AMUSEMENTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 114, 16 May 1941, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS

"I WANT A DIVORCE" EMBASSY Geraldine (Jerry) Brokaw . Joan Blondell Alan MacNally Dick Powell Wanda Holland Gloria Dickson Jeff Oilman Frank Fay Grandma Brokaw Jessie Ralph Grandpa Brokaw Harry Davenport Director: Ralph Murphy. Paramount. A refreshing chance from the customary divorce theme, "I Want a Divorce,"' which opened its Auckland season at the Embassy Theatre last ninlit, is t entertainment, with a dramatic finale and a score of striking incideuts that arouse haunting memories relating to the sucrose of the divorce system. Comedy |ncdon "nates—-bright, infectious comedy that carl H?s ipatrons light-heartedly to an unc.Cpcctcd dramatic climax, and yet sets in motion beneath the diverting entertainment a serious, worth-while undercurrent of thought on divorce and it<* repercussions. Excellent supporting films of overseas current events, featuring General Smuts at. the front, a Grantland Rice sporting subject and a comedy cartoon round off the entertainment. Breezily embroidered with the romance and ambitions of lovers, the delights ol" domesticity and the discomforts arising out of incompatibility of temperament, the story of "'1 Want a Divorce"' divertingly contrasts human problems in high life and middle-class homes, interweaving its way through the lives of three married couples. Impacting on the fortunes ot the central figures, Joan Blondell and Dick Puwell, with varying effects on their mental outlook, are the marital experiences of friends and acquaintances of the Hollands (Gloria Dickson and Conrad Nagel) and the Gilmans (Dorothy Burgess and Frank Fay). The Blondell-I'owell romance ripens into marriage in the gayest of atmospheres with many merry quips at marital misfits, despite the experiences of friends, to degenerate into the unhappincss of failure to shake together under the tci-;t of poverty. It is at this stage that Blondell and I'owell rise to the most effective portrayals in a brilliant presentation of the author's perspicacious use of tragedy and comedy in weaving the spectres of consummated divorces into contrast with the exaggerated trials of matrimony to make an engrossing" study of human emotions, with ever a laugh to point the moral. And a happy talc has a happy ending. Something of the work being done by the South African troojis in the Sudan and elsewhere in North Africa is conveyed by shots of General Smuts review- ! ing his Union's forces at home and in the fighting line. Life and sport in the immense swampland of Florida known as the Everglades makes an interesting story of queer folk and fish. 1

AMUSEMENTS GUIDE CIVIC SQUARE—Amusement Park. TOWN HALL (Concert Chamber)—" East of Sewers." PICTCBE THEATRES CENTURY— Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard in "They Knew What They Wanted." ClVlC—Martha Scott and William Gargan In "Cheers For Miss Bishop. ' MAJESTIC—WaIter Pidgeon in "Sky Murder" and Richard Arlcn in "Black Diamonds." ROXY—-Bill Elliott in "Beyond the Sacramento" and "King of the Sierras." BT. JAMES"—CIark Gable sad Vivien Leigh In "Gone With The Wind." BEGEVT-Oary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll In North-West Mounted Police." PLAZA—Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard *n Tne Great Dictator." ° Xl £?, D T£ l ?!f r **° gers ln "Kitty Foyle" and Dr. Christian Meets The Woman." EMBASSY—Joan Blondell and Dick Powell ln "I want A Divorce." BTB iii ,l l~i 3e £!!s e Raft and Ann Sheridan In "The Roaa To Friscq. BE< ByTiight " Msrk °' Zorro " * nd "They Came BIALTO— "Elizabeth and Essex" and "One Crowded Night.-' BTA "Raffles mmd " B,r ** , >—D»vid Niven ln STA^rmr^^i«." No ' No ' Nanette '' and " The STA L E .„^.r^y. r ?. ) -" The Sea Hawk" and "For STRAND (Onehunra)—"Young Tom Edison" and "Buck Benny Rides Again." * TV ?he l- Sl«nS n- ' 1 the Socramento " and "King ol TUBOB—"Spring Parade." VlC Spooks"" SPr ' n * Pa «Kle" and "Beware. VOGUE—"Come On. George" and "Malsle." AVON J' K ' l , ty Foyle" and "Dr. Christlan Meets The Woman." AST .?*—," Th ® Shop Around the Corner" and "You're Not So Tough." ADE Alone"" " T ' n Pan Alley " ,nd " We Are No' ALEXANBBA— Closed for Rebuilding. *—"Broadway Melody of 1940" and AV °Mal A le^ — " S ° Uth ° f the Border " an d "Congo BW ?'*'J N, *~''Prlde and Prejudice" and "Forty Little Mothers. BEBKELEY (Mission Bay)—" Dance, Girl, Dance." CAl c£rgV"" Th " °' d Mald " and "Smuggled CBYBTAL PALACE—"Elizabeth and Essex" and "One Crowded Night." DB Bunga?ow" BlUeblrd ' Bnd ~Thß Chinese OBEY LYNN—"Andy Hardy Meets A Debutante" and "Untamed." GAIETY—"Dr. Kildare's Strange Case." KING'S (Northeote)—"The Man I Married." LIBERTY (Farnell)—"Nick Carter. Master Detectoctive and "Stage To China." BOYAIj—"The Great Victor Herbert" and Judge Hardy and Son." PICTUBEDBOME (Milford)—"Gulliver's Travels." PR, "£L!h™Et*?~" Dr - Klldare Goes Home " and PRINCESS—"AII This and Heaven. Too." BEG .Kl T .i l £ som . ) —" Luck y Partners" and "Invitation to Happiness." RADIO PROGRAMMES IYA-7.30 p.m., Symphonic programme by Sir IkC1 k C Hall Orchestra; Husch (baritone); 9.29. Joseph Szigetl (violin) and Orchestra of the Paris conservatoire. 2YA 7T 7 - 45 P-"?- Melody Masters; 9 25, Songs for Ba °d Boomerang uith Australia. From Australia: The Cairns Citizens' Band. From New Zealand: The Woolston Band. IIX—B.O p.m., "Rhythm All the Time"; 9.0. "Sine As We Go ; 10.0, Light rccitals. IZM—7.O p.m.. Orchestral and Instrumental items' wieWd»t." Tit-bits; 8.40. "Pamelas