ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 74, 21 December 1937, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

“Flight From Glory” STATE THEATRE A cross-section of life among men who daily flirt with death, is grippingly revealed. in “Flight From Glory,” with Chester Morris and Whitney Bourne, at the State Theatre. Laid in a bleak South American air base, the story lays bare the forlorn hopes of a group of disgraced aviators who have accepted an offer from a mercenary airline owner in Peru to pilot his condemned ships over the treacherous Andes. One by one the men meet their fate in their flying coffins, and one by one they are replaced with new outcast flyers from the United States. One of the latter recruits brings along his young bride, and it is from this flyer’s disintegration under the terriflic strain, as well as from the wife's vain attempt to fight against love for another pilot, that the story’s drama arises. “AU Baba Goes to Town." Fun-making Eddie Cantor and hit-mak-ing Twentieth Century-Fox have combined their falents for tho first time and really go to town as the comedy king of screen and radio stars in the most hilarious entertainment either have ever made, “Ali Baba Goes to Town,” featuring Tony Marfin, Roland Young, June Lang, Louise Hovick and a tremendous cast, which opens on Friday at the State Theatre. The creators o£ “You Can’t Have Everything” and “Wake Up and Live” set the sky as the limit to give Eddie Cantor the picture that tops anything he has ever done, and marks tlie beginning ot a new and important phase in his brilliant career. ' “Ali Baba Goes to Town” is the most magnificent combination of colourful extravaganza, side-splitting comedy, song hits, beautiful girls, exotic dances, brilliant dialogue and lavish sets in the history of fun. Equally as important is a revolutionary new thre_e-tone tinted process utilising sepia and copper as the basic effects. PLAZA THEATRE “Okay For Sound” The G.B.D. attraction, “Okny for Sound,” at the Plaza Theatre, is a film comedy that, combines laughs with music, dancing and extreme originality of treatment. “Okay for Sound” brings the Crazy Gang to the screen. This gang consists of three famous British humour teams—Naughton and Gold, Flanagan and Allen and Nervo and Knox. Each duo has a brand of humour that is individual. Together, to quote an English critic, “the Crazy Gang are an enormous asset to films and must be seen again and again." This show was adapted from the stage production that ran for IS months at the London Palladium Theatre. “Make a Wish." The title of Bobby Breen's latest music* al starring vehicle is expressive of the attitude of everyone toward life and its problems. “Make a Wish” expresses the universal habit of hoping for the future. The picture comes to the Plaza Theatre on Friday. Early in the storj’ the youngster is seen enjoying a happy vacation at a summer boys' camp, and here he strikes up a close friendship with Basil Rathbone, a composer, whose great regret is that he has missed his own boyhood. He had just written a song bearing the. intriguing title and soon both the man and the boy find themselves fostering a devout wish which principally concerns Bobby’s beautiful young mother Marion Claire. Eventually she also fosters a hope, but for a time it seems tjiat all the wishing in the world will not be sufficient to solve the problems confronting tho trio. The picture is characterised by the.silvery voice of Bobby. who sings several songs by the noted Viennese composer, Oscar.Straus. ~, “Bobby Breen” Personality Quest. A Bobby Breon personality quest begins at the Plaza Theatre on Friday. There is a first prize of £5/5/- and a second prize of £2/2/-, In addition several other prizes have been donated for the winner.

