ATTRACTIONS IN THE THEATRES

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 146, 17 March 1934, Page 4

ATTRACTIONS IN THE THEATRES

Reviews of Current Cinema Programmes

Theatre-goers are again fortunate in having the choice of a varied selection of cinema entertainment, in the films released at the city theatres yesterday. With Basil Rathbone, Miles Mander, Heather Thatcher and Joan Wyndham in the leading roles, “Loyalties,” a drama of racial pride and class prejudice, is at the Regent. At the St. James William Powell and Margaret Lindsay have the principal roles in a thrilling detective romance, “Private Detective 62.” Still proving a tremendous success, “I Was a Spy” commenced its third week at the State Theatre yesterday. “Should Ladies Behave?” a brilliant humorous play, full of delightful, unexpected situations, featuring Conway Tearle, Alice Brady and Lionel Barrymore, is to be seen at the Majestic. Sir Hubert Wilkins is appearing in person at the Grand Opera House, describing his own film record of his experiences in the Arctic and Antarctic. “Tell Me To-night,” starring Jan Kiepura, the delightful tenor, Sonnie Hale and Edmund Gwenn, is being revived at the Paramount. Leslie Howard, Margaret Lindsay, Douglas Fairbanks, jun., and Paul Lukas are to be seen at .the De Luxe in “Captured,” a love story played against the background of world upheaval. “The Dominion’s” reviews of the latest programmes are given below.

STATE THEATRE “I Was a Spy” “I was a Spy” thoroughly deceives to be shown for the third week, which it entered'at the State Theatre yesterday. It is a British film, and the director seems -to have felt himself on sure ground in traversing a war theme, for the audience is told, or rather made to feel, the thrilling experiences of a spy behind the German lines. For its setting it has the tense atmosphere of a Belgian village in wartime. The dreadful yet brave adventures of the young Belgian woman, Marthe, are told from the day when, through hatred of the Germans and indignation at their occupation of her country, she drifts into the Allies’ espionage service, to the scene in her cell after she has been sentenced to a spy’s death. The ’ climax deeply moves the audiences in the sacrifice portrayed The film is said to be based on the true story of the life of Martha McKenna, but it does not need that additional interest to make it grasp the imagination and to make one recoil from the cruelty, injustice and ruthlessness of war. Yet the spectator is not harrowed with ghastly details of trench and No Man’s Land, but is forced to hold his breath at the frightful risks taken by a spy in territory occupied by the highly efficient German army of the early days of the war, arrogant with its early successes . but keenly suspicious of the populace it is among and eager to crush instantly and spectacularly the first spy discovered. Death was the penalty and the German Kommandant urged before the military ■court that Marthe be shot. Part of a great efficient machine, he ignored the sentiment that would have made him plea for her life. Madeleine Carroll acts magnificently as Marthe, while Herbert Marshall is her lover and Conrad Veidt the town Kommandant.

GRAND OPERA HOUSE

“Arctic and Antarctic”

The story of one of the most amazing feats in the' history of polar exploration—a trip under the ice in the Arctic in a submarine —wns told by the noted Australian polar explorer, Sir Hubert . Wilkins. at the Grand' Opera House last evening. The film in itself, “Arctic and Antarctic,’’ might well be classed as an epic of polar exploration, but it was enhanced considerably by the running rapidfire monologue in which the intrepid explorer himself explained the various scenes in which he is the chief figure. Sir Hubert Wilkins was "pushed” into polar exploration, as he puts it himself. He never wanted to be an explorer. But he did want to find things out. And to find out about the atmosphere, observations were necessary in the polar wastes. Hence a series of enterprises which have thrilled the world. He first adopted the aeroplane. His first machines were heavy ones, and one of them, then the Detroiter, later became more famous as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross. The many setbacks of his early work are faithfully portrayed by the camera. He later adopted lighter machines, and one of them covered 30,000 miles in the Arctic. The majesty and grandeur of great mountain ranges and vast ice wastes, with danger lurking never very far in the background, are well photographed in the film. Sir Hulbert then turned his attention to the Antarctic, covering great areas which had never been seen before and have not yet been seen sine?. Then came his most amazing feat of all. He became almost a Jules Verne of real life. His submarine, the Nautilus, he secured from the United States Navy. The explorer told of the efforts made to dissuade him from his enterprise. Thousands assured him he was committing suicide. But he went on. Trouble struck him right at the start. How it all arose was over an engineer's toothache, said Sir Hubert in his inimitable w T ay last evening. The Nautilus was towed to England. But off at last, the feat was accomplished. The Nautilus sailed under the ice. Photos taken through the submarine’s windows reveal scenery the majesty of which the explorer said he had never seen surpassed. The picture gives many interesting glimpses of life in the Arctic, and of the esquimeaux; of their wonder when the first- aeroplane appeared; of the trials and successes which come the way of the explorer. Sir Hubert discloses that he himself never had any doubt about the fact that success would attend his venture with the Nautilus. DE LUXE, LOWER HUTT “Broadway to Hollywood,” a glittering pageant of the stage and the screen, will be the attraction to the De Luxe Theatre, Lower Hutt, to-day. Gorgeous ballets, lavish scenes and a spectacular finale embellish the production, and the cast is composed of notable figures. There are good supports promised. "Arizona to Broadway.” the new Fox production, will be shown for the first time on Tuesday. It is said that the cast is one that combines the best in comedy and character performances. James Dunn and Joan Bennett are the stars. With Claude Hulbert in the leading role, “Their Night Out” will be screened on Thursday, and “Hayseeds” begins a session on Friday. KILBIRNIE KINEMA A big double feature programme will be presented at the Kilbirnie Kinema today. the constituents being George Gee’s “Cleaning Up,” a fine British comedy, and Ronald Colman in his masterpiece, “Raffles,” which has been said to be his greatest characterisaton for the screen. KING GEORGE, LOWER HUTT

