CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22198, 15 September 1937, Page 3

CITY THEATRES

_—♦ AVON "A STAR IS BORN" A real gala Hollywood premiere, complete with pressing throngs, searchlights, radio announcer, and celebrities, is one of the thrilling highlights of "A Star is Born," the tecYmicolour production starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, which is coming to the Avon. Streets, buildings, and places of amusement, which have made the name of Hollywood famous throughout the world, will be seen for the first time in their natural colours by moviegoers throughout the world in "A Star is Born." .As the title indicates, the picture portrays the rise of a little country girl to Hollywood stardom. In the picture the audience shares with Esther Blodgett, portrayed by Janet Gaynor, the heartaches and happiness, the gaiety and despair, that go into the ultimate crowning of, a motion picture star. Such world-famous Hollywood landmarks as the Trocadero, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Brown Derby, and the Biltmore Bowl are shown in natural colour for the first time. Lyle Wheeler designed the settings and the costumes are by Omar Kiam. Infinitely more detailed, more careful, and more painstaking than even the finest black and white productions is the work which goes into the making of a motion picture in the new, perfected technicolour. This was disclosed at Selznick International studio during the filming of "A Star is Born." All along the line, it was revealed, shooting a picture in technicolour calls for treatment far beyond ordinary requirements. "Moonlight Sonata" Two world celebrities, Ignace Jan Paderewski and Marie Tempest, are brought to the screen in "Moonlight Sonata," the film which is extending its season at the Avon Theatre. Paderewski is famous as a pianist; but there was just a doubt in the mind of some music-lovers as to whether the filmed production could do justice to his genius. It is safe to say that, right from the outset, their fears were set at rest, and they were treated to an evening of exquisite entertainmentSTATE "STEP LIVELY JEEVES" Jeeves, so sad-eyed, so gentle, so utterly proper, thought gangland to be "a bit of all right." They could

swindle him, bamboozle him, and buffet him about, but he insisted on proper manners, and so the underworld was in a dither when P. G. Wodehouse's famed “gentleman’s gentlen.m” went berserk for, a delightful period of buffoonery in the second saga of misadventures, “Step Lively, Jeeves!” which is coming to the State. The incomparable Arthur Treacher is featured in the title role. Patricia Ellis and Robert Kent are Jeeves’s only friends in the strange America he is seeing for the first time as the unwitting dupe of Alan Dinehart and George Givot, a couple of swindlers trying hard to make a dishonest living. Exceptionally tall, sober-faced, and highly reserved in appearance, Treacher has played hundreds of English butler roles. As Jeeves, he is the screen’s first servant star. “His Affair” “Hi% Affair,” the film continuing a season at the State Theatre, is in many respects outstanding. For its dramatic moments and its extraordinary story it stands out from the ordinary American crime drama and approaches front rank in this type of dramatic entertainment. Competently acted by a cast of well-known stars, it is a film that i§ likely to draw, and certain to satisfy, large audiences. Robert Taylor, now one of the foremost of Hollywood’s male stars, shares the lead with Victor McLaglen, one of the greatest dramatic actors on the screen at the moment. CRYSTAL PALACE DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME Hilarious romance and thought-pro-voking drama are blended in the double-feature programme at the Crystal Palace. “The Lady Escapes” is full of humour of the lightest brand, and has also some charming settings but one can never escape from the bubbling mirth that fills it. “That I May Live” is a story that rises to strongly dramatic heights, but through it all there runs an intense realism that is saved from starkness by'very deft use of humour. America has produced several pictures recently dealing with this particular social problem, but none of them has presented the reality of the struggle of the individual to regain his lost status so vividly without losing the thread of the story in intensely dramatic and sometimes overdrawn scenes. REX THEATRE Helen Broderick and Victor Moore are the stars in “We’re on the Jury,” which is being shown to-night and on Thursday and Friday at the Rex Theatre, Riccarton. Whether your income is £2 or £2O weekly, you’ll make it buy more if you read the advertisements regularly in “The Press." — p

