AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 274, 18 November 1936, Page 10

AMUSEMENTS.

MAJESTIC THEATRE.

| To-night marks the ninety-third per- | formance of "San Francisco at St. James' Theatre. The picture has enjoyed I an unqualified run o£ success, and the total attendance must constitute a record. The success of the Auckland screening hag encouraged the management of the Majestic Theatre to continue the picture, and accordingly the film will be transferred to the Majestic on Friday. In this special production by the M.G.M. Company there is a wealth of adventure and some wonderful photography of the earthquake scenes. Jeanette Mac Donald s glorious soprano voice is heard m a range of selections, from. "Faust" and La Traviata," in operatic settings and costumftig, to hymns such as "The Holy City" and "Nearer, My God, lo lhee, and to catchy melodies like the theme song "San Francisco" and the sentimental "Would You?" As the survivors of the disaster look out across the hills over the ruined city and determine on construction of a new, clean metropolis for the glorious future, she sings the inspiring "Battle Hymn of the Republic." EMBASSY THEATRE. Crowds are still attracted to the Embassy Theatre, where the film# version of the famous Sinclair Lewis novel "Dodeworth" is screening. Starring Ruth Chatterton and Walter Huston in the main parts as Mr. and Mrs. Dodsworth, the picture is a great achievement and a credit to the company that produced it, United Artists. Ruth Chatterton, after a long absence from the screen, makes a meritorious return, and audiences have been impressed by her acting throughout the film. Opposite her, Walter Huston is at his best. The role of Dodsworth, self-made American industrialist, is a difficult one, and_ Huston emerges with flying colours. 'the story shows how he and his wife make for Europe for a little pleasure and how his wife falls in love with three different men who make advances to her. She divorces Dodsworth and then, just when he has fallen in love with Mary Astor, sends for him in a violent hurry -because her lover has left her. He returns, but, finding her nature unchanged, leaves her for good and marries Mary Astor. Credit must also be given to Miss Astor for a great performance as Dodeworth's comforter. Others in the cast are David Niven and Paul Lukas.

REGENT THEATRE. In the making of "The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss," which opens on Friday at the Regent Theatre, a great combination was assembled. From the pen of E. Phillips Oppenlieim, the romantic advantures of Ernest Bliss, the young millionaire who wagered with his medical "adviser" that he could live on what he could earn for a whole year, have delighted readers the world over. Now adapted for the screen by John L. Balderston, scenarist of "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer," "Berkeley Square" and "The Bride of Frankenstein," with Gary Grant, Hollywood star, as Ernest Bliss, the entertainment value is further enhanced by this combination, who have taken advantage of the scope afforded by the "living screen." The quest of millionaire Ernest Bliss is amazing. Starting off as an oven salesman, he makes a success of this, but only thanks to the use of his own capital. He then turns down a partnership under the terms of his bet and makes a modest attempt in a humble greengrocery, until the middleaged proprietress becomeis inconveniently 1 amatory. Bliss develops his own romance with the secretary to the oven business, Mary Brian, and the story follows their adventures until circumstances force the millionaire to reveal his identity.

ST. JAMES' THEATRE. There is a deceiving simplicity about the title of "Suzy," the picture opening on Friday at the St. James* Theatre. The title covers a story bristling with thrills. Jean Harlow, the loading lady, plays the role of an American chorus girl who finds herself mixed up in some extremely shady espionage business in London. Franchot Tone and Cary Grant, who play opposite her, appear in the unique roles of the two men who are married to 'her at different times. Miss Harlow is said to reach the highest point of her career in roles of the wur-time spy type. She has often appeared in such films before, but it is claimed that she has never filled the part with such distinction as in "Suzy.' In spy-infested London she meets a young inventor interested in aviation and marries him. He is shot under peculiar circumstances which point to her guilt. Terrified in the belief that he is dead, she escapes to Paris and there, while the war is raging, marries again. _ The first husband appears and her life is more deeply involved than ever, because he was her real love and still is. The ending, however, is satisfactory, for the second husband, a Frenchman, is eliminated from the story. Tone performs some daring feats in order to save the Frenchman's name and the final scenes show everyone satisfied.

AMALGAMATED THEATRES.

Current and coming programmes at the city picture-houses under the direction of Amalgamated Theatres, Limited, are as follow:—Civic, "My Man Godfrey," with William Powell and Carole Lombard; Plaza (Friday), "Sing, Baby Sing." with Adolph Menjou and Alice Faye; National (Friday), "Enlighten Thy Daughter, starring Herbert Rawlinson '• Roxy and Tivoli (current), "Arizona Riders," with Larry Crabbe, and "The Final Hour, with Marguerite Churchill and Ralph Bellamy; Strand (Friday), Joel McCrea and Joan Bennett in "Two in a Crowd.