written by an Englishman with an English locale, has become as popular in America as it is in England, and Monogram certainly deserves a word of commendation in revitalising its creepy thrills on the screen. The story involves the inheritance of a stone brought from India.