MAYFAIR "SEA DEVILS" Courageous coastguard crews rescue from a horrible death the passengers from a burning ship, and later passengers and crew from a hurricane battered vessel, in "Sea Devils," starring Victor McLaglen, Preston Foster, and Ida Lupino, with Donald Woods heading the supporting cast, which is coming to the Mayfair. Victor McLaglen and Preston Foster are cast together again after a memorable association in the prize-winning screen play of 1935, "The Informer", Victor McLaglen won the academy' award that year for his performance. Supporting the principal players in important roles are Gordon Jones, Helen Flint. Pierre Watkin, Murray Alper, and Billy Gilbert. ! Preston Foster, an adventurer, no sooner joins the crew of Victor McLaglen 4 s ship than trouble starts between the two. Boasting of his prowess with the weaker sex, Foster begins courting McLaglen's daughter, Ida Lupino. , Preston Foster is about the last man in the service Victor McLaglen would choose as a son-in-law, but it happens that his daughter has a mind of her own, so Victor McLaglen initiates a bitter feud with the sailor. Terrific combats between the two men and thrilling rescues from stormbattered ships provide the excitement of the film. Using the United States coastguard cutter Tahoe and its crew, a perilous rescue of passengers from a burning vessel is effected. A breeches buoy, and other apparatus are brought into play in a revealing demonstration of life-saving technique. Current Programme As imperturbable and cunning as ever, Charlie Chan (played once again by Warner Oland) indulges in fresh sleuthing in "Charlie Chan at the Olympics," the film which is showing for this week at the Mayfair Theatre. CHRISTCHURCH CINEMAS, LIMITED Robert Taylor, a newcomer to starring roles, has the lead with Jean Harlow in "The Man in Possession," which is at the Regent Theatre. The film is a brilliant comedy produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It has a sophisticated story with clever dialogue. '•'Seven Sinners," starring Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings, heads the programme at the Liberty Theatre this week. It is an exciting story of crime detection. The second feature is "We Live Again," starring Anna Sten, the Russian actress. "Espionage," a romance with a background of international spying, is showing at the Majestic Theatre this week. The stars are Madge Evans, Paul Lukas, and Ketti Gallian. The

second film on the programme is "Armoured Car," with Cesar Romero and Judith Barrett. Franchot Tone, Loretta Young, and Lewis Stone are starred in "The Unguarded Hour," which is showing at the Tivoli Theatre this week. There is good acting by the principal players, all of whom are firm favourites with the public. "Murder in the Clouds," an exciting film combining romance and adventure, heads the programme at the Grand Theatre this week. The stars are Lyle Talbot and Anne Dvorak. Charles Butterworth and Una Merkel, are starred in the second film, "Baby Face Harrington."

PLAZA NEW DOUBLE-FEATURE Programme Mob fury and a woman’s hatred combine to make Paramount’s “Outcast,” which i$ coming to the Plaza, one of the most dramatic and gripping films of the present season. Warren William and Karen Morley head the cast. An important scene in "Outcast” called for a rural mob to seize Warren William and Karen Morley for the purpose of lynching them. This topical and forceful scene is one of the tensest moments in the film. Instead of following the routine method of obtaining mass effects through the use of a vast number of people, Florey stressed surging action and violent voices, using only 200 people instead of 1500. An old-fashioned square dance is one of the highlights of “Outcast.” The dance is performed, amid considerable pretzel munching and root beer quaffing, to the music of an “up country” band of musicians. “Outcast” is being shown with “Crimson Romance,” starring Bess Lyon and Sari Maritza. It is a story of war in the air. “When Thief Meets Thief” All kinds of crime films have been made, but “When Thief meets Thief,” wh .hj is at the Plaza Theatre, uses a story a,bout crime in an unusual way. It presents Douglas Fairbanks, junior. Valerie Hobson, and Alan Hale in a story that opens in America, with the familiar American gangster setting, but moves later to London, where a number of typical English characters give a homely touch to the usual slick polish of crime films. CIVIC “WINGS OF THE MORNING” Alter many successes in the last few years the producers of England have produced a film which will live not for a year but for a century in the history of moving pictures. The greatest film that has ever come from England, and in many respects greater than anything produced in America, “Wings of the Morning,” which is in another week at the Civic Theatre, places a simple love story against a perfect backscreen of pastel shades and delightful panoramas.