Screening at the King George Theatre, Lower Hutt, to-day will be “The Past of Mary Holmes.” Tuesday's change of programme will be “Goldie Gets Along,” and on Thursday there will be another attraction.

GRAND, PETONE Edgar Wallace’s great story. “The Flying Squad,” will be featured at the Grand Theatre, Petone, to-day. In support of -this great thriller is a fine selection of featurettes. PRINCE EDWARD, WOBURN Marie Dressier and Polly Moran together make a riot of fun in the hilarious farce, “Prosperity,” which will be_ shown at the Prince Edward Theatre, Woburn, to-day.

ST. JAMES THEATRE I tl “Private Detective 62” J ti * The polished William Powell scored y another success with Wellington theatre- ii goers last night when his latest picture, y “Private Detective 62," began a season ti at the St. James Theatre. As Donald tl Free, a member of the American diplo- p matic corps, who fails in an assignment, is repudiated by his Government, and ■ turns private detective, he gave a performance equal to any of those which have made him famous in the past. His new work does not bring him much excitement until he gets the job of framing something on a very beautiful young lady,' who has been having far too much luck in a gambling den for the comfort of its proprietor. Then the thrills come in earnest. Murder, attempted murder, and a particularly clever double-cross all May their part in a plot that is most ngeniously worked out and full of drama. The action is never at any period of the film slow, and becomes in the climax fast and exciting. Powell is extremely fortunate in the choice of leading lady who plays opposite him in “Private Detective 62” in the part of the fortunate winner nt roulette. This is Margaret Lindsay. She gives a delightful perfornjance, well up to the standard of her work in “Cavalcade." The humour of the story comes partly from Powell himself, and partly from Ruth Donnelly, who, in the role of his secretary, puts across some exceedingly bright wise-cracks, every one of which reached its mark with unerring aim. Others who figure prominently in the well-balanced cast are such notable players as Arthur Byj-on, Gordon Wescott, Sheila Terry, Arthur Hohl, Natalie Moorhead and James Bell. The screen play by Rian James is based on a story by Raoul Whitfield and is directed with originality and effectiveness by Michael Curtis. The supports include a Grahame McNaniee news gazette, an interesting travelogue called “Main Streets of fne World,” and n farce, “Around the World in Eight Minutes.” There is some good singing in “Red Shadow,” which features the music of “The Desert Song,” sung by Alexander Gray and Bernice Claire. Abe Lyman’s band plays some novelty numbers. MAJESTIC THEATRE “Should Ladies Behave?” If one is to believe the story of “Should Ladies Behave?” which opened at the Majestic Theatre last night, there must be many lovelorn hearts, in America at least, which are broken, healed, rebroken and rehealed, to the satisfaction of all concerned. But however romantically unreal the story may seem, the picture is enthralling entertainment from start to finish, and the interest is borne lightly along on tfifi airy flights of fanciful comedy. Place a divorced philandress, a young impressionable girl who is seeking “experience”; a silly, giddy wife, a suave continental lover, and a suspicious husband together under, one root for a week-end, and the stage is set. It is a drawing-room comedy, farcical to the extreme, but tempered with a tender love interest which gives the story a piquancy of its own. As the crabby and irritable husband, who despises hypocrisy and believes in saying outright what he thinks, with complete disregard for the other person's composure of mind, Lionel Barrymore resents the intrusion in his home of his sister-in-law and her clandestine lover. Rather than conceal his disapproval, he gives vent to his feelings bluntly. Complications arise when his wife, who treasures fond memories of her youth, imagines that her sister’s lover wishes to elope with her. The web becomes more tangled when the daughter of 19 throws herself at the head of the cavalier and brooks no refusal. The lover. ConwayTearle, is too polite to say “No” to any of the amorous misphief-makers. and merrily starts the game of “round the mulberry bush.” Just how the problems are solved by the scheming of the husband and the daughter’s youthful admirer is revealed in a happy climax. Alice Brady, in the role of the dizzy wife, chatters her way through the picture to the brilliant repartee of her sister, Katharine Alexander, and Mary Carlisle uses her platinum beauty to perfection in her dainty role of the lovelorn daughter. A feature of the programme was the overture “March Majestic,” which was specially composed and nlayed for the theatre by Ivan Perrin and his band. Full orchstras are seldom heard in theatres in these days of talkies, and many picturegoers will welcome this remembrance of the old silent days. The other supports are excellent. DE LUXE THEATRE “Captured” “Captured,” the Warner Brothers drama which opened at the De Luxe Theatre last night, is not strictly a war picture, although practically all the action takes place in a German prison camp. Based on Sir Phillip Gibb’s famous novel “Fellow Prisoners,” it is an unusually stirring story of two close friend® who love the same girl. Captain Allison (Leslie Howard) is the outstanding fig- , ure of the story. He depicts a man of splendid character, who is obsessed with love of his bride, whom he has to leave when duty called. His frieud, Lieutenant Digby (Douglas Fairbanks, junr.), is stationed at the same camp. During Allison’s absence at the front, Digby and i Mrs. Allison (Margaret Lindsay) have fallen in love, and Digby’s life in the camp is rendered unendurable by his ; friend's obsession. Digby, who escapes, is sent back to be tried for murder, of which he is innoocent. The facts are against him. however, and he is con- ? demned to death. At the last moment Allison produces the actual murderer's > confession, and saves his friend's life, t Several squadrons of aeroplanes are quar- ! tered nearby, and eventually the prison- ’ ers escape by this means. Allison, acting ■ as a rearguard, dies at the camp, leaving his friend to find happiness. Paul Lukas is well cast as a pleasingly human commandant. The excellent supporting programme includes interesting news e reels, also a revival ot Walt. Disney’s e popular coloured Silly Symphony “Babes - in the Woods.” Mr. Paul T. Cullen delights all with his rendering of "Humoresque” and a selection of songs of yesterday and to-dny. i PALACE, PETONE s “The Solitaire Man” will be the ata traction to the Palace Theatre, Petone, > to-day. Herbert Marshall and May Robson have the chief roles.

