ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 95, 16 January 1929, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. Starring that popular pair of comedians, Lew Cody and Alleen Pringle, "Beau Broadway” heads the exceptionally big programme now at the Regent Theatre. “Beau Broadway" is one of the most thrilling prize-ring stories ever filmed. Aside' from its human interest appeal in the manly art of self-defence, it has an appealing romance and presents some new sidelights on the much-discussed younger generation. Cody is seen as a prize-fight promoter and Miss Pringle as a sophisticated woman of the world who gives him some uneasy moments before she makes up her mind where to centre her affections. In the supporting cast are Sue Carol. 102 S Wampas Baby Star, Heine Conklin, James J. Jeffries, former world’s champion, Kit Guard, and Jack Herrick. "The Skyscraper, ’’ a clever comedy, featuring William Boyd, Allan Hale, and Sue Carol, is the second feature. The storydeals with two steel workers, great friends, who are always playing practical jokes on each other, and a girl whose life they save, and with whom both fall in love. Another Interesting film is “London After Dark,” which takes the audience for a ramble round the theatres and cabarets of London. The final attraction is the new stage band entertainment, “Ifound the World.” which is excellent entertainment. The whole is rounded off by a bright musical programme. “THE CROWD.” AND” DICK WHITTINGTON.” The most successful of all stories are those that get down to earth and deal with things that are familiar to the average man and woman of to-day—that present, faintly tinged with romance perhaps, the comedy, the tragedy, the little triumphs that seem so big and the little defeats that seem so crushing that are familiar to all of us but that never lose interest. Working on this knowledge, King Vidor, the man who made "The Big Parade,” wove a screen drama around the life of the average man and his wife—the average woman. Based on simple fundamentals this story has achieved greatness because of its very simplicity. There is nothing bigger in life itself and “The Crowd” is the one motion picture that presents life as it is. The "hero” of “The Crowd” is not a very heroic figure. He Is just an everyday man. He is born, grows up, marries. Children come faster than promotion. Tragedy enters his life and he loses his job. He loses his grip on himself and becomes a drifter. The crowd surges by—it has no use for a failure and a quitter. By a freak of chance he gets a chance to come back. Once again he is in the crowd—one of the mob again. He knows that he will never rise very high, but, on the other hand, he will never sink again. Life has taught him the things his parents and his school didn’t teach him. That's "The Crowd." The most unusual motion picture of all. That holds up the mirror of truth for nil to see. “The Crowd” comes to the Regent Theatre on Friday, whilst on the stage the London Pantomime "Dick Whittington,” with a special cast of characters, including Ed. Warrington, the famous English comedian, will hold the boards, daily and nightly. The box plans are at the theatre and Bristol.

DE LUXE THEATRE. “The Trail of ’OS,” Metro-Goldwyn-Maver’s screen version, of the- story by Robert W. Service, continues' to draw crowded houses at the De Luxe Theatre, where it is now in its second week's screening. Never has the screen portrayed with such Intense feeling the hope, the spirit of adventure, the good-fellowship and hatred, and the greed of humanity as in this epic of the Klondyke. Even the Californian clergyman, who leads the stampede to the Klondyke, must rush off helter-skelter for San Francisco in the City of Topeka, which in one voyage carried 500 frenzied gold-seekers from all the corners of the earth to- the frozen north —to starvation, for the majority. Thrill follows thrill with amazing realism. The devastating snow avalanche, the furious swirling waters of the dreaded White Horse Rapids, and the never-to-be-forgot-ten finale, when the hero hurls a kerosene lamp at the villain and makes of him a human torch, to rush here and there in the madness of his agony until he sets the whole camp afire, are scenes, the realism of which has rarely been matched on the screen. Heading the powerful cast are Dolores del Rio, Ralph Forbes. Karl Dane, Polly Moran, Tenon Holtz, Harry Carey and George Cooper. The special New York musical score is admirably played by the orchestra. “FOUR SONS.” A highly dramatic, and likewise instructive. sequence of scenes appears in the William Fox masterpiece, “Four Sons,” the feature film which has created such.q. sensation in- -New»York; and L'qS'J.'Augelos; ■ Some of the' a'ctiOn“’f'akes place in the examination rooms and detention wards of Ellis Island, the gateway of the new arrivals from foreign countries. Director Ford had these sets constructed in facsimile to the rooms in the federal buildings on the island, and every bit of routine shown in the picture is carried out to the letter by Ford. Earle Foxe, Margaret Mann, June Collyer. Charles Morton, James Hall, Francis X. Bushman, and others are seen tn principal roles in this production, which commences screening at the De Luxe Theatre on Friday at 8 p.m. “Four Sons” will be preceded by an atmospheric stage presentation, when the theme song "Little Mother” will be sung. PARAMOUNT THEATRE. “Roses of Picardy,” now screening at the .Paramount Theatre, is a presentation of boldly drawn character studies amazingly real and human, each expressing a vital problem individual and intimate, yet common to whole classes of men and women involved in the war. There is “Madeleine,” a Flemish farmer's daughter, urged by the implacable spirit of generations symbolised in “The Spanish Farm,” which has withstood the bloody wars of more than two centuries in, the cockpit of Europe. . The war, to Madeleine, is a problem of preservation of home—or compensation in lieu—and tho survival of her lover. To Skene, a young British officer, the war means, at first, an adventure, then a serious business —a job to be done—and afterwards, a memory of murder and muddled manners and morals, to be preserved as an object lesson for all time. To Madeleine’s father, the war makes sacred the memory of a son; for her lover, D'Archeville, it is an opportunity to ride for the honour of France without regard for Madeleine or her claims upon him: and finally, there is old Baron D’Archeville—who resents his handicap of age in the struggle against the Boche, but nevertheless ' “goes down fighting"—and the Baroness, his wife, whose concern with the war is centred in the fate of her son. The cast includes Lillian Hall-Davis, John Stuart, Humlierston Wright, Jameson Thomas and Clifford He'atherley. Good supports are also screened and. delightful music is supplied by the orchestra.

