ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 290, 3 September 1931, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. Perhaps the greatest variety of entertainment presented for many months is incorporated in the bill at the Regent Theatre. In addition to an especially fine supporting programme, including a Vagabond Director film, Joy and Lazzerino, the amazing roller-skaters, present a new act. The star film is “Beau Ideal,” Radio’s adaptation of the famous C. Wren novel. ‘‘‘Chance of a Night-Time.” “The .Chance of a Njght-Time,” the farce specially written for the screen by Ben Travers, is to be shown at the Regent Theatre for a season commencing on Friday. ,(It should be interesting to see how Travers has tackled a farce not intended for- stage production. He had been told that it was all very well to reproduce his stq£e successes on the screen, but what about something new—something essentially “cinema”? His answer is “The Chance of a Night-Time,” and in this film we see Ralph Lynn in a new light, part-producer as well as leading player. It is said that it has been written with a view to giving Ralph Lynn opportunities for displaying his inimitable brand of humour. "Punch” says “The Chance of a Night-Time” is very funny; thanks to Mr. Ralph Lynn’s consistent belief that family lawyers should behave like lunatics. One of his most amusiug lapses is when, on leaving his client’s house, he carries away the garden gate in lieu of his attache case. Such men may be bad as legal ■ advisers, but' they are good for movie audiences. Miss Shotter as a professional dancer with a passion for Mr. Lynn, which would be inexplicable were it not instantaneous, is as charming as she always js. ■ / . • ——— - MAJESTIC THEATRE. That very fine sensational and spectacular melodrama, “Dirigible,” • most ably played by Ralph Graves, Jack Holt, Fay Wray, and a strong cast will close its big season at the Majestic Theatre to-night. , “School for Basil Gill and Madeline Carroll are headliners in the talking screen reproduction of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s immortal English comedy, “The School for 1 Scandal,” which will be shown for the first time in New Zealand at the Majestic Theatre to-morrow morning, but every other player of the distinguished cast bears a name that is well known in West End London theatres. Haydn Coffin, the celebrated actor and tenor, lan Fleming, Henry Hewitt, Edgar K. Bruce, Dodo Watts, Anne Grey, and Hector Abbas are all recognised first-grade dramatic artists. It is therefore no wonder that their screen interpretation of Sheridan’s evergreen work lias been described by the London “Daily Mail” as “a presentation so well done that it challenges comparison with the very finest performances of the illustrious comedy that London audiences have been privileged to see on the legitimate stage." ST. JAMES THEATRE. After an exceptionally successful season nt St. James Theatre, Laurel and Hardy, in “Pardon Us,” and Ramon Novarro in “Daybreak,” will finish tonight. This programme should not be missed. “Young Sinners.” That fine virile actor Thomas Meighan, whose splendid work in the “Miracle Man’ will long be remembered by picturelovers, will star to-morrow at St. James Theatre in “Young Sinners,” a powerful talking drama, in which he appears,with rare distinction to the real pleasure of all manner of audiences in the congenial role of a physical culture expert who trains the bodies and minds of dissipated young men until he brings ( them back to strength and manhood. There is no other actor on the screen who could rival Meighan in this character. PARAMOUNT THEATRE. Joan Bennett, the fascinating “star” playing with George Arliss in “Disraeli,” takes the leading role in "Hush Money,” at the Paramount Theatre. Good supports arc also screened. “Ladies’ Men.” William Powell and Kay Francis will be seen in an intensely stirring dramatic romance on Friday next, when Paramount's “Ladies’ Man” opens at the Paramount Theatre. “Ladies’ Man” is the tale of a suave cosmopolite whom the moneyed women of New York are mad about and whom many of the moneyed men of the town arc mad about —but. in a far different sense. It is Powell’s “way with the ladies” which causes the jealousy among New York's elite gentlemen which eventually brings disaster to the of this cool and calculating villain. As the favourite of the daughters of wealth Powell gets ahead in life by accepting gifts from his very patronising female friends.

DE LUXE THEATRE. How to make love in all languages is tho theme of “Women of All Nations,” showing at the De Luxe Theatre, ,in which the seagoing Don Juan, Victor McLaglen, and Edmund Lowe, take the lead. t “Shipmates.” Robert Montgomery is to be seen in his first starring role in “Shipmates,” a spectacular story of navy life, which opens to-morrow at the De Luxe Theatre. This picture climaxes one of the most spectacular careers? in the history of the screen. Making his debut barely two years ago in “So This Is College,” Montgomery subsequently scored one success after another in such vehicles as “The Big House,” “The Divorcee,” and “In spiration." Montgomery’s leading lady in his initial stellar role is Dorothy Jordan, who was teamed with him in “Love in the Rough.” The picture is based on Erucst Paynter’s story “Maskee,” and was directed by Harry Pollard, who recently produced the Lawrence Tibbett hit “The Prodigal.” Montgomery is seen as a sailor who poses as a wealthy oil man and falls in love with a girl who later proves to be the admiral’s daughter, betrothed to a staff officer. The revelation of the youth’s identity brings about a dramatic situation which is climaxed by his attempts at desertion after he strikes the officer. Thrilling battle-practice scenes and the burning of an ammunition' barge provide the highlights in the action.

GRAND OPERA HOUSE. “The. Sleeping Cardinal” is screening at the Grand Opera House. Adapted from two of Sir Conan Doyle’s most popular short stories, this picture contains mystery and thrills. At matinees 30 pupils of Miss Kathleen O’Brien will be seen in a dancing scena. "Sin Ship” and “Laugh and Get Rich." Coming to the Grand Opera House on Friday will be a double-featured bill. The first attraction will be “The Sin Ship,” with Louis Wolheim, Mary Astor, and lan Keith. “Laugh and Get Rich,” the other attraction, will be the second feature. Mary Astor and lan Keith participate in the novel and dramatic plot of "The Sin Ship.” as do other favourites of the talkies. They pose as a missionary and his wife, and get passage to the South Seas in a little trading schooner. The captain falls, in love with the “minister's” -wife, protects her from his hardbitten crew, and then discovers she has tricked him.

KING’S THEATRE. “Stolen Heaven,” which is at the King's Theatre, is a film with two locales, New York’s back streets and Florida’s sunny beaches. “A Connecticut Yankee.” Those who have enjoyed the inimitable humour of Mark Twiiin will readily realise what a treat is in store at the King’s Theatre, where “A Connecticut Yankee” will open to-morrow. A wireless faddist endeavours to get in on sound waves whicli have been floating round since the beginning of time, and tunes in on King Arthur’s Court. KILBIRNIE KINEMA. Weird, but wondrous* “Dracula,” the Universal film which had such a successful run in the city, is at the Kilbirnic Kinema. Bela Lugosi and Helen Chandler head the cast.