ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 225, 21 June 1939, Page 5

ENTERTAINMENTS

“White Banners’’ In Last Day Of Season At Regent lu the lust day of a season at the Regent. Theatre, "White Banners” has a message to convey: The message of courage in the face of adversity. Fay Bainter is Hannah I’armalee, the humble peddler of kitchen knives, who keeps her white banners aloft in the face of spiritual travail. Claude Rains is Paul Ward, smalltown school teacher and amateur inventor, whom Ilananh inspires. Jackie Cooper and Bouita Granville have important roles. "Stolen Life." "Stolen Life,” which will begin a season al. the Regent Theatre tomorrow, poses a question—in brief: What would be the position of a woman who elected to assume the character of someone else, take her place in the home of a man they both loved, and work for his happiness? ■Michael Redgrave has the role of a mountaineer, a leader of expeditions, who is training for an adventure when he meets a girl (Elizabeth Bergner), who intrigues him. She proves to have a twin sister (also played by Bergner) whose superior technique in the love affair wins him from Hie first girl. Then, in an accident, his wife dies. Circumstances weave a strange web round the second girl and she finds that she is in the position to "steal" tiie life of her sister. She does it. But the joyous position to which she aspires is fraught with its difficulties. The sister is a girl of unstable purpose, she trifles with her husband’s love, and soon has a lover. These, and other things, are discovered after her death. It is not simple to steal a life, it appears, aud the film moves from complication to complication till (lie whole strange sequence of events is resolved in a conclusion unexpectedly and satisfying!? romantic. Majestic Shows “The Citadel” Unfolded in the account of the young doctor who struggles among miners) and marries a humble schoolmistress, is a dramatic love story in “The Citadel,” which eliowg at the Theatre Majestic. There si agonizing suspense when the doctor descends into a mine that lias collapsed, to amputate the arm of a num trapped beneath a fallen timber. There is drama when he deliberately dynamites a sewer that his been spreading disease, but which authorities refuse to remove, Dr. A. J. Cronin’s moving story has become even more dramatic on the screen, because of the added power of visible action. Robert Donat is outstanding as the young doctor called on to abide by his principles, the theme of the story, and Rosalind Russell has the best role of her career as his sympathetic wife, “The Great Waltz.” Magic melodies of Vienna amid a dramatic, romantic story of the musician who was the voice of the gayest city in the world, brings Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet and Milizan -Korjus, Viennese opera star, to flic screen in “The Great Walt,” drama of the life of Johann Strauss, which’ will begin a season rt the Theatre Majestic on Friday. Not only the physical Vienna of the period but its spirit: are caught, in the romantic story of tlie Waltz. King’s life and loves. Strauss's waltzes and operatic airs are presented in spectacle sequences in the Imperial Opera.the Dommayer Casino, grand ball sequences am! (he court of Emperor Franz Joself. Thrills arc provided by the revolution in the days of Metternich. Romance abounds. ’The story deals with the composer from the time he lost his position ns a bank clerk and turned to music, to his final honours in the Emperor’s court.. His marriage to the sweetheart of his youth and his subsequent infatuation for a brilliant opera star who sends him back to his faithful wife, form the plot against which dazzling spectacle, ballets and other glorious incidennils bedeck the best-loved music in the world. Crime And Comedy Features Offered At De Luxe -V crime feature. “The Gaunt Stranger’” about a killer whose disguises are so’numcrous and effective, that he can confidently enter into the search which is bein'- made for himself without being detected; ami a comedy feature, “Men Are Such Fools.” about, young love, are offered by the De Luxe Theatre management. “Silver On the Sage” and “Sudden Money.” “Hopalong Cassidy” stakes everything on his luck at cards and his ability to shoot a straighter bullet than the next fellow in Paramount’s new outdoor action romance, "Silver on the Sage, ’’ the main film on the programme which will be presented nt the De Luxe Theatre next I'rtday. “Sudden Money,” the supporting film, is a comedy about sweepstakes winners. Charlie Ruggles, the. father of a family that, wins a sweepstakes, returns to his youthful ambition and forms a "swing'’ orchestra with his old college friends. Change Of Programme At State "The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt” will be the eliicf feature on (he new programme which will be presented at the Stale. 'l’heiitre today. "Tlie Lone Wolf Spy I hull," set amid the gaiety of ■Washington night life, is a timely tale of dangerous international spies who attempt o enmesh tlie most, debonaire rogue of all lii-lion in their sinister activities. Warren William, nalurally suave and adroit, is lhe most: brilliant Lone Wolf in the long cinema liistory of tlie beloved character. "Trapped in the Sky,” tlie oilier feature. opens with Jack Holl showing to air force anthorilies a model of an elec-trically-controlled aeroplane. It is a wonderful invention, no pilot, being necessary, and. therefore, no loss of life should the plane lie brought down in air battles. Inlernal i.mal sides are concerned also in this lilm. Film At Plaza Theatre About Clearance Of Slums Pounder of the s'ciicme for slum clearance in "South Riding.” which screens al. tlie Plaza Theatre, is Adell (John t’lenicnts). a conscientious social reformer. Ralph liiclinrdsoii is seen a<sthe proud, c.mservai ive Squire Came, tragically burdened by poverty and a demented wife (Ann Todd). On Hie local council, lie is opposed io the hour-'ing schemes because lie is suspicious of Hie motives behind them. Sarah Burton (Edna Best), tlie newly-appointed sclioojmislress, inactively interested in tlie rehousing scheme, and appeals to Game to ceaee bis opposition. “King of the Turf.” Adolphe Menjou heads; the cast of “King of the Turf,” which will begin a season at Hie Plaza Theatre on Friday. In this screen play by George Bruce, directed by Alfred E. Green, Menjou’s characterization of a father is as strong in its emotional pull as was tlie characterization of the mother in “Stella Dallas.” Dolores Costello. Roger Daniel. Walter Abel, and Alan Dinehart are among the supporting cast.

