CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21148, 26 April 1934, Page 6

CITY THEATRES

MAJESTIC "ORIENT EXPRESS" A really good programme is offered this week at the Majestic. It is a programme that has not a fault in it. The short features which take up the first part are good, and the main picture, "Orient Express," is a thriller with something more in it than mere thrills. "Orient Express," as the name obviously implies, is another train story, this time of the celebrated express from Ostend to Constantinople, but it surpasses in interest all but a very few films of the same type. Ine play is one which starts well, and sustains interest to the finish, and is all the time artistic and thoroughly convincing. An attractive feature is that although there are several wellknown players in the cast, there is no undue insistence on any one of them. The story starts at Ostend, where a number of passengers board the train for Constantinople. Heather Angel is an exceedingly charming heroine who takes the part of a dancer going to a job in the east. She is the centre of the play, but of little less importance are Norman Foster as a young business man, Ralph Morgan as a plotter against the government of a central European state, Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor as a bewildered Cockney man and wife, and Roy D'Arcy as an example of the cleverest type of Continental pick-pocket. The short features include a hilarious farce based on the famous "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.'' Anyone who saw the original film would recognise the comedy as something outstanding, but even those who saw it for the first time could appreciate it. Another of those dives into the dim past of movies is screened, and provides excellent entertainment. "BUREAU OF MISSING PERSONS" "Bureau of Missihg Persons," which comes to the Majestic on Monday, introduces audiences to a branch of the New York police department known by that name. The film is built up from a series of separate episodes. One, for example, deals with a musical prodigy who tires of being a genius and runs away, so that he can be like other small boys. Most of the incidents are comical, yet entirely credible, and the theme is treated good-humourcdly and without false sentiment. TIVOLI "A CUCKOO IN THE NEST" Ralph Lynn has already proved many times how easy it is to be absurdly funny, but perhaps never before has he been so ridiculous as he is in "A Cuckoo in the Nest," the GaumontBritish production of Ben Travers' farcical comedy, which began its second week at the Tivoli Theatre on Saturday. Tom Walls will be with him again, to lend wickedness to Lynn's horrified iimocence. As for Ralph Lynn, if there were nothing else in the picture except Ralph doing his original and painstaking best to curl up and go to sleep under a washstand, it would be worth paying to see. And part of that particular bit of fun is the outrageous manner in which Yvonne Arnaud, cosily installed in a comfortable bed, laughs at his struggles. She, by the way, re-enacts Margaret Hickett, the role she played so brilliantly in the original stage farce while the veteran actress, Mary Brough, recreates her part of Mrs Spoker, the acidulous and suspicious landlady of the village inn at Maiden Blotton. She has ample scope for delineating this narrowminded, highly "proper" old party and makes an important contribution to the success of the picture. Other fine comedy parts are given by Roger Livesey as Alfred the barman; Robertson Hare as Rev. Slolely-Jones, and Grace Edwin as the nagging Mrs Bone. "CRADLE SONG" "Cradle Song," starring Dorothea Wieck, a deeply-emotional story of mother-love and sacrifice, will be the next change at the Tivoli Theatre. Completely off the beaten track of motion picture entertainment, "Cradle Song" is a delicate handling of a difficult theme. The story tells of a child abandoned at a convent, and raised by one of tie sisters. As Sister Joanna, Dorothea Wieck has been longing for the motherhood denied her. She lavishes on the foundling all the love and affection she would have given to a child of her own. There is a moving climax when the child, grown to girlhood, meets a young man outside the convent and leaves to marry him. PLAZA "I ADORE YOU" "I Adore You," which is being shown at the Plaza, has in it all the ingredients of first-class musical comedy. The costuming and settings are lavishly done, the music is as good as anything that the screen has released, and the acting is good. Everything is there that a successful musical show needs. The music department is in the hands of Carroll Gibbons and his Savoy Orpheans, an internationallyknown band whose recordings are popular in this country. The Orpheans' music is, as mentioned before, as good as anything that the screen has yet produced, and a good deal better than most. It has in the main the clear-cut type of rhythm that many people find so attractive in English bands when contrasted with the rather flamboyant effects of most American combinations. The short features are excellent and well varied. There is an Australian newsreel, which is good, and also amusing, a clever series of band selections from RunenoS and his orchestra, and a Mickey the Mouse film, in which that star is as good as ever. GRAND "SONG OF MY HEART" John McCormack's famous film, "Song of My Heart," began a return season at the Grand Theatre on Saturday. "Song of My Heart" has met with wonderful success all over the world. The famous tenor is heard at his best, and he is supported by a strong cast. The film was made in Ireland and has Maureen O'Sullivan and Alice Joyce in the feminine roles. John Garrick and Miss O'Sullivan play the youthful roles, and Farrell McDonald : and J. M. Kerrigan supply a good deal of comedy. The supporting players and the extras are true Celtic I types, I The official sound film record of Archbishop Redwood's jubilee is also shown. His Grace gives a personal i interview.

