Cinema Reviews

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22319, 5 February 1938, Page 9

Cinema Reviews

AVON “EVER SINCE EVE” Because Marge Winton war, so attractive her employers would not let her concentrate on her work. So she made herself as plain as could be and took a job as secretary to a philandering young author. But it is difficult to lead a double life without being discovered, as is shown in Ever Since Eve,” the picture which began ■ a season yesterday at the Avon Theatre. “Ever Since Eve,” one of the brightest modern comedies that has been shown at this theatre, tells a very amusing story of Marge Winton s duplicity. , ' .Certainly there could have been no better cno;ce lor the part of the gay young autnor man Robert Montgomery and lew actresses would be more suitably cast as Marge Winton than is Marion Davies. Tnese two make an eminently capable team. They do not, however, take all the honours, for in the supporting cast there is the extremely fine comedy combination of Patsy Kelly ana Allen Jenkins, who take the credit for some of the brightest moments in a picture that abounds in wit and humour. Madge Winton would not have had so many worries if she had been content to stay the dull-lookmg and efficient secretary into which sne transformed herself. In her spare time she liked to be her normal seif. And so there develops a game of hide-and-seek with her emplpyer, who meets her during one of his many moments of respite from the cares of authorship and fails to recognise m her his unengaging secretary. No one could fa to be pleased at the pace with which the story moves from this point, and no one could fail to be amused by the hectic muddling of identities and the subterfuges of the harassed Miss Win l °lt is inevitable that the hunted will be caught, but the audience gets Plenty of fun while the chase, is on. Montgomery and Miss Davies take their parts with an infectious gaiety that is entirely appropriate to thestory.and there is good reason for them to be pleased with their work. They are assisted to no small degree, of course, bv the supporting players and by the deft presentation under the direction of Lloyd Bacon. . Perhaps the most interesting Picture in the supporting programme, which is of high standard, is the newsreel showing* 4 the taking of Nanking by Japanese troops and the bombing of the Panay.

CRYSTAL PALACE

“FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS”

“Forty Naughty Girls,” the new RKO Radio picture at the Crystal Palace, again brings to the screen the popular detective team of Oscar Piper and his schoolmistress aide Hildegarde Withers. The parts are played by James Gleason and Zasu Pitts. . The press agent of a big Broadway theatre is murdered in a dressing room. Oscar and his schoolmistress arrive on the scene, and while Oscar takes up the case in the orthodox style, Hildegarde adopts the manner of a bloodhound, and sets off in pursuit of the murderer. It is while the cigar-chewing Oscar and the schoolmistress are solving the killing of the press agent that the second murder takes place on the stage in full view of the audience. This time it is the leading man who Oscar at first suspected as the murderer of the press agent. The story plunges into swift action and as each suspect is encountered the situation becomes highly complicated. But it is not until Hildegarde tracks dov/n the murderer that the story reaches a climax and a breath-taking and hilarious chase takes place in the basement of the theatre. Oscar and an assistant descend into the basement In pursuit of information leading to the murders, and mistake Hildegarde as the wanted murderer. Hildegarde. upon hearing them descend, and mistaking them for the murderer, goes in pursuit The picture continues to a dramatic climax. The supporting players are Marjone Lord and Gecrge Shelley, taking the romantic roles, Edward Marr as the luckless press agent, Joan Woodbury as the star of the show. Alan Edwards as the producer and many others who are in constant demand at the studios. Included in the supporting programme are “ Hospitalike,” starring Popeye, and “A Rental Riot,” with Leon Errol as the money-pressed husband. CIVIC JESSIE MATTHEWS IN “SPARKLES” In “Sparkles,” which is now showing at the Civic Theatre, Jessie Matthews is not seen in the usual elaborate settings in which she so often appears, but she is equally as good in her new surroundings as she has been in her previous films. Bright music, clever dialogue, and excellent dancing nil combine to make “Sparkles” a firstclass picture. Many picture-theatre patrons have regretted that Sonnie Hale has given up acting of late for directing, but those who saw “Sparkles” last night will agree that the capable manner in which he directs this film compensates very much for the loss of his acting. Jessie Matthews has built up a reputation for the high standard of her dancing, and this is fully maintained in her latest picture. An amusing scene is provided when she is forced by gangsters to dance with bullets hitting the floor at her feet. It is not for her dancing alone, however, that she deserves credit. She proves herself a very capable actress in a difficult part. Playing opposite Miss Matthews is Barry Mackay, as a Scotland Yard inspector. He makes an excellent partner for Miss Matthews'in her dancing numbers, and gives an unusual portrayal of the activities of an English detective.