“HIS HOUSE LN ORDER.” No British drama of recent years has equalled “His House In Order” in the widespread fame it obtained, and it is a little surprising that the inevitable filming of it should have tarried so long. Many playgoers will recall the story of this domestic drama—the husband who worshipped the memory of his first wife, and compared her only too favourably with tho second one, the sprightly governess to his child, until an accident laid bare her double life, and her martyred successor was restored to her rightful place in her husband's esteem.' The play was a wonderful demonstration, not merely of womanly deception, but of husband's crass folly,-. and the sufferings of the second wife whose careless happiness was mistaken for empty levity, strikes a poignant and deeply human note. When first played on the stage/this Arthur Pinero drama had for its two-leading artists such bril-, liant actors'as Sir George Alexander and Irene Vanbrugh. As a film it is, fortunate In having in those two parts th« equally brilliant -Tallulah Bankhead—now the foremost actress on the British boards—and lan Hunter, recently seen with such

success in “The Ring.” A large and distinguished supporting cast is in evidence. “His House in Order" commences a week s season at the Paramount Theatre next Friday.

STRAND THEATRE. Those who are familiar with lite in the cotton mills of Lancashire or the gaieties of Blackpool, will be greatly interested in "Hindle Wakes,” a British picture, which heads the double-feature programme now being screened at the Strand Theatre. Maurice Elvey, the producer, has actively presented the smoky drabness of the mills and the gay brilliance of Blackpool, whilst Estelle Brody and Norman McKinnell, both well known to the Australian public, give an excellent portrayal of the routine of the worker and the rule of the owner. To those who may not be interested in the romance of a story, no matter under what guise, then the machines of the cotton mills actually at work will surely appeal. Allan Jeffcote. the owner's son, and Fanny Hawthorne, a "slasher’s'' daughter, defy convention and spend "wakes" holiday week together at Llandudno; but then Fanny liad an avaricious mother to deal with and Allan a‘determined father, so their escapade did anything but go unnoticed, as they had expected. Family plans were carefully laid for the marriage of the culprits but Fanny, with a new sense of freedom, flatly refused to marry Allan Jeffcote. and defiantly left the conspirators in blank astonishment. "The Golden Butterfly." a sceeen version of the P. G. Wodehouse story, starring Lili Damita. is the second feature, while appropriate music is supplied by the orchestra. “REVENGE." One of the marked characteristics about Dolores Del l*io will be absent when the star is seen in "Revenge,” her forthcoming United Artists picture, which is the next big feature to be screened at the Strand Theatre. The star's close-fitting hair dress has always been evident on the screen. She has always worn her long hair combed closely to her head and done up in little knots on each side or in one large braided knot in back. In “Revenge” she appears in the fiery role of a gypsy bear-tamer and her hair will be seen blowing to all four winds. Her hairdresser does his best to make it stand out as far out from her head as possible, and the change from the slick close-fitting stvle she has used so long, is striking. “Revenge” is Finis Fox's screen story based on Konrad Bercovici's “The Bear Tamer's Daughter.” It offers Miss Del Rio every chance to display her dramatic emotions in an entirely new type of role. QUEEN’S THEATRE. “Plastered in Paris,” which heads the double-feature programme at the Queen's Theatre, starts with a "flash” sequence of world war trenches and thereafter leaves the great conflict "flat.” The trench scenes show Sammy Cohen as the dynamic little Jewish comedian where he gets a dose of poison gas and hospital surgeons decree that thereafter he will be a kleptomaniac. Ten years later they are delegates to the American Legion convention in Paris and Fennick seeks a cure by a famous French specialist for his friend Sammy. In a series of hilarious "shots" they, are shown being "shanghaied” into membership in the French Foreign Legion and | a subsequent campaign against a band of Kiffs during which the funsters rescue two fair maidens and incidentally “kidnap” the desert sheik's entire harem. Marjorie Beebe is the star of “The Farmer’s Daughter.” the hilarious comedy which Is the second feature, while appropriate music is supplied by the orchestra. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Mike Connors and Queenie Paul, with their “League of Notions" Revue Company, present a programme right out of the box at His Majesty’s Theatre this week. Syd. Beck, the company’s popular comedian, is well to the fore throughout, and brings down the house with "The Lad from Tory Stret,” besides doing good work in the many clever sketches, some of the best of which are “The Street Singers.” "The Burglar and the Lady,” “Moulin Rouge Cafe,” and “The Four O’Clock Train.” As usual, Queenie Paul and Mike Connors score heavily with their clever duets, which Include “I Hate to Lose You” and "Oh, Johnnie Callaghan,” while Queenie Paul also sings “Jeanniue” and “Chlquita.” Bright music is supplied by the "League of Notions” symphonists. and the remainder of the company give good support to their principals.

