FILMS TO SEE AT CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22182, 27 August 1937, Page 5

FILMS TO SEE AT CITY THEATRES

PADEREWSKI ON THE SCREEN

A "CAPPY RICKS" STORY

Romance and Comedy in "The

Go-Getter"

That irascible but lovable old seafaring character created by Peter B. Kyne —Cappy Ricks—comes to life on the screen in "The Go-Getter," which is coming to the Plaza. Charles Winninger, well remembered as the Cap'n Andy of both stage and screen versions of "Show Boat," plays Cappy in this delightful film. He isn't the "gorgetter" of the story. That part is played by the tall, handsome Irish star. George Brent, who is in love with Cappy's daughter, portrayed by the lovely Anita Louise. George and Anita carry the romantic interest of the show. But neither—nor both—can steal away the audience's affection for old Cappy. It is an exceptionally well-balanced cast that portrays this famous yarn of Peter B. Kyne's. Apart from the three chief stars, there are such players as Henry O'Neill. John Eldredge. Joseph Crehan, Gordon Oliver, Eddie Acuff, Herbert Rawlinson. Mary Treen. Helen Lowell, Helen Valkis, and Minerva Urecal. Brent appears as a member of the crew of the famous dirigible Macon, which plunged into the Pacific Ocean a few years ago. This plunge is shown on the screen—one of the most astonishing things the movies have ever done. Bill Austin—the character played by Brent—loses a leg in the

accident, is mustered out of the Navy, and must find himself a job in civil j* ~ doin § so he meets Cappy Ricks and Cappy's daughter. He is put through all sorts of tests py Cappy and the girl before he wins them both over. But he does win them, rnd that's the story of "The Go-Getter,"

An ocean-going honeymoon from which the bride and groom swim home is one of the best comedy scenes on the screen.

One interesting feature of the programme will be +Le picture, "Regained Horizon." produced by the State Placer ment Service to give the public an idea of the valuable work carried out by the service, and of the widespread industrial activities for which labour of all kinds is supplied. The film includes scenes at a city railway station, interior views of various factories, and shots of watersiders awaiting the call for workers, and of butter and cheese and frozen meat being loaded into giant cargo boats. There is also a striking picture of a reaper and binder at work, and equally attractive views of axemen in the bush, of logs being hauled to a mill, and of their treatment when they get there. Sir Harry Lauder, who was visiting Wellington during the making of the film, appears leading a community sing in the Hutt railway workshops.

BRILLIANT COMEDY

London Stage Success in "Okay

For Sound"

One of the most successful London vaudeville shows of recent years is brought to the screen in "Okay lor Sound," which is coming to the Civic. This brilliant comedy has the largest cast of stage and screen revue personalities ever turned • out from the British studios. It includes inimitable comic scenes, spectacular revue numbers, as well as songs by the famous Peter Dawson. The show was adapted to films from the stage production of the same title, which ran for no less than two years at the London ' Palladium Theatre with conspicuous success. The story, which is original and full of scope for the comedians, is a gentle satire of motion picture producing. Notable in its cast are the Crazy Gang, Nervo and Knox, Flanagan and Allen, Naughton and Gold—who are introduced as six street musicians, somewhat down and out, who manage to get an engagement with a bankrupt studio as "extras" to impersonate "city types." In their costumes, supplied by the studio, they are mistaken for big city financiers who are financing a film company, and consequently the Goldberger studios are ready to fall at their feet. Taking every advantage of their opportunity the gang eventually drives the producer out of his studio, and turn- round to make the film themselves. The results are side-splitting. The comedians take part in the film they make, naturally, and their antics in the various disguises they adopt provide enough laughs for three average films. Highlights in these scenes are an "all-in" wrestling sequence, burlesquing the British Broadcasting Corporation, and a beleaguered fort episode done in the best "Beau Geste" style. However, these brilliant comedians are not the only entertainment of the show. "Okay for Sound" has a long cast of well-known stars of musical, comic, and dancing fame, all of whom contribute largely to its entertainment value. p c ter Dawson, the famous •inger, sings two rousing numbers; Lucienne and Ashour put over their burlesque dancing act with great

effect; Patricia Bowman dances delightfully; the Radio Three sing in their "peppy" way, and the J. Sherman Fisher Girls add beauty and glamour to some of the weU-produced scenes The "Three Little Words" give an exhibition of their clever and unusual dancing, and Louis Levy's orchestra supplies musical support to the stars and also gives some good numbers of its own. Also adding to the comic element are Enid Stamp Taylor, Fred. Duprez, H. F. Maltby, and Graham Moffat.

