AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 201, 25 August 1937, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

ROXY AND TIVOLI. Red-blooded action of the type that "fans" have come to expect from the Hopalong Cassidy stories is supplied in good measure in the latest of these outdoor romances, "North of the Rio Grande," which opened at the Roxy and Tivoli Theatres. William Bos'd comes to the screen for the eleventh time in the role of tlie hard-riding, square-shooting . "Hoppy," who within the space of a year has become one of the world's favourite "Western" heroes. With him ride "Windy." played by George Hayes, and "Lucky" Jenkins, portrayed by the handsome newcomer Russell Hayden. Taken from the Clarence E. Mulford novel "Cottonwood Gulch," the story is concerned with the manner in which Cassity rids a wildcat frontier town of its crook officials and in the same sweep annihilates a band of train robbers. Besides the hard-riding which characterises these stories, there are a number of exciting railway sequences which provide many thrills. Charming Bernadene Hayes is heroine. "Armoured Car" is a thrilling melodrama concerning twentieth-century pirates—gangsters. Their treasure is the cargo of the armoured and heavily guarded pay-roll trucks which transport millions ' daily in America in rash and securities. I Robert Wilcox and Judith Barrett, two newcomers, are co-starred. Irving Pichel. Cesar Romero and Inez Courtney head the supporting cast. EMBASSY THEATRE. Vivien Leigh, lovely newcomer to the screen who was so much admired in "Dark Journey" and "Fire Over England," plays . the role of Victoria, a 6tern provost's i daughter, in "Storm in a Teacup," a I delightful comedy which is now at the Embassy Theatre. It is the screen version of a famous stage play by Bruno Frank, a German playwright, who wrote it in order to expose the far too stringent dog control laws of his own country. Alexander Korda, when he made the film, put the setting in a Scottish village and produced a first-class film. James Bridie i wrote the screen play. He has drawn a : rich range of types and a vivid picture of life in a small Scottish village. Many of the sc&nes ate filled- with riotous comedy. One shows the provost, or mayor, a Parliamentary candidate being shouted down, or rather barked down at a political meeting at which hostile animal lovers are present in great force. Another shows him still more disconcerted I by an invasion of hundreds of dogs during a dinner at which he is entertaining a party leader. ST. JAMES' THEATRE. Sequels, as a class, are supposed to fall below the standard set by the original story and play. "After the Thin Man," now enjoying a successful season at the St. James' Theatre, is the exception that proves the rule. It captures once again, as no other film has done, the gaiety, the charm and the excitement that made "The Thin Man" the basis of comparison with any picture which remotely resembled it in mood or content. The film presents a gripping. mystery that reaches a tense and most unexpected climax. As Mr. and Mrs. Charles. William Powell and Myrna Loy again prove that their screen partnerehip is one of the happiest and most successful that the screen has yet presented. With their amused, affectionate tolerance and their refusal to take things I seriously, they brilliantly present a study of married happiness which is rarely captured on the screen. CIVIC THEATRE. Acclaimed by the majority of overseas critics as Shirley Temple's best picture, "Wee Willie Winkie." adapted from the famous Rudyard Kipling tale, is screening at the Civic Theatre. Perhaps the most ! striking feature of "Wee Willie Winkie" is that in it a new Shirley Temple is ; presented. Xot once is she called upon to display her familiar bag of tricks, the singing and dancing that have been conj sidered such standby" assets in other films. Instead, she is cast in a dramatic role, which she handles in masterly fashion and from which she emerges to face a future even more promising than before. The screen conception of Kipling's robust little adventure story is a happv combination of the elements of ptood entertainment. The plot, originally written around a small boy, has been altered to accommodate little Miss Temple and greatly expanded. MAJESTIC THEATRE. "iet another achievement by Australia to add to her successes thus far won along the road of film production is "Tall Timbers," which will begin a season at the Majestic Theatre on Friday. Shirley Ann Richards, I'rank Leighton and Campbell Copelin head the cast. It has been claimed that this film is superior to other Australian-made pictures. If it is a better picture than was "Rangle River," "The Squatter's Daughter and "It Isn't Done," then it should be a picture popular with local audiences. Miss Richards, it will be remembered, made her film debut, and made a fine impression at the same time, in "It Isn't Done." According to the story, Miss Richards is the adopted daughter of the head of a timber firm, who is rescued in the surf at Palm Beach by a handsome young man, Frank Leighton. Leighton has unscrupulous business rivals in his timber business, in a powerful timber trust headed by Ronald A\helan and Campbell Copelin. One of the most exciting scenes is that which shows a great timber drive in one of the great timber districts of Australia. REGENT THEATRE. "The Prince and the Pauper," the first talking-film version of Mark Twain's immortal adventure-romance, is now showing at the Regent Theatre. Errol Flynn heads the cast. Once more he is a swashbuckling swordsman. The story is that of two babies born in London at the same moment in the sixteenth century. one the young Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII., who first sees life in the Palace: the other Tom Canty, who I opens his eyes in the slums, the "son of a thief and a villain. By chancy they meet. For a lark they change clothes. Billy Mauch plays the pauper lad Bobbv is the prince. Fl.vnn is Miles Hendon. dashing soldier of fortune. What the stage and screen has always needed fand never had) to make a dramatic masterpiece out of Mark Twain's immortal story was a pair of identical twins—a couple of youngsters about 12 vears old who looked so much alike that even their piother could not say off-hand which was which. PLAZA THEATRE. With his monocle" and inane grin. Ralph Lynn is in his happiest mood in "All In."' I a farcical comedy of the kind in which i Lynn excels, which is to be the main ' attraction in a programme beginning at' the Plaza llieatre oil Friday. Fun-makers who assist the star in his side-splitting ! escapades include Sydney Fairbrother. | Gina Malo, Claude Dampier and Jack | Barty. Graduating suddenly from a posi- 1 tion with the Boy Scouts and the presidency of the local Working Girls' Home i to that proud position of sole owner and j proprietor of a potential Derby winner and ! a wrestling stadium together with a bunch ' of wrestlers, Ralph Lynn has ample oppnr- ] tunity for displaying his particular stvle ' of humour. The racing stable was left! Archie (Lynn) as a legacy, but he was inveigled into buying the stadium. He meets plenty of trouble when the tough wrestlers demand arrears of pay. Some of ! the funniest scenes are said to be those i near the end. when Lynn's horse, "The '< Taint," goes out to try and win the Derby. I Perhaps the idea of bringing the famous race into a picture occurred to Lynn when i his friend Tom Walls won the Derbv with ■ April the Fifth. , The public meeting arranged by Mr. W. T. Anderton, M.P. for Eden, at Sandringham last night, when lie proposed to deliver a pre-sessional address, was postponed on account of inclement weather.