CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22908, 3 January 1940, Page 2

CITY THEATRES

MAYFAIR

“SHERLOCK HOLMES”

The famous case of the British crown jewels, the albatross of doom, and the fiendish instrument of murder that strangles, crushes, and vanishes —the super-crime of the century—comes to the Mayfair on Friday in “Sherlock Holmes.” , . .. The success of “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” first of the 20th CenturyFox films featuring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, is repeated. This team is perfect in the roles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters and, fea-

tured with Ida Lupino and Alan Marshal, they head a fine cast including Terry Kilburn, George Zucco (as Moriarty, Holmes’ arch-enemy), Henry Stephenson, and E. E. Clive. The screen play depicts the death struggle of two master-minds, one cunning and fiendish, the other brilliant and fearless —Moriarty and Holmes. Fantastic clues confront the master detective in this case; there is a strange chinchilla fetish, the Star of Delhi, and the mystery of the Traitor’s Gate in the Tower of London. A woman in love is the victim; the £3,000,000 in gems the loot! “Golden Boy” is the present attraction.

PLAZA

DOUBLE PROGRAMME AND NEW SERIAL

“Penrod’s Double Trouble,” latest starring vehicle for the famous Mauch twins, will begin on Friday at the Plaza. This picture is the third in the Warner Bros.’ series based upon Booth Tarkington’s best-known representative of American boyhood, and it is also the third picture in Which Billy and Bobby Mauch have played dual starring roles. Kay Francis gives one of her best performances in “Women Are Like That,” which will be the associate feature in the programme. It is delightful comedy, not so frothy that it is not warmly human at times, and yet so gay that the spectator has never a dull moment. “The Lone Ranger Rides Again, ’ a sequel to the recent popular serial at the Plaza, will have its opening instalment on the same programme. Many of the characters of the former serial will be seen again, including the famous horse, Silver. , „ .... “Disbarred” and “The Sunset Trail” are the present films.

CRYSTAL PALACE

COMEDY AND - MYSTERY

The well-known British comedian, Will Hay, ably hindered by Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, has blundered through many public services. In “Ask a Policeman,” which will be presented at the Crystal Palace on Friday, the three do their best to rum the rural constabulary, and here they make an hilarious digression into what they imagine to be the realm of the supernatural. _ As members of the police force in a village that has had no crime for 10 years five weeks and four days, they are faced with the necessity to justify their by no means miserable existence, and to do this they endeavour, blissfully unconscious of the fact that the village is a hot-bed of smuggling, to create an artificial "crime wave.” They soon find that there is a real one in full .swing. , Mr J. G. Reeder, the quiet little man who drinks hot milk and longs for a chicken farm, but who is, for all that, one of the most feared detectives attached to Scotland Yard, was one of Edgar Wallace’s most popular,characters, and in th.e hands of Will Fyffe this character comes to t life m The Mind of Mr J. G. Reeder.” Will Fyffe has the support of Kay Walsh as his pretty little secretary, George Curzon, John Warwick, and Chili Bouchier. “Winter Carnival” and “The Fighting Gringo” are now showing.

LIBERTY

DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME

The successful film version of A. E. W. Mason’s famous romance, “The Four Feathers,” has been transferred to the Liberty with the comedy, “Woman Chases Man.” The actors who take the main parts are Ralph Richardson, John Clements, June Duprez (in her first and very successful screen part), and C. Aubrey Smith, well known for ,his numerous “colonel” roles.

AVON “HUCKLEBERRY FINN” Dreamy days on the Mississippi, thrilling adventure, comedy, and pathos, written as only Mark Twain could write of them, mark Mickey Rooney’s first solo starring vehicle in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” sequel to “Tom Sawyer,” coming to the Avon Theatre on Friday. The picture has caught the full favour of Twain’s whimsical humour and deep understanding of human-kind. The adventures of the river boy who aids a runaway slave in an attempt to reach a free state; their travels up the river on a raft; their adventures with the rascally “King” and “Duke,” a pair of crooks, are all faithfully portrayed. The comedy highlight is the absurd “Romeo and Juliet” • performance with Walter Connolly as Romeo and Mickey, in girl’s clothes and makeup, as Juliet. Dramatic highlights are his exposure' Of the crooks to save Lynne Carver and Jo Ann Sayers, playing heiresses, from being robbed, and the sequence where Rex Ingram, as the slave, carries the boy, bitten by a snake, back to medical aid, knowing it means his return to slavery. Th scenes, filmed on location along the Sacramento river, are beautifully picturesque. The picture follows the book with absolute fidelity. Locations, settings, costumes, and all details are authentic to the period. “A Christmas Carol” ends to-mor-row.

STATE “BACHELOR MOTHER” When a really good comedy is made in Hollywood the whole film-going world very soon hears about it; when Garson Kanin ' made “Bachelor Mother’’ for RKO Radio this year the world very quickly learnt that this young director had made his third successful film, this time a first-rate comedy. The stars are Ginger Rogers —dancing only once and then in a jammed swing contest in a crowded and cheap dance-hall—and David Niven. This comedy which is at the State 1 one of the funniest seen in Christ church for many months; it is neatlj constructed and Well acted and can b( fully recommended. In the support ing programme is “The Ugly Duck ling,” Walt Disney’s latest colourec cartoon, of the Hans Andersen story

CHRISTCHURCH CINEMAS, LIMITED

“Lucky Night,” with Robert Taylor and Myrria Loy, is at the Regent. “Valley of the Giants," starring Wayne Morris and Claire Trevor, is showing at the Majestic. Jeanette Mac Donald, with Clark Gable and Spencer. Tracy, is in “San Francisco,” the current attraction at the Tivoli. The two features at the Grand this week ar “Polo Joe,” with Joe E. Brown, and “It Hapepned Out West.” At the St. James’ Theatre are “The Plainsman,” with Gary ] C»oper and Jean Arthur, and “Strange ; Boarders,” with Tom Walls and Renee Saint-Cyr.

REX THEATRE, RICCARTON

Two special films will be shown at the Rex Theatre, Riccarton, to-night, to-morrow night, and on Friday, commencing each evening at 7.30 o clock. The attractions are “You Can t Cheat an Honest Man,” with W. C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, and Charlie McCarthy, and Will Hay in “Old Bones of the River.”