STATE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 202, 23 May 1936, Page 13

STATE THEATRE

“Captain January” It its rarely that, any star produces a long scries of really first-class films, and , that a child star should feature in sucr ce.wj after success is ail tile more remark- ’ able. But there seems to be no limit to 1 the drawing power of little Shirley Tem- - (de. Following closely on a long series of previous pictures, all of which ran for long periods, “Captain January” yester- * day commenced the third week of its sea- - son at the State Theatre. Shirley plays , the part of the orphaned daughter of an ’ opera singer, lost in a wreck off the • rocky Maine coast, where Shirley, who, ; was washed ashore when a baby, is given ■ a home by Guy Kibbee, a lighthouse- ( keeper. As a merry, light-hearted child of , six, she is the old man’s sole light ami i joy in his old age. Slim Summerville, as the captain's companion, aids in the upbringing of the child, “Star,” as she is known. The dramatie episodes surround the efforts of a truant officer (a typical Sarah Haden part) to take "Star" away from Kibbee and place her in a school, and the subsequent loss by Kibbee of his job as a lighthouse tender. The book "Captain January” was a favourite some years ago, and is an ideal vehicle for Shirley, as it' has been adapted to the little star's talents and yet loses none of its original charm. Buddy Ebsen, of "Broadway Melody” fame, shares some tap-dances with "Star,” who sings and dances her way in and out of the odd corners of the lighthouse, down the wharves and quays of the township where she goes to get supplies for the lighthouse, and, incidentally', she dances into the hearts of all the people she comes into contact with —with the exception of the truant officer. The richly human substance of this tale fulfils every expectancy, and will undoubtedly stand among the top on the list of Shirley's successive hits.