Cinema Reviews

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22823, 23 September 1939, Page 4

Cinema Reviews

CRYSTAL PALACE

DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME

A double-feature programme of a specially good quality is now showing at the Crystal Palace, where a new Gene Autry film, “The Old Barn Dance,” is coupled with a film that is something altogether new in musica, shows, “Minstrel Boy,” starring Fred Conyngham and Chili Boucaier. In both are some good songs, and, of course, there is no need to explain who Gene Autry is, he has become such a widely known and popular star, and in this film all his admirers will be well pleased with the part he has been given to play and the songs he sings. The great singing cowboy star, who had a meteoric rise into the foremost position among similar actors, has hundreds of enthusiastic followers in this country now, as well as his thousands in the United States, where he has been overwhelmingly popular for many years, both as a radio singer and on the screen.

In his latest production. “The Old Barn Dance,” all these followers will find him at his usual best, and they will like his partner, the comedian. Smiley Burnette, as well. The Gene Autry films are known for the way they stand out above other westerns, and this one is better than ever.

The story tells of a gang of swindlers who trap farmers into financial difficulties by selling tractors to them on the instalment system, and then foreclosing on them. The swindlers arrive at the place where Gene Autry is giving radio broadcasts over a statipn operated by the beautiful Helen Valkis. . They force her into putting Autry’s’ programme over with their advertisements, unknown to the singer, and when the swindle becomes apparent it is only by good luck that Autry is saved from the vengeance of his own farmer friends. But when Autry discovers how he has been used ■he shoulders the responsibility and undertakes to supply horses in time for the harvest. How the swindlers are rounded up after their attempt to scatter the horses has failed, and how the little trouble between Autry and the girl is patched up make the story. The Colorado Hillbillies, eight boys with stringed instruments, are a further attraction in “The Old Bam Dance,” and a competent cast makes a very good job of the picture for Republic Studios. “Minstrel Boy” is a film that should do a great deal, to uplift the reputation of English producers of musical shows. It was directed by Sydney Morgan, and la presented by Butcher s Film Service. Chili Bouchier. Fred Conyngham, and Lucille Lisle are the stars, and their names are sufficiently well known to recommend the picture from the start, without mentioning its production, the music; and the story. It is an excellent production, in the best style of musical shows, it has a coherent story, and there are some good songs written for it. as well as some old favourites. Fred Conyngham. the band leader and hero, wrote one. and Chili Bouchier, who nearly spoils bis romance with Lucille lisle, sings two of her own compositions. LIBERTY DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME One of the finest return programmes ever to come to Christchurch Is now showing at the Liberty Theatre. The outstanding double-feature programme consists of “Sixty Glorious Years,” with Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook, and “ILother Carey’s Chickens,” starring Anne Shirley, Ruby Kepler, and Virginia Weidler. Opening with- the accession -to the throne of Queen Victoria, “Sixty Glorious Years” deals