CITY THEATRES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22910, 5 January 1940, Page 3

CITY THEATRES

WILL. FYFFE

LIBERTY "FOUR FEATHERS" AND "WOMAN CHASES MAN" The successful film version of A. E. W. Mason's famous (romance, "The Four Feathers," -to-day begins at the Liberty the fifth week of its successful Christchurch season. 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. ' ' ' . With this gifted team of players, thousands of native troops mounted on fast-riding camels, and the genuine

RALPH RICHARDSON

i Egyptian scenes in natural technicoll our, the film has much to recommend [it to all tastes.- ' The second film in this double-fea-ture programme is "Woman Chases Man," a comedy starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea. Miriam Hopkins persuades Joel McCrea to drmk champagne so that she can induce him to give away a great deal of money. But Miriam Hopkins is dressed in a curtain, is pretending it is her birthday, drinks champagne herself, and mixes business with pleasure by falling in loye with wealthy younfc min. The result is a film with a laugh in every scene. 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 thf Mayfair to-day in "Sherlock The success of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," first of the 20th CenturyFox films featuring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nige Bruce as Dr. Watson, is repeated. This team is Perfect nv the roles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous characters and, tured with Ida Lupino and Alan Marshal, they head a fine cast including Terry Kilburn, George Zucco (as Monarty 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 , DeUu, antt the mystery of the : Gate Tower'of London. A woman to love 5 the £3.000,000 in gems the loot! , AVON "HUCKLEBERRY FINN" Dreamy days on the Mississippi, thrilling • adventure, comedy, ana 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 toThe 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 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. PLAZA DOUBLE PROGRAMME AND NEW SERIAL "Penrod's Double Trouble," latest starring vehicle for the famous Mauch twins, will begin to-day at the Plaza. This pifcture 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 i and Bobby Mauch have played dual starring roles. ' Kay tFrancis gives one of her best performances in "Women Are Like That," which will be the associate feature in the programme. "The Lone Ranger Rides Again,"- a sequel to the repent popular serial at [the Plaza, will have its opening instalIment on the same programme. Many of the characters of the former serial will be seen again, including the famous horse, Silver. STATE j "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 Niveri. They are assisted by a baby who proves himself a satisfactory actor, Charles Coburn whose dream is to have a grandson, Frank Albertson, and E. E.' Clive. This comedy which is at the State is one of the funniest seen in Christchurch for many, months;, it. is. neatly constructed and well acted and can be ; fully recommended. In the supporting programme is "The Ugly Duckling,"- Walt Disney's j latest coloured cartoon, of the" Hans, I Andersen story. J

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'today, the three do their best' to ruin 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 lor 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 character!, and in the hands of Wall Fyffe this character comes to life in ine 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.

CHRISTCHURCH CINEMAS. LIMITED

"The Wizard of Oz," with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, and Frank Morgan, is at the Regent. "The Gracie, Allan Murder Case, with Gracie Allen the star, begins at the Majestic to-day—with Popeye the Sailor in "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp." ~ "Rendezvous," with William Powell, Rosalind Russell, and Binnie Barnes, will begin at the Tivoli today. "The Captain's Kid," with May Robson, Guy Kibbee, and Sybil Jason, and "Guns of the Pecos," with Dick Foran, are at the Grand. The St. James has the George Formby film, "I See Ice," and Sally Eilers and Harry Carey in "Danger Patrol." __„_________