REGENT THEATRE “Loyalties” Current events in Europe will doubtless have sharpened the interest in the powerful motive round which John Galsworthy wrote his play “Loyalties” some years ago—that antipathy in some quarters to the Jew. In this play, an English screen version of whieh was presented' nt the Regent Theatre last evening, those often ill-formed loyalties of class and breed receive a severe jar for Ferdinand de Levis, the Hebrew in the case, possesses in greater degree those virtues of honour and breeding than the society people who seek to smirch his good name. De Levis has been given a racehorse by Captain Ronald Dancy, D. 5.0., because the latter cannot afford to keep it. Shortly afterward the horse wins a race, and de Levis sells it to a bookmaker for a thousand guineas. Both Dancy and the voting Jew are members of a house party, and on the night of the sale de Levis misses the money from his room. He at once informs his host, Charles Winsor, who is disturbed over de Levis s request that the police should be summoned. The notice inspector, who is summoned, is au ass It is de Levis himself who senses the’ guilty' party, and makes the accusation to the horror of the rest of the house party. They one and all rally round Dancy, and the unfortunate Jew becomes an object of utter detestation. Determined not to be beaten by this treatment, he repeats the accusation in one of London’s most exclusive clubs, and much against his will Dancy is forced to institute an action for slander, which de Levis defends with admirable sang-froid. In the course of the action, when everything appears to be going against the Jew one of the missing banknotes is traced to Dancy, whose lawyer at once withdraws from the case, de Levis securin'’ the verdict. After a poignant scene with his young wife. Dancy hurls himself to death'from the window of his flat—the drama is finished. The one outstanding performance is that of Basil Rath-

bone, who, handsome clean-cut, and suave, gives a gripping and sensitive characterisation of the young Jew—so good, indeed, that he makes the rest ot the cast almost commonplace. lh:s actor is bound to be heard of on the screen. Other pictures are the Regml news reels, a very fine, film of New Zealand's scenery and institutions (includin, some capital shots taken at the Karitane Home, Wellington) ; a splendid scenic of the romantic West Indies, and a fantastic comedy entitled The Devils Caba ret.”

PARAMOUNT THEATRE “Tell Me To-night” Jan Kiepura, with the golden voice, is to be heard at the Paramount Theatre in a return season of “Tell Me To-night,” one of the greatest musical talkies yet presented, in which he plays Ferraro, a famous tenor. Lovely songs, sung as only a master can sing them, blended into the ideal surroundings of a Continental town with snow-capped peaks and long winding roads, cannot, fail to arouse the emotions of the most indolent and unsusceptible audience. Mathilde, the pretty girl who captures Ferraro s emotions,’plays a prominent and pleasing part in the plot. Ferraro, cursed with a hard, mercenary female as his manager, breaks away for a holiday, and is hccosted on the train by Koretsky, who is really a crook. How this impostor eventually serves Ferraro by taking his place, and the entanglement that ensues when “Koretsky” is unmasked and arrested,, is one of the minor thrills that holds the interest of the audience. Kiepura’s singing surpasses that of any of the tenors which the theatre-going puiblic_ has yet been treated to. Not only is Kiepura a , great singer, he is a great actor. Ine first half of the programme consists of a feature, “Our Fighting Navy,” in which the photography is irreproachable, lhe repetition and consequent undue lengthening of the various incidents, however, tend to cause interest to slacken.