Among the supporting players are Nat Pendleton, Noel Maddison, Olive Blakeney, and Graham Moffatt. Jessie Matthews is cast as an assistant film critic on an English newspaper, who is sent to obtain the diary of a well-known actress. She loses her position as maid to the actress witnout securing the diary, and is then wondering how she can obtain it when she agrees to a suggestion that she should steal the actress’s necklace as a publicity act. This does not solve her difficulties, however, as she >s caught stealing the wrong necklace and hides in a trunk to escape the police. The trunk is placed on board a steamer bound for America, and Miss Matthews is freed from the trunk by Mackay. On the steamer she is mistaken fpr a woman jewel thief by a gangster. When the steamer arrives in New York she meets with all the excitement which she was seeking, but could not obtain as a film critic, and in doing so provides an enjoyable evening’s entertainment. "Rock Pools,” which is shown on the supporting programme, shows interesting views of the life of the inhabitants of the pools round the coast of England. . Music-lovcrs -will appreciate the selections played by Mr - Clarence B Hall on the Civic organ before the commencement of.the programme and during the interval.

STATE “VICTORIA THE GREAT” From lime to time a nation adjusts its perspective, and regards its nib} 3 from a newer, and perhaps a better, angle. The Victorian era. so iong regarded as the quintessence of lespec lability, is now acquiring its f f v ° l g cf romance, and it is this spirit *1 < • captured and held in the picture Materia the Great.” screened last evcrnn, at the State Theatre. There is pride ot an Empire, fanfare of State, fine act. ing, and humour in the story, » above all there is intense human interest. Great is a word that should be used with discretion, but it is one that can be applied with truth to this p duction. . ; The central figure in the drama u. of course, Victoria herself, and tno great queen's own diaries have contributed to the story. “He addresses me as if I were a public meeting, sne once complained to her private pages, and this scene is produced, with a si> touch of humour. She is shown, at first, as the girl queen, wakened at night to a realisation of her position, passing through the first intoxication of her power, autocratic, but intensely loving and human. The drama sweeps through the pageant cf 60 of the greatest years of British history, and ends on the triumphant note cf the Golden Jubilee. . , .. , It is difficult to say too much of the acting of Anna Neagle in the part ol the Queen, and Anton Walbrook as the much misunderstood Prince Consort. He is shewn first as the shy. sensitive, book-loving young man. pitchforked into English society, forced into tnc background by his power-loving young wife, but gradually gaining influence through the sheer force of his own ability and strength, of character l’ has taken the best part of a century for a nation to realise the fact of ms influence on the destiny of his adopted country; but posterity is now seeking to do him the justice his contemporaries denied him. . In all details the film is historically correct, even to the rising of the Prince Consort from what was his deathbed to revoke the dispatch sent by Lord Palmerston to the Northern States during the American Civil War. a dispatch that would have forced England into war. As Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of England, and guide and counsellor of the young Queen, H. B. Warner, well-known screen star, is a lovable figure. All the figures of the reign are there. They pass one after another. as the years roll on. the gruff old Duke of Wellington. Disraeli. Peel, Palmerston. No detail is omitted. The audience is permitted a brief glimpse of Balmoral, and John Brown in the background, gruff and hectoring and strangely comforting to the weary old Queen, wearied perhaps of her position of authority. It is a picture the memory of which is not easily dismissed, for it is in itself the epic of an ora that has passed. The supporting programme includes, appropriately enough, a view of the celebrations now taking place in Sydney.

MAYFAIR

“CHARLIE CHAN ON BROADWAY”

Charlie Chan's screen mystery stories have a delight found in few such films; and Warner Gland's latest picture to come to Christchurch shows Chan at his best. The film, “Charlie Chan on Broadway,” was thoroughly enjoyed by a large audiehbe last evening at the Mayfair Theatfe. for Gland, as Charlie Chan, has a big following, and with Christchurch audiences is a favourite screen detective. Gland, however, is not the sole reason for success, for the story itself is one of the best.

A baffling double murder has in the story a unique but very feasible solution; and in solving this problem Chan does not overtax the minds or imaginations of his audience. There are. of course, conflicting clues, but the chief of these is a number of chance photographs taken at a night club—the scene of the crime—on “candid camera night.” Striking contrast to Chan’s subtle methods of detection are provided by a belligerent “screen” detective —an American with a blustering manner and an ironic sense of humour. The solution of the mystery is cleverly withheld; but a careless hint early in the story was more correct than at first anticipated by the audience. Warner Gland's performance is really the triumph of the story, and he is well supported by his “number one son," Keye Luke, Joan Marsh, and Louise Henry. The parts of the American detective and a newspaper reporter are also splendid characterisations. But Gland, or Chan as one prefers to imagine him. is at all times the centre of the picture. His whimsical sayings and philosophical explanations never fail in their directness.