with one of the greatest periods in British history, and it is the grandeur and pageantry of this time and the love story of the two principal characters that are caught and held in the film. The film is in technicolour, and many of the scenes were photographed in- the palaces themselves. Here Me Windsor Palac«£ Osborne House, • Buckingham Palace, and Balmoral Castle. The scenes are exact, and there is’ amusing reflection in the fact that the costumes of the ballroom in ’ 1840 are almost those of the ballroom to-day. The story! opens with the picture of the young Queen, dignified and calm, announcing the news of her approaching marriage to her Lord. The story continues with the heart-breaking cf the young King because of the people|s suspicions. The various important incidents of the famous Queen’s reign are also-depicted. The gradual ageing of the Queen, the make-up which depicts .the change from a radiant young girl to a feetfle, old woman, is in itself' a triumph. John Brown, familiar figure of the Victorian age, now comes into the picture; there is the fall of Khartoum, the death of General Gordon, and the episode of the purchase of the shares in the Sum Canal by Disraeli. At the last is the Diamond Jubilee, with the outburst of emotion from the people, and the songs, such as “Soldiers of the Queen,” that still linger, like a faint echo in our time. The. curtain then falls on “Sixty Glorious Years.” Superbly acted and lavishly staged, the film is one to be remembered. In its previous showing. Mother Carey’s Chickens” captured the imagination of everyone who saw it. It is a very* human story of a very human family. It is plain, homely sentiment; it does not descend to sentimentality; and it has the touches of humour and pathos that are the fundamentals of happy living. The film is based op one of Louisa Alcott’s famous novels. “Mother Carey’s Chickens” deals with that period of history when America went to war with Spain, when girls wore frocks to their ankles and never thought of lipstick, when they tied their hair with ribbon bows, and only a 'few could tap the keys of a typewriter. Captain Carey, killed at Cuba, left a wife, two daughters, two sons, and 500 dollars in the bank to his devoted wife. It was a hard struggle, but Mother Carey was dauntless and undaunted, and after a while succeeded in finding a home., for .her chickens, a” rambling old house in the country called “Beulah. Here they settled down, and endeavoured to eke out a living by taking in boarders. It is all a tale of an ordinary everyday family, in an ordinary everyday home, where the mother is the central pivot; but it is one that has been skilfully treated, and it is one that has great appeal. CHRISTCHURCH CINEMAS, LIMITED “The Great Waltz,” with Miliza Korjus, Luise Rainer, and Fernand Gravet, is now showing at the Regent. “Heart of the North,” starring Gloria Dickson, Allen .Jenkins, Gale Page, and Patric Knowles, is at the Majestic. “The Girl Downstairs,” with Franchot Tone and Franciska Gaal, is the attraction at the Tivoli. ‘The Return of Sophie Lang,”.starring Gertrude Michael and Bay Milland, and “Turn Off the Moon,” with Charlie Buggies, Eleanore Whitney, and Kenny Baker, are at the Grand. The ' St. James’ Theatre has Will Hay in; “Oh. Mr Porter,” and John Barrymore in “Bulldog Drummonds Peril.” ' ' “Out West With the Hardys.” an American family-life picture, starring Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Cecilia Parker, Pay Holden, and- Virginia Weidler, Is the. new, attraction at the Police,"starring; J ohh Howard, Heather