Noted Pianist Plays and Acts v In "Moonlight Sonata"

Probably one of the most interest- the figure of Paderewski, and in the ugm Sonata," in which Lothar Mendes love might have happened, and probes able to prevail upon Paderewski, a bi y did, for his playing has affected «e world's most famous living pianist, the lives and emotions of countless w make his film debut in company people The illustration given in With Marie Tempest, the greatest -Moonlight Sonata' is a young love S°|»edy actress of the English stage, affair which is almost shattered until "Moonlight Sonata," which is coming to Paderewski intervenes and through his we Avon, not only reveals the genius wonderful Playing calms angeredfeel°*,4he world's foremost pianist, but ings and brings home the truth of ffl°yes his ability as an actor, and things. 3 him is a wonderful company of Paderewski plays a number of classi«tars. v ca i compositions in "Moonlight Sonata,

Jfttae Tempest, most beloved of all including,* of course Beethoven simSSlish stage actresses, makes her mortal work winch gives the title to Wag picture debut. Charles Far- the film. It. opens with some enthrallfflUu the romantic role of a steward ing scenes in a modern concert hall « love with the grand-daughter of during a Paderewski recital, and the gf owner, a charming part olayed by wonderful camera shots of the maestro *Mbara Greene, the 18-year-old Eng- at the piano are likely to cause a senirll girl who has alrpadv reached sation alone. Erfc Portman now under S His genius at the piano has been redact in Hollywood Lkwrence Han- corded faultlessly, and. the most fe; W. Graham 7 Browne, and Queenie learned authorities on music are loud are others. in their praises of the perfection ■ moonlight Sonata" is written round [ achieved.

SHORTS THIS WEEK

AVON —"Fellow with a fiddle," cartoon; •'Colourful occupation." technicolour; "Check Your Cash," a novelty; Avon News Service. STATE—"I'm in the Army Now," Popeye the Sailor cartoon; Paramount News: Paramount Pictorial: Fox Australian News. ClVlC—"Paddy's Coronation," cartoon; comedy; travelogue; Gaumcnt-British News and topicalities. PLAZA—WaIt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon in colour. "Don Donald"; Mountain Melody," hill-billv musical; "His Lucky Day," tabloid comedy; Paramount British Air-Mail News. CRYSTAL PALACE—Comedy; cartccn: Fox Overseas News; Fox Australian News. MAYFAIR—"Ready to Serve," comedy; "Flying South." cartoon; Fox Australian News: Fox Overseas News, featuring news flashes from France and Japan and sports.

NOTES FROM THE STUDIOS

Katharine Cornell, one of the most famous actresses on the American stage, is contemplating a trip to Hollywood. Paramount may get her for "Anybody's House," with a story by Ernst Toller, the radical-minded German playwright. #

Fernand Gravet, the French star, who made a great success in America with its first Hollywood picture, "Romance in Paris," is still working in France, but he will be returning to make a further • picture .for Mervyn Leßoy. This will be "Food for Scandal," and the leading lady will probably ba Carole- Lombard. * • *

The Dionne Quintuplets are having a new picture prepared for them. The title has been fixed temporarily as "Mother Knows Best." The Quintuplets' contract with the Twentieth Century Fox calls for three films from them and £50.000 from the studio. In addition, they get a percentage of the profits on the three pictures.

"Keep Fit." the Basil Dean production starring George Formby, completed its third week at the studios with an elaborate dance floor set. The annual staff dance of the Greater Department Stores provided George Formby with many comic situations.