“Boy Slaves” Main Attraction At Paramount From Friday

How a group of boys from .10 to 20 years of age brought together through loneliness, stealing to keep themselves from starvation, and pitting their wits against citizens and the law. is finally tiyipped and unwittingly delivered into virtual slavery in a notorious turpentine camp i H vividly shown in “Boy Slaves.’’ which will be the main attraction at the Paramount Theatre for a season beginning next Friday. The associate film will be “Thanks for the Memory,’’ a comedy concerning the bliss of newly-married couples. Bob Hope is the young husband compelled by liijj wife, Shirley Hows, to write a novel while she iroes daily to work.

“Three Smart Girls Grow Up” Screens At St. James

Deanna Durbin, ns the daughter of a poor musician, would not dress particularly well in “100 Men and a Girl." but in "Three Smart Girls Grow' Up,” which sereeiiH at: (lie St. James Theatre, as the daughter of a multi-millionaire, she can. and does —though in her new and less simple surroundings she preserves the demur comedy ami the romping gaiety revealed in her four earlier pictures. Deanna’s love consciousness, reveals itself in mirth-provoking interferences with the love affair of her two sisters (Nan Grey and Helen Parrish). Whether it is considered as the latest in a quintet: of Durbin pictures, or whether it is considered by itself alone, “Three Smart Girls Grow Up” is a joyous, satisfying comedy, and presents a charming phase in the always interesting story of feminine adolescence. Happiness Keynote Of “Keep Smiling” At King’s The keynote of the story of “Keep Smiling,” the film which screen® fit the King’s Theatre, it? happiness. Grade Fields’ role is one of the finest, she has had —leader of a vaudeville troupe, their guide, philosopher and friend, a tower of strength in times of trouble. She has many songs, comic and straight, singing them as only she can. Mary Maguire, Roger Li vescy. Peter Coke, Jack Donohue, Edward Rigby, and, “Skippy.” dog star, have supporting parts. Military Academy Life Theme Of Picture At Tudor Steve Early. an American brought up in England before attending the American military academy of West Point, is the main character in “The Duke of West Point,” the theme of which is life in the .‘icademy. which screens at. the Tudor. The associate film. “Fighting Thoroughbreds.” is a thrilling story of the turf.