ALLAN WILKIE SHAKESPEAREAN COMPANY.-

The Allan Wilkie Shakespearean Company will commence their season at the Grand Opera House on Saturday evening, January 26, with a presentation of “The Merchant of Venice," in which Mr. Allan Wilkie will appear as Shylock and Miss Huhter-Watts as Portia. The part of Bassanio will be played by Mr. Alexander /Marsh, recently leading actor with "Sir Frank Benson, and who has lately joined Mr. Wilkie’s company. Other new members of the organisation aro Miss Mildred Howard, an English actress with a wide experience of Shakespearean roles in Great Britain; Mr. Miles Hastings, also from England, who is making his first appearance In New Zealand; Mr. Alan Harkness, who comes from Melbourne; Mr. Keith Hall, a young Australian actor of promise; and Mr. Russell Chapman, a native of Melbourne, who comes from a family well-known in English theatrical circles. Members of the company, who have previously toured New Zealand with Mr. Wilkie, are Miss Lorna Forbes, Mr. Dennis Barry. Miss Hilda Scurr. Mr. Arthur Keane, Mr. William Lockhart, Miss Elsa Durrant. Mr. Milton Sands, Mr. John Cairns, Mr. John Cameron, and Mr. P. V. Scully. The plays to be staged during the Wellington season following "The Merchant of Venice” are: “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” “A Midsummer Night's Dream.” “The Taming of tho Shrew.” “Othello.” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Coriolanus,” “Twelfth Night.” “Henry the Fifth,” “All’s Well that Ends Well,” “As You Like It.” “King Lear.” "The Tempest.” “Julius Caesar.” “Macbeth.” “Hamlet” and “Henry the Eighth.” Special matinees will be given during tho season, which will extend over three weeks. f “THE MIDNIGHT FROLICS."

“The Midnight Frolics,” which the J. C. Williamson Company is presenting at the Grand Opera House, is meeting with a good reception from the public. It provides an entertainment which worthily succeeds that of the former “Frolics” Company. Clem Dawe, the original Australian comedian, is seen at his best, and his fun is largely responsible for the success of the show. Of equal merit aro the performances of the others of the company, who maintain throughout a high standard of entertainment. The violin solos of Gregory Ivanoff are delightful, while Miss Lillian Crisp makes a big appeal with her vocal numbers. The dancing of the jDorotby and Dick trio adds- variety to the programme, while Miss Phyllis Avery is another popular exponent of the terpsichorean art. The sketches in which Clem Dawe has a prominent place are features of the evening. Other contributors to a wellbalanced entertainment of generous measure are Miss Gertie Cremer, Miss Cathie Stevens. Mr. Wm. .Perryman,. Mr.' Oscar Bedk, Mr. Eric Ridgeley, Mr. John Robertson, and others. Commencing with the matlness on Saturday afternoon, there will be a complete change of programme for the final five nights. KING’S THEATRE. One of those good old-fashioned comedies about a good-natured cop and his family, his trials and tribulations, is found in ‘‘Do Your Duty,” First National picture starring Charlie Murray, now at the King’s Theatre. Charlie, as Tim Maloney, gives a lovable characterisation, full of human nature, joviality and the milk of human kindness. This is Murray's natural character and he transfers it easily to the screen. , William Bea inline directed ■ the picture and two- First National players, Doris Dawson and Yola d’Avril have prominent parts. Charles Delaney has the. juvenile lead. The supporting programme is a well-varied one. and a delightful musical score is wellrendered by the orchestra. ’