Leslie Howard has announced that, if he can find a cuitable player for the role, he will not appear in "Bonnie Prince Charlie." but will confine his activities to producing the picture.

RACE AGAINST MURDER

Warner Oland in " Charlie Chan At the Olympics"

Warner Oland plays Charlie Chan for the fifteenth consecutive time in "Charlie Chan at the Olympics," which is coming to the Mayfair. The pnilosophical Chinese detective, the screen s most popular series character, takes the longest odds of his career in solving this puzzle of murder and international spies. With much of its action taking place at the Olympic Games, the film has an unusual background. Some of the shots show races in which J. E. Lovelock, the New Zealand runner, and Jesse Owens, the AmericFn, crmpeted. Pitted against the most appalling odds of his career, Charlie sets a new

Robert Young has just finished a part with Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas in Paramount's "I. Met Him in Paris." .

world's record for thrills before a! stadium jammed with cheering sport fans.'He defies the murderous threats of a death-dealing ring of international spies who strike terror into the Olympic sports arena, and who strike at Chan himself through his "number one" son (Keye Luke) in their bold efforts to seize a secret radio-control device from the government. To save his son, Chan follows the fleeing thieves to Europe, overtaking their ship, which is also carrying teams to the Olympic Games, by trans-At-lantic Zeppelin. Among the athletes aboard are Pauline Moore and Allan Lane, a romantically inclined, muscular young pair selected by the spies as proper dupes to smuggle the radio device ashore.

Katherine de Mille and C. Henry Gordon, as the canny leaders of the espionage group, provide the philosophical sleuth with the most baffling technicalities he has ever encountered. Cleverly substituting a radio direc-tion-indicator for the secret apparatus, Chan plants his bait where the spies will have trouble getting it, and consequently do. Tuning in on the direction-indicator. Chan and the police have no difficulty in discovering the hiding-place of the gang, but this, however, turns out to be only the beginning of the excitement, which culminates in the most stirring climax of the thrilling Chan series. Although Charlie Chan was responsible for his fame and good fortune. Warner Oland finds that his reputation as a detective sometimes puts him in awkward situations. Because he is infallible on the screen as the super-sleuth, the man who never forgets, Oland finds his friends unwilling to overlook those minor failings of memory in real life to which the best of men are prone. His habit of putting down a burning cigarette and then forgetting it, of mislaying an article of apparel, of forgetting an item on a shopping list — all of these things loom large in the private life of the screen's master deteciive.

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone with John S one as associate producer, the film was adapted for the screen by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan from an original story by Paul Burger.

Olympe Bradna is to be the lucky girl playing opposite Bing Crosby when he starts work on "End of the World," a subject just announced for him.

DRAMA IN PRISON

John Beal in "We Who Are About to Die"

Taking cinema audiences to the grim borderland between life and death —the "condemned row" of an American prison, "We Who Are About To Die," which is coming to the Crystal Palace, is a dramatic departure from conventional film fare. The venture is daring, but the story it tells of a condemned youth's experiences while awaiting execution en the gallows is an unusual human document. Preston Foster, Ann Dvorak, and John Beal are featured in the leading roles, Beal having to portray a man sentenced to be hanged for a crime of which he is innocent. More than 40 players, among them Russel Hopton, J. Carrol Naish, John Wray, Ray Mayer, Landers Stevens, Frank Jenks, Paul Hurst, de Witt Jennings, Gordon Jones, John Carrol. Bryant Washburn, and Russel Hicks, comprise the supportingc cast. Many of them appear as John Bcal's fellow occupants of "condemned row."

Every effort was made by RKO Radio, the producing studio, to present an unvarnished picture of "condemned row," and truthfully and realistically to interpret the emotions, mental attitudes, and characteristics of the men who live under the shadow of the gallows. Much of the action takes place in this grim corridor of cells. Romance between Ann Dvorak and John Beal lightens the grim drama of the prison sequences, and Preston Foster's activities as a criminologist reveal new features of modern scientific methods of crime detection. Primarily, however, the film is a gripping study of piercing emotions. The director, Christy Cabanne, has steered clear of propaganda, mawkish sentimentality, anfi sordid details. He has been content to present mainly a cross-section of life in a place from which few ever return.

