ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 180, 28 April 1931, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. A riot of mirth from beginning to end, the Paramount picture, “Let’s Go Native,” made a great hit at its opening at the Regent Theatre on Friday. Continual shrieks of laughter bore witness to ..the success of what undoubtedly is a picture in a hundred. "Jeanette MacDonald, who is at the head of a fine past, always seems' to be invested with royalty iti one way’ or another in the pictures she plays in. She was queen in “The Love Parade/’ and a princess in “The Vagabond King." • In- “ Let's Go Native” she is an ultra-modern •girl who gains a pearl crown as the queen of a tropical island, upon which she and her companions, Jack Oakie, James Hall, William Austin and Kay Francis, ■ are stranded. Her robes of state consist of a grass skirt and a sea-weed guimpe. The plot moves from a modiste’s salon in New York to the streets of the same city, to a big steamer, to an island in the tropics, and to a private yacht. There is a central love affair between MiSs MacDonald and Hall, there is a secondary love affair between Oakie and Miss Francis; there is menace supplied from several sources.' But plot and action are of little consequence in the welter of laughs and roars that pitches and tosses this splendid show along to one grand hilarious tidal wave finale. The supporting films arc excellent. i “The Right to Love.” Miss Ruth Chatterton is the star of 'the new Paramount drama, “The .Right, to Love,” which shows at the Regent Theatre on Friday next. It is a stirring and poignant love story, told in a straightforward, inspiring manner. It reveals three generations of women (ail played by Ruth Chatterton), in their desperate fight to win the love that is every woman’s rightful heritage. Acted with the restraint that makes for intensified, absorbing drama. The Right to Love” emerges as a picture to command the attention of every man and woman who is interested in first-class entertainment. The direction, keen, emotionally alive and alert to every dramatic possibility, is a tribute to the sympathy and .understanding with which Richard Wallace has endowed every moment of this picture. DE LUXE THEATRE. ' So graphically told that one feels an actual participant instead of a spectator, Moby Dick,” a tale of the old whaling days is now showing at the De Luxe Theatre. One is taken back to NewBedford of 1838, when Whale-hunting was at its height. Young Ahab (John Barrymore) has just returned from a long* cruise, and as soon as lie steps ashore he meets J-. * s brother Derek (Lloyd Hughes) and I'aitli (Joan Bennett). It Is a case of love at first sight, but in tlie maimer of most romances misunderstandings arise. Ahab is on the point of leaving on another long cruise when Faith runs to the jetty and tells him of her feelings toward him and promises to wait till he comes back. When Ahab is at sea, however, Moby Dick, a rogue whale, is sighted and the ship’s boats put out to limit him. Ahab, on account of his almost uncanny skill with the harpoon, is in the leading boat. Slowly tlie boat approaches, and when it is near the whale Ahab hurls Ills harpoon. As soon as Moby Dick feels the bite of the steel he attacks the boat and smashes it to matchwood. Ahab lias a leg torn off, but is rescued. From then on tlie story is full of dramatic climaxes until Its conPARAMOUNT THEATRE. ... “Outside tlie Law,’’ Universal's brilliant drama of 'a feud -between two gangland leaders, is one of tlie two big pictures on a splendid, programme at tlie Paramount ’ Theatre this week. Mary Nolan, blonde, beautiful and talented, has the leading role, and takes the part of a crook who teams up with another gangster who robs a city bunk. Tlie Cobra. leader of a rival gang, knows what lias happened, and then the trouble begins. “Fingers” and Connie lie low for a while, but are finally located liy the Cobra. They are planning to make a get-away, when the Cobra shoots the Captain of Police, whose small child is a great favourite of theirs. While saving the policeman, they are captured and sent to prison. Botii are led away happy in the thought that they have at least acted deeeptly, and that they will soon be reunited. Owen. Moore makes a splendid leading man. The other big feature is* the comedy "A.’ic You There?” wlili'h is a musical show starring Beatrice Lillie mid George •Grossmith. It is a Fox Movietone film. “Min and Bill.” Marie Dressier and Wallace Beery, who have scored repeated successes in separate vehicles, are now to be seen in their first co-starring picture, “Mln and Bill, opening at the Paramount on Friday next. The theme is the poignant struggle between mother and foster-mother over the fate of a child. The denouement that solves the profilcm is a decidedly new note In Hie drama of the screen. There are many comedy moods, as well as a charming love romance to enlighten its more sombre moments. Miss Drossier is a dominant figure as Min, keeper of the waterfront dive, and Beery plays her lover, Bill, fishing smack captain, with deft skill. Box plans are now open at the Bristol and Theatre, telephone 21—542.

