ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 262, 3 August 1939, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

Double-Feature Programme At State Theatre Mr. Moto, as mild mannered, as diffident, and as deadly as ever, comes to the State Theatre this week in “Danger Island,” the main feature. Peter Lorre makes his usual good job as the little Oriental detective, .Mr. Moto, in a new aspect of his apparently never-ending pursuit of criminals. The authorities in Porto Rico have been trying for months to trace a gang of diamond smugglers, without success. A special detective sent from New York to investigate the position is killed under mysterious circumstances’, and news comes that the effective Mr. Moto is coming (Hurrah, hurrah). He arrives, complete with a self-appointed henchman, a wrestler who is 60 enamoured of the little detective’s methods of jui-jitsu that he follows .him wherever he goes in the hope of mastering some new holds. The wrestler also adds his not too efficient quota to fhe (science of crime detection. After questioning everybody in his usual guileless manner, getting mixed up in numerous fights, in which fists, knives and guns all play prominent parts. Mr. Moto traces the gang to their hideout in a particularly noisome swamp which used to serve as shelter to desperadoes from off the Spanish Main. As one would expect, the story is fastmoving and though I managed to suspect ev'eryone of the cast during the film, the identity of the real villain is not disclosed till the last few feet —which, of course, is just as 1 it should be. That veteran of the English stage and screen, Tom Walls, is the star of the other ''feature, ''Crackerjack,” It is my grim duty to report that once again he ‘’robs the rich to give to the poor,” and that he is not at all my notion of Robin Hood. A little more variety in the way of plots is so obviously a "good thing” that an actor-producer of Tom 'Walls's vintage might well be expected to put the.idea into practice. However, the story gives Walls plenty of scope to be as good/bad (cross out the word which docs not apply to your appreciation) as usual. He uses several disguises in the picture, and to my mind is better behind fiis whiskers than out in the open, for it is the shocking truth that after all these' years his upper lip goes naked. Ills job in this story is to crack one sort of crib and to endow the other kind. Those who like Tom Walls will probably enjoy this film, though, to me, it is only average of its kind. Lilli Palmer makes a very good and attractive effort as Walls’s leading lady. —E. Stanhope. Dick Foran Cast As “Mountie” At St. James Theatre Laid in country that is one of the world’s last frontiers—the thinly populated Mackenzie River region just below the Arctic Circle —the story of the film, “Heart of the North.” which will end a season at the St. James Theatre today, revolves about the successful efforts of Dick Foran, as an officer of the “Mounties,” to track down and capture the leader of a band of outlaws. “Naughty Marietta.” Those who saw “Naughty Marietta” before will have so many happy memories of its many beauties, and those who have not seen it yet will have heard so much about it that it should be greeted even more warmly in its return season to the St. James Theatre, the season will begin tomorrow, than on the occasion of its first screenings. The leading roles are shared by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, the fine soprano with whom Eddy has appeared in nearly all his films since this partnership having established itself high in the favour of the public by further outstanding performances in such productions as “Maytime,” “The Girl of the Golden West,” and, latest of all, “Sweethearts.” The fine story tells how a French princess runs away from a distasteful marriage and steals on board a ship which is taking girls out to New Orleans, where they are to marry settlers. From this point onward the princess has a great variety of adventures, finally falling in love with the leader of a band of irregular troops, these two roles being taken by the singers. The climax, where they join in singing that beautiful duet “Ah I Sweet. Mystery of Life” is typical of so splendid a film.