REGENT "BY CANDLELIGHT" "I Like It That Way," an attractive musical romance, is featured at the Regent Theatre this week. The supj porting programme includes "How to Break 90," the first of the new Bobby Jones golf series, a clever cartoon and newsreels. Elissa Landi, Paul Lukas, and Esther 1 Ralston are among the cast which gives a vivid interpretation of "By Candlelight," which will start on Saturday at the Regent Theatre. It is a gay tale of Vienna and Monte Carlo, and is sophisticated comedy at its best. "By Candlelight" tells the humorous story of the complications . which ensue when a maid and butler, who are both servants of nobility, pretend to each other that they are . of royal blood. The philandering I habits of Count von Rommer, the ; employer of the butler, bring about ' a series of ludicrous situations which i make a most farcical plot. James ■ Whale directed "By Candelight" im- > mediately following his completion ■ of "The Invisible Man," and his intii mate knowledge of Continental mani ners and customs has proved most i valuable in this latest production. Box plans are at the D.I.C. CRYSTAL PALACE "GIRL WITHOUT A ROOM" A laugh in every quip and sally and many of them, makes "Duck Soup," starring the Four Marx Brothers, the featured attraction at the Crystal Palace Theatre this week, delightful entertainment. The supporting programme is good. "Girl Without a Room" will be screened at the Crystal Palace Theatre on Saturday. It is a gay medley of fun, but the romance supplied by Charles Farrell and Marguerite Churchill is fresh, appealing and believable, although it occurs in the setting of the Montmartre district of Paris. Charles Ruggles, Gregory Ratoff, Grace Bradley, and a quartet of amusing Russians set a fast comedy pace, and the story is hilariously funny. Charles Farrell appears as an artist who paints what he feels and not what he sees, and gets into trouble by winning a contest with his painting hung upside down. The dialogue is by Frank Butler and Claude Binyon, and the songs were written by Val Burton and Will Jason. /'Rooftop Serenade," sung by Sam Ash and Marguerite Churchill, and "You Alone," sung by Walter Woolf, are sure to please picture-goers. Box plans are at the D.I.C. THEATRE ROYAL "THE DEVIL TO PAY" Ronald Colman is a delightful ne'er-do-well, and his part in "The Devil to Pay," which opened a season at the Theatre Royal on Saturday, is probably one ot the best he has ever played. The film is a most successful adaptation of a typically English comedy. Tne situations are neat and well-arranged, the dialogue is much more subtle than that of the usual films of this type, and the supporting members of the cast are all well chosen. This particularly to a most attractive little terrier. "Good-bye, Again," the first film on the programme, is an American sophisticated comedy of more than average merit. All the work falls on Warren Williams, who plays the part of a popular author encumbered with many female hangers-on. He loves and laughs most pleasantly, until he finds himself rather too deeply compromised with another man's wife to avoid the attentions of her well-meaning relatives and her mild-eyed husband. Joan Blondell and Genevieve Tobin, his secretary and his lover respectively, both have amusing parts. The programme opens with a newsreel showing the latest method of fishing—from the air. This film also shows some of the Waitangi celebration scenes, a few hakas, and some poi dances. To the outsider who sees this film New Zealand must seem a savage land. crvic "IN A MONASTERY GARDEN" Only two days remain for picturegoers to see the mystery drama "Murder at Covent Garden," now being shown at the Civic Theatre. Starring Anne Grey and Denis Neilson Terry, this attraction is something out: of the ordinary in the way of mystery films. On Saturday at the Civic Theatre British Dominions Films will present for a limited return season one of the most successful attractions ever presented on the screen. It will be the third attraction to play a return season at the request of hundreds of picture-goers. "Rookery Nook" returned to establish an opening day record, followed by the very successful "Jack's the Boy." No greater tribute could be paid to "In a Monastery Garden" than the fact that the management have received more requests for a return season of this picture than for any other film ever shown in the theatre. Inspired by the melody, which has thrilled millions all the world over, the production tells a story that is in keeping with the beauty of the music. It is a touchingly dramatic story of a man's sacrifice, to save his younger brother. Four excellent supports, including the St John Ambulance centenary celebrations, precede the main feature. Box plans are now open at the Civic Theatre, where seats may be reserved at no extra cost. LIBERTY NEW DOUBLE BILL "Master of Men" and "Hell and High Water" will be shown finally'to-mor-row night at the Liberty Theatre. A first-class new double-feature programme will be presented at the Liberty on Saturday. The major attraction will be "One Sunday Afternoon," a romantic drama in which the leading roles arc taken by Gary Cooper and Fay Wray. The supporting film will be a Zane Grey Western, "To the Last Man," with Randolph Scott and Esther Ralston. The handsome Gary Cooper is starred in a role that fits him well, Frances Fuller, a new screen "discovery," is in one of the feminine leads. There are many colourful costumes, and a whimsical story of love and romance interwoven with humour and song, all of which contribute to the entertainment value of "One Sunday Afternoon." Majestic mountain tops and fertile valleys, rushing streams, and purple skies form the natural setting for the talking-film version of Zane Grey's "To the Last Man," starring Randolph Scott, Esther Ralston, and Buster Crabbe.' This story of a relentless feud between two families, was filmed on the actual location of the Zane Grey I novel. [ Box plans are at the D.I.C.