The supporting programme, too. is kept at the same high standard. The chief of these “shorts” is a, film description of the bombing of the Panay. a special air mail feature of an incident arousing considerable public opinion. Other features are a comedv. “Montague the Magnificent,” which tells an amusing story of the film ambitions of a man whose former position is that of employer’s scapegoat to satisfy complaining customers in a large department store. A Terry Toon comedy, “A Close Shave,” a commentary on world events by Lpwell Thomas, and an interesting film of the construction of a huge safe. “Steel v. Steal,” complete the programme. PLAZA COMEDY AND MYSTERY Comedy and mystery harmonise perfectly in the delightful doublefeature programme which is offered to theatregoers at the Plaza. The main film, “The Westland Case,” brings to the screen a new detective, Dr. Crane, who is admirably portrayed by Preston Foster. With his faithful Newfoundland dog and his lieutenant. Doc Williams (Frank Jenks of ‘TOO Men and a Girl” fame), he sets a new standard in screen detective technique. With the hour 'steadily approaching for the execution cf Robert Westland ■ Theodore Von Eltz) for the murder of his wife. Crane nonchalantly starts to break down circumstantial evidence.

All concerned in the murder are assembled regularly in the rooms of an astute lawyer, Frazee (Whose part is played by Clarence Wilson), where each one endures a barrage from Crane; and each one, after Crane has supplied all the answers to his own questions, is placed under suspicion. To prove Westland’s innocence the detective procures the aid of a monkey-wrench, a taxi-driver, a deeosea diver, and the inimitable Doc Williams, with whom he threshes out the case, and brings the story to its climax, with a bare half-minute to spare. “The Girl in the Taxi” is a bright musical comedy which places the audience in the correct mood for the more dramatic story which follows. There is an adventure in which the Chairman of the Committee for the Reward of Virtue gets into the Moulin Rouge. A stout defender of heredity, he meets his son, who by strange chance is escorting the same Suzanne as his father—the lady (Frances Dav' being on furlough during her husband's compulsory military training, from which he is relieved in time to spoil the outing at the cabaret, and compromise all concerned. By dint of blackmail the father, Baron dea

Aubrais (Lawrence Grossmith) is forced to give the hand of his daughter, Jacqueline (Jean Gillie), to her lover Rene Boislurete (Henn Garat) but the son Hubert (played by MacKenzie Ward) receives only a blacß eye. and a disappointing scrutiny his mother. To the climax is added the arrival in the house of Emi if Pomarel, Frances Day’s husband, with a revolver and an intention to Kill Baron des Aubrais. He is thwarted, however, by the diplomacy of Madame des Aubrais. who is aware of her husband’s weaknesses (of which she does not wholly disapprove) and a grand reconciliation is the result. An interesting newsreel showing the departure of the Centaurus, the seaplane squadron cf the Royal Air Force, and the Empire Games team from England, completes a fine evening s entertainment. CHRISTCHURCH CINEMAS, LIMITED Irene Dunne, star of “Theodora Goes Wild,” with Carv Grant, has the lead in “The Awful Truth.” which is, now showing at the Regent Theatre. A dramatic story of the Great War. “They Gave Him a Gun,” starring Spencer Tracy and Franchot Tone, is showing at the Majestic Theatre. Three stars, Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, and Joel McCrea, appear in “These Three,” a tale of an intriguing scandal in a girls’ school, which is at the Tivoli Theatre. ’ A further Hopalong Cassidy story, “Trail Dust.” with William Boyd, is being shown at the Liberty. Theatre. The programme is well varied, including a supporting film, “Freedom for Sale.”

“The Tuhnel,” a dramatic story of tunnelling beneath the Atlantic Ocean, is showing at the Grand. The stars are Richard Dix. Leslie Banks, and Madge Evans. “Music is Magic.” with Alice Faye and Bebe Daniels, is the supporting film. REX THEATRE “Captain Blood.” one of Rafael Sabatini’s most stirring stories of adventure and romance, will be shown at the Rex Theatre, Riccarton, to-night, and on Monday and Tuesday nights. The story from which the film is taken is set in the picturesque days of piracy. F.rrol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland have the leading roles.