Insight Into Lives Of Women Flyers Gained At Plaza With Alice Faye as Trixie, Constance Bennett as Gerry, and Nancy Kelly as Lois, “Tail Spin” will end a season at the Plaza Theatre today. Trixie flies for the money that's in it, Gerry because she finds the sky’s the place to hide from love, and Lois because it brings her closer to the man she loves. “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Sir Arthur Conan Dolye's “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” one of literature’s more spine-chilling mystery stories and perhaps the greatest of all Sherlock Holmes’ astounding adventures, has been made into a outstanding film. Tall, spare, hawklike Basil Rathbone, in the perfect-fitting role of Holmes, is featured with Richard Greene and Wendy Barrie in "The Hound of the Baskerville’s,” which will begin a season at the Plaza Theatre tomorrow. In this engrossing story the master of a thousand mysteries pits hi« cunning against the giant unearthly beast that roams the fog-shrouded English moor with blazing eyes and bared fangs terrorizing the countryside, striking horror into the hearts of two young lovers, and leaving a trail so terrifying that only Sherlock Holmes dare follow. Nigel Bruce plays the famous Dr. Watson, the great detective's constant companion and amazed observer. Included in the cast are Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Barlowe Borland, Beryl Mercer, Morton Lowry, and Ralph Forbes. Love & Mirthful Adventures In Film At Regent Theatre That gay ddn of l° vc ami mirthful adventures, “The Girl Downstairs,” will begin a season at the Regent Theatre today. Playing the role of a cosmopolitan architect who falls lightly in love with Rosalind Brown (Rita Johnson) only to transfer his affections to the scullery maid (Franciska Gaal), working in her home, is Franchot Tone. Walter Connolly, as Miss Johnson’s apoplectic father, endeavours to keep Tone away from his home and his daughter, but the young man poses as a chaffeur and gains admission. In that guise he encounters the maid who promptly falls in love with him, and, gathering her savings together, buys him a taxicab—with more than hall a mind on their future. As is to be expected, Tone discovers that his affections have definitely turned to the girl below stairs, and this brings about a series of ludicrous complications. The producers have gone to elaborate lengths to present picturesque backgrounds, including a colourful Swiss country fair and imposing interiors lor the mansion scenes. Franciska Gaal singw one song, When You're in Love,” written specially for her by Bob Wright, and Chet: Forrest.“Wuthering Heights” In Last Day At King’s Theatre The beauty and vivacity of Cathv (Merle Oberon) attract the loves of two men—brooding and d-arksome Ilcathclilt (Laurence Olivier), and socially prominent Edgar Linton (David Niven;, in “Wuthering Heights,” which is in its last day of a season at. the King's Theatre. In her youth Cathy turns to IJeatheliff, in spite of his boorish manners and strange ways, because their love is mingled with the mystery of the moors. But when Cathy decides to marry, she accepts Linton. With all the anguish of a defeated lover, Heatbcliff determines to make the woman, he love.*? suffer. “Captain Fury.” “Captain Fury,” a frontier drama of Australia, iwith (Brian Aheme, Victor

McLaglen, and June Lang playing the leading roles, will begin a season at the King’s Theatre .tomorrow.

“Captain Fury” is the story of dauntless men and brave women who migrated to the barren brush country of Australia to hew a nation out of a strange wilderness. Paul Lukas, June Lang, John Carradine, George Zueco, Douglas Dumbrille, and Virginia Field, featured in support of the stars, .portray the strangely assorted characters who join in this march of progress in bite pioneering days of the early nineteenth century. The story narrows down to a fight to the finish between Captain Fury, daring adventurer iand political prisoner, who migrates from Ireland, and Arnold Trist, greedy land baron, whose game is to opst incoming settlers, grab their land, and build up a vast feudal estate to be ruled tyrannically. Fury quickly sizes trp the situation and plans a thrilling career as a Australian Robin Hood. Stumbling upon a hide-out, Fury sets up a little robber’s kingdom and proceeds to outwit, his sullen opponent. Ar the same time he is never too busy to lend an eye and an ear to’ romance, and manages to get the girl, too, the girl in this case being the glamorous June Lang. Programme Of War Pictures At Paramount From Today The twenty-fifth anniversary of Great Britain and her Empire's entry into the -Austro-Servian. conflict falls tomorrow, and the Paramount Theatre will present a suitable programme, beginning today, which will