, ST. JAMES THEATRE. Metro-Goldwyn’s magnificent pioneer .play,, “The Great Meadow,"- is a favourite with big audiences at the St. James Theatre, where its gripping human story is unfolded before a background of scenery that is picturesque in, the-extreme and is as varied as it is beautiful. “The Great .Meadow” is a splendid production just ns ...notable,as was that former favourite, “The ■ Virginian." More than that, this new picture has greater interest and grip. This is djjg in a measure to the capital manner in which the various -parts are played by a cast that it would be . hard to better. Eleanor Boardman looks very pretty and acts with real force as the leading girl of the'story., aiid it would be hard to find an actor better fitted for the part of the hero than that convincing. player, John Mack Brown. The first part subjects, which are excellent, include Charles Chase in the comedy, “Ladies Last," and a very interesting travelogue, “Burton Holmes at Peking.” Box plans arc at the Bristol and also at the. theatre. . . “OLD ENGLISH.” The-most important event in the-local picture world for some, time is the coming of the greatest actor of the screen, imminent George Arliss in John Galsworthy s finest play, "Old English.” By special ar- • rangement George Arliss will have the distinction of playing bis great, part of . "Sylvanus Heythorp,” Known among his.cronies as "Old English,” in two Wellington theatres —the ist. James and the De Luxe—at the same time, a teat made possible only by the advent of “talkies.” Box plans for both theatres are now available at the Bristol. George Arliss is the English actor who has done lor the screen what the late Sir Henry Irving and Sir Charles - Wyndham did for the stage in England—lifted it on to an altogether higher plane. • His impersonation of the loveable rascal “Old English" is conceded to be a performance far in advance of bls successful portrait of "Disraeli." The play; “Old English,” like all Galsworthy’s efforts, is criticised 'as "a beautifully written contribution in which abound drama at its best, supreme subtlety, sparkling comedy and biting satire.” . ’ GRAND OPERA HOUSE. Bright, cheery pictures mean a great deal these days, asm at the Grand Opera House this week, Moran and Mack, the "Two Black Crows," are creating all the fun imaginable in the diverting comedy "Anybody’s War.” There is a touch of romantic Interest and even of drama, but the story centres mainly on the comicalities of the two black crows and Mutt, their pet dog. The pair, while having an argument, find themselves drawn into the world war. From the same town In Tennessee Neil Hamilton and Joan Peers also become embroiled. Walter Weems, the veteran darkie artist, is the sergeant gathering in the boys for the army, Waiter McGrail plays the officer who is a spy and is the rival of Hamilton for the band of Joan. Hamilton has a difficult role of appearing to be a "slacker,” whereas he is ou the trail of the spy. Finally all get to the theatre of war, and in the trenches the "two black crows” and Mutt, an Aberdeen terrier, hold one’s interest by the hazardous risks they take. They fall iuto the hands of the enemy, and it is Mutt, witli a note in his collar, who breaks away, crosses “no man's land” under fire, and brings a rescue party along. Hamilton gets tile spy and incidentally the girl, and all return after the war. The town band turns out to welcome "the crows, and even Mutt shares in the final triumph. MAJESTIC THEATRE. Applause and merry laughter testify to the popularity with the public of that most entertaining play, “Reno,” adapted from tne very • qi_ev£r • and widely-read book of the same title, written by Cornelius Vandernow holds the screen at the Majestic Theatre. Vanderbilt attacks the super-easy methods of obtaining divorces at Reno. The’outstanding feature ot the presentation is the return to the screen of Ruth Roland and her captivating and forceful characterisation cf Mrs. Burt, a wife who is forced to divorce her husband for introducing a woman to whom she objects to his house for dinner. The husband is splendidly acted by Montagu Love, and the woman objected to becomes a clear-cut cameo sketch in the artistic hands of Judith Vosselli. Kenneth Thomson also does well. The supporting subjects are pleasing items. Box plans are at the Bristol and also at the theatre. KING'S THEATRE. “The Green Goddess,” the first of a scries of productions which the notable star. George Arliss, made for Warner Bros., and which had a most successful opening at the King’s Theatre on Friday, was one of the most successful plays ever produced on the legitimate stage. Critics agreed that it wai a faultlessly-constructed melodrama, and It attracted large and enthusiastic audiences at every performance during its long run. In addition to this work by the genius of “Disraeli” there is an excellent vrogramint of featurettes.