MAYFAIR

DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME

A double feature programme that is more than ordinarily generous is offered at the M pyfair Theatre now. where Gordon Barker and John Lodge are starred in “Lightning Conductor,” and John Lodge and Margaret Lockwood appear together in “Bank Holiday.” Both ■ are English films, and both are particularly bright and pleasant, even though there are deaths in each. The one is a thrilling story of international crooks in London, and most of its action takes place in a bus tearing across the city, and the other is a dramatic story of two people whose lives took extraordinary turns on a bank holiday, when everyone else was happy and gay in the sunshine, and the city streets were deserted. “Lightning Conductor” is not about installing radio sets; it is about the things that go on round Gordon Harker, a bus conductor, with a plan of the balloon barrage in his pocket. It is a most exciting story, and all the time the piece of paper, not unlike the conductor’s own bus schedule, is sticking out of his pocket there is a tenseness in the air. Because nearly everything happens in the one bus, it is a very easy picture to follow—in fact, it is impossible to do otherwise, and the attention of the audience is held fast from beginning to end. John Lodge is the spy chief who succeeds in stealing the plan in the first place, but he has to drop it into the pocket of Gordon Harker, a bus conductor, who is at the defence office with a gas-mask invention. He hopes to recover it from the uniform later. Being forced to follow the bus back to its shed at night. Lodge raids the cloakroom, and has to shoot the custodian. He nearly gets his hands on the plan, but just misses, and has to take a chance by planning to get it by violence at Epping Forest, the bus terminal, from where an aeroplane will leave with the spies and the plan. Only a swarm of bees released from an attache bag by mistake saves the plan. “Bank Holiday” is a moving picture, and it owes almost everything to the excellent production and direction, with John Lodge add Margaret Lockwood fulfilling in an admirable manner the demands made on'their talents. It is a mixture of tragedy, humour, and pathos. Beginning with a cross section of the city’s excitement near noon on a bank holiday, the film reveals the depth of emotion in the hearts of the two-stars while thousands are bright and gay. Lodge’s wife has died in childbirth. Margaret Lockwood has nursed her and is so much afraid of what may happen to Lodge that she spoils a week-end' with her lover to be with him. Even though she eventually joins her lover at the seaside, she realises that there is a call to return to the distraught Lodge. She is only just in time, but the picture ends well. There are numerous excellent character comedians seen in railway station and seaside scenes, and Wilfred Lawson and Merle Tottenham are in the cast. STATE “WUTHERING HEIGHTS” “Wuthering Heights,” now in its second week at the State Theatre, is an * achievement of historical and dramatic value in cinema-making. When a famous novel is a film ’there are always criticisms —of the casting, of the writing, of the story, of the outside scenery, and of the progress qf dramatic events. In the case of “Wuthering Heights." even the most fastidious reader must admit that this film is an- outstanding success from this viewpoint. Merle Oberon as Cathy, Laurence Olmer as' Heathclifl,, David Niven as Edgar Linton, Flora Robson as Ellen Dean. /Hugh Williams as Kmdley and Geraldine Fitzgerald as Isabella, have performed their psrts as ohly i=°° actors, convinced of the significance and importance of those parts, could In England, since the production of this film, there have been various haifhumorous attacks made upon it. One critic lamented the use of a certain kind of heather with a long botanical name, when he was convinced that Emily Bronte intended a kind of heather with : another long botanical name; and another critic suggested a competition which involved. the writing of a letter from Emily Bronte in Hollywood while her film was being made, ~ There are bound to be small mistakes in a production as big as this; and the' book produced in Hollywood is bound to seem strange to the ghost of its author after a century has demanded certain changes in it. But when small mistakes are counted up, and cutting and necessary alteration are allowed for, there still remains this film, “Wuthering Heights,” a production that should not be missed by anyone interested in seeing good acting,, dramatic photography, and a human 'tragedy transferred to the screen in such a way as to remain tragic and human, • "Wuthering Heights” has been accepted for several decades as_ one of the best novels in the English language, and one of the world’s great pieces of tragic writing. The film will probably be remembered for a long time as a production of very high quality. It takes the audience, through the memory of the nurse, Ellen Dean, 40 years back in the story of “Wuthering Heights,” the bleak, frightening house on the Yorkshire Moors. It takes the audience through the- comparatively happy days of the childhood of Cathy and Heathclifl and Hindley to the dark days of their later lives: it shows how the shadow of HeathclifFs dark passion and his desire for revenge falls first on a house and then on human beings, and at last on a whole countryside. The tempestuous and wrecked love story of Cathy and Heathcliff is shown as it struggles for life. And it must be remembered not as a mere piece of entertainment, but as a dramatic presentation of life itself. “Wuthering Heights” is directed by William Wyler. In the supporting programme there is an interesting review in colour showing the pursuit of some unusual and interesting occupations; there are also news pictures of current interest. HOLLYWOOD, SUMNER The popular United Artists production, “The Goldwyn Follies,” is - the main feature on the programme at the Hollywood Theatre, Sumner, to-day, and on Monday and Tuesday evening. Kenny Baker, star of the ’'Mikado, the Bitz brothers, Edgar Bergen, and “Charlie McCarthy,” Helen Kepson, and Andrea Leeds are at the head of the cast, and are supported by the famous Goldwyn chorus girls. The production’is screened in technicolour. The supporting programme includes a Walt Disney cartoon. REX, RICCARTON l Bette Davis and Leslie Howard are in “It’s Love I'm After” and Dick Foran' itf featured in “Prairie Thunder.” .the two films showing -to-