In "His Affair," which is coming to the State, both Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck find the most important story either has ever had; a dramatic account of a love supremely courageous and unashamed, endangering the nation's highest places and gambling life itself for a higher stake. And for Victor McLaglen, who heads the strong supporting cast, it marks the strongest role he has had since his powerful characterisation in "The Informer" earned him the acting award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. . m The exciting events of "His Affair' take place at the turn of the century, when the stability of the nation is threatened by an unprecedented series of sensational bank robberies in the Middle West. In a desperate move, President William McKinley calls upon a young lieutenant, Robert Taylor, who has had a brilliant record under Admiral Dewey.

Sworn to secrecy, Taylor is instructed to disgrace himself in the navy, to be discharged, and eventually to find his way to the bank robbers. Information turned up is to be forwarded to the President in a specially marked envelope which will immediately be brought to him unopened. No one, not even Admiral Dewey or the head of the Secret Service, is told of the plan. * In a mid-western city known as a criminal centre, Taylor meets a cafe owner, Victor McLaglen; his righthand man, Brian Donlevy. and the singing and dancing star of the show,

Robert Taylor Starred in "His Affair"

Barbara Stanwyck. Hearing that the men have come into large sums of money through mysterious channels, Taylor notes that their absence from the cafe coincides with a bank robbery in another city. Pressing his attentions on Barbara, to gain entree to the gang, Taylor falls deeply in love with her, but goes through with hi; plan. Events mount thrillingly to a dramatic climax which finds Taylor apparently doomed to hanging when, captured with the gang during a bank robbery in which a Secret Service man is killed, he learns that the one man who could clear him. President McKinley, has just been assassinated. s

The strong supporting cast includes Sidney Blrckmer, John Canadine, Alan Dinehart, Douglas Fowley, Robert McWade. Frank Conroy, and Sig Rumann. Darryl F. Zanuck, vice-president in charge of production at Twentieth Century-Fox, chose William A. Seiter to direct the original screen play by Allen Rivkin and Lamar Trotti. Kenneth Macgowan was associate producer, and Mack Gordon and Harry Revel wrote the music and lyrics for Ihe three atmospheric songs in the film.

Robert McWade, Frank Shannon, and W. D. McDonough emerged as noted characters out of the past.

Conroy plays the role of President William McKinley in .the film, Blackmer plays Theodore Roosevelt both as Vice-President and as President McWade portrays Admiral Dewey, Shannon is Secretary of War Elihu Root, and McDonough acts the role of Secretary of the Treasury J. Gage. Many other officials and aides prominent in the government at the turn of the century are made up exactly from descriptions, paintings, and steel engravings of the time. As a further check. Colonels William F. Lewis and Joe Herron, retired army officers vrbo served on President Theodore Roosevelt's military staff and who were intimate with the prominent personalities of the time, offered suggestions and criticisms. A college production of "Journey's End," seen by a motion-picture executive, sfarted Robert Taylor on the Hollywood screen career that zoomed jso rapidly to the heights of film fame. That career now reaches a peak in •'His Affair." "Journey's End" was I put on by a dramntic club at Pomona, where Taylor was a student Before the curtain went down his performance as an amateur had landed him a contract with a Hollywood stucto. Carole Lombard and Fred Mac Murray are to' be teamed for the fourth time in Paramount's "True Confession." Mac Murray has just signed a new seven-year contract with Paramount.

In three hours each day during production of the film, Monte Westmore, the noted motion-picture make-up expert, duplicated almost exactly the famous historical characters who fire impersonated in "His ■ Affair," reproducing physical features that took Nature almost 60 years to make. Actors who entered the Twentieth Century-Fox make-up department as Frank Conroy r Sidney Blackmer,