KING’S THEATRE

Shirley Temple And Western

Kipling's colourful characters live over again in “We Willie Winkle” at the King’s Theatre. Shirley Temple, who is in the star role, has a highly dramatic characterisation, the strongest supporting cast of any of her scren successes, and the most eleborate production yet accorded one of her films. Her co-star in “Wee Willie Winkie” is Victor McLaglen, and the supporting cast includes C. Aubrey Smith, Juno Lang, Michael Whalen. Constance Collier and Douglas Scott. The second feature, “It Happened Out Wes’t,” is based on a story by Harold Bell Wright. As the title implies, it is a Western—and a good Western, too, well-made and fast-moving, with plenty of humour to amplify the love interest and melodrama. “Tho Windjammer” and ‘‘On Again, Off Again.” George O’Brien, king of outdoor stars, lifts the chief role in “The Windjammer,” which will begin at the King’s Theatre on Friday. The other feature will be Wheeler and Woolsey's latest screen comedy, “On Again, Off Again.’ “I Promise To Pay” Heads De Luxe Programme Columbia’s “I Promise to Pay,” with Chester Morris and Leo Carillo in the leading parts, which heads the programme at the De Luxe Theatre, tells of the activities of vicious money-lenders and the havoc they cause in the family life of a humble worker. The story is presented with vigorous realism and commendable insight into human nature. William Gargan and Juditl? Barrett appear in the second feature, a radio story, “Behind the Mike.” "Hopalong Rides Again” and "Partners in Crime.” William Boyd as “Hopalong” and George Hayes as “Windy” head the cast of “Hopalong Rides Again,” to begin at the Do Luxe Theatre on Friday. The other feature will be a screamingly funny comedy, “Partners in Crime,” with Lynne Overman and Roscoe Karns. A “Popeye the Sailor” cartoon is among the supporting films. Famous Dog Star Appears At St. James The keynote of the entertainment at the St. Janies Theatre is novelty, where the highly intelligent dog star Caesar, who subsequently appears in the Universal production, “Trailing the Killer,” makes a personal appearance on the stage. Assisted by his owner-trainer, Mr. Bort H. Tonks, Caesar demonstrates the difference between tho “silent, command” and “spoken order” systems of training dogs for film work. The film shows how Caesar comes to be unjustly accused of many murderous crimes and how he finally clears his name by dispatching the real killer, a mountain lion.

New Paramount Screens Drama And Comedy Cincsound’s “The Silence of Dean Maitland,” with John Longdcn and Jocelyn Howarth, showing nt the New Paramount has drama as its keynote, intensely human and vividly real. Delicately woven around a man—of the church—and a youthful indiscretion that flent his best friend to prison, for 20

years for a crime he did not do, the story of “The Dean” opens 20 years ago, in the peaceful English seaside village of Glenville. George Formby, among the screen’s most popular comedians, is the star of “Feather Your Nest,” which is the second attraction. With his übiquitous ukelele and broad Lancansbire grin, Formby goes through the paces in highgeared humour. “Elepeliant Boy." “Eelephant Boy,” the stirringly acted and beautifully photographed picture of Indian life, and especially of Sabu. the little boy, and his massive elephant, Will begin at the New Paramount Theatre on Friday. “Mr. Dodd Takes The Air” At The Regent “Mr. Dodd Takes the Air,’’ at the Regent, features the screen debut of Kenny Baker, an American radio favourite. He fully justifies his reputation in this picture. Carrying the story with him are Alice Brady, Frank McHugh, Gertrude Michael and a new heroine, Jane Wyman, whose face is as refreshing as her personality. The music is good, the comedy better, and the acting of Baker and Miss Wyman best of all. “Vogues of 1038.” The Regent's Christmas attraction will be Warner Wenger’s “Vogues of 1938.” in perfected technicolour. Though it contains much of fashion interest to women, it has also a good story and fast action, with Warner Baxter and Joan Bennett in the leads. Laurel And Hardy At The Majestic Theatre Laurel and Hardy have resorted to the past while retaining enough of the present to give the picture modern pace and novelty in “Way Out West,” showing at the Majestic Theatre. The pantomime technique of the old silent days—which was brought to its fullest flowering by Charlie Chaplin—comes into its own again in several sequences; and as against this there is the unusual sight of the lugubrious Mr. Laurel and the longsuffering Mr. Hardy making merry with a swing band and two songs—“On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and “I Want to Bo in Dixie.” It is good entertainment for tht festive season.