ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 68, 13 December 1933, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. Sylvia Sidney, Donald Cook, Mary A** . tor, H. B. Warner, and Louise Carter head the cast of “Jennie Gerhardt,” Paramount’s film version of a story by Theodore Dreiser, at the Regent Theatre. It is brilliantly acted, and the story is cne that grips the audience from the moment, the picture starts to the final fade-out. “Jennie Gerhardt” deals with the lif® of a girl,, the child of poverty-stricken parents, who possesses 'extreme beauty and charm- This beauty, however, finally leads to her downfall. The popular Sylvia Sidney is seen in the difficult role of the unfortunate Jennie. Good, supports are also screened. “Mama Loves Papa.” Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles, who have been featured together in numerous recent pictures, are co-starred in Paramount’s “Mama Loves Papa,” a comedy written especially for them, which opens on Friday at the Regent Theatre. Norman McLeod, director of the Four Marx Brothers in most of their screen appearances, directed the production. "Mama Loves Papa” is a story which permits both Miss Boland and Ruggles to display their particular types of comedy to the best advantage. They are cast as a middle-aged couple who live outside a big city and come to town each day: Ruggles to tease fellow office-work-ers with his puns, and Miss Boland to absorb ideas of “culture” at popular lectures. After one of these lectures. Miss Boland decides her husband must dress in formal clothes on every possible occasion. The next day he goes to work in frock coat and bowler. His boss, spotting the clothes, immediatly concludes there was a death in the family, and gives him the day off. Charlie wanders into the park, where he is mistaken for a city official, and forced to participate in a dedictory exercise. The cty's political boss, dissatisfied with the park commissioner. decides Charlie would do as well as any one else, and appoints him to the job. and a series of hilarious events follow. In addition to Miss Boland and Ruggles, the cast includes Lilyan Tashman, Walter Catlett. - and George Barbier in important roles. DE LUXE THEATRE. In “The Crash,” now at the De Luxe Theatre, Ruth Chatterton has once again a perfect setting for her art. As the wife of a wealthy stockbroker who . makes her use her charm to gain stock market tips, she finds herself rapidly drifting out of love. It is a difficult part to carry through successfully, but she does it without an effort and so naturally that one does not realise it Is acting at all. If any actress can be said to live the role she plays, it is Ruth Chatterton. George Brent as her husband is entirely adequate; There is a good supporting programme, and Miss Iris Mason presides at the Wurlitzer organ. “The Desert Song.” John Boles, who portrays the masterful glorious singing role of “The Red Shadow.” has won the highest critical praise for his work. On<J~ of the most affecting scenes in “The Desert Song,” Warner Bros.’ operetta, coming to the De Luxe Theatre on Friday, is the lave-tak-ing between the mysterious Red Shadow and his band of Riff followers, by whom he has been condemned to hahishment into the desert,' with neither food nor water, and no arms except his own broken sword. There is a great bond of affection between the leader and bis men, but he has refused to meet the French General Birabeau in single combat—know*-ing-him to be his father; and the law of the tribe is inexorable; The story of “The Desert Song” is full of heart throbs, many of which are based on the love of the Red Shadow for Margot, th l * French girl who is strangely atttracted by the masked bandit chieftain, but has no eyes for his other self. Pierre Birabeau. John Boles and Carlotta King are seen as the Red Shadow and Margot, respectively. ST. JAMES THEATRE. Colleen Moore in a character that extends'over 30 years of life is seen once again on the screen in “The Power and the "Glory.” It- is the screen version of Preston Sturges’s play of the ignorant young railway track walker, who is driven, to “the power and the glory” of a railroad president. Then, having achieved everything, he falls in love with a young girl, casts out his wife, who kills herself under the wheels of her husband’s railway. Still he marries the girl, and the joy of that belated romance turns to ashes when he discovers her to be utterly false, with his own son as the third angle to the triangle. “The Blind Adventure.” Discarding all conventional methods of plot development, “Blind Adventure,” which is coming to the St. James Theatre on Friday, and which features Roland Toung. Helen Mack, and Robert Armstrong, offers an unusual treatment of the mystery theme. In “Blind Adventure,” a young American blunders into an old English mansion and becomes involved in extraordinary in trigne. Amazing complications, ensue, and the hero is compelled to escape across London rooftops with a beautiful girl whom he has met under peculiar circumstances. A timid burglar makes a hilarious entrance into the plot, and his professional experience is enlisted by the fleeing pair. The three make their way to a certain address,, at the instructions of a bogus secret service man, where they fall into blackmailers’ hands, who hold them as hostages to force the delivery of important military secrets held by the girl’s uncle, a British Army officer. Good supports are promised. MAJESTIC THEATRE. “The Wrecker,” at the Majestic Theatre, tells the story of how the life of a building wrecker whose motto is “Everything that goes up must come down,” is ruined by one whom be helped along the road to success as a builder from a humble position in his own employ apd by an unfaithful wife. The art of the cinema is used in many of the scenes to convey with great success the noise and turmoil that pervades places where a building is being pulled down, and the effect contrasts with dramatic silence. Jack .Holt is appropriately cast as the proprietor of .the great wrecking firm, and . Genevieve Tobin has the part of the unfaithful wife. “Shanghai Madness.” “Shanghai'' Madness,” the new Fox Film production, with Spencer Tracy in the leading role, comes to the Majestic Theatre on Friday. It is a romance, of white people against an ever-changing background of modern China. The story, revolves around the exploits of an American naval officer who, through the intrigue and subtlety that are characteristic of Shanghai, becomes involved in an affair that forces him to resign his anotnand. He becomes a wanderer in the poorer sections of the seaport town, avoiding all his acquaintances of the past, and seeking to cull his livelihood as best he can. In this new phase of his life he a;Jain becomes inrolvced in trouble when he sees a mob of natives attacking a white girl. He rescues the girl from the mob and ,a tender attachment between them begins.' But she is. a girl of high social standing, and a discharged naval officer is not the most appropriate of companions for her. GRAND OPERA HOUSE. A tale of the open spaces, and of the owners of rival ranches fighting hard for land, is Zane Grey’s “Man of the Forest,” now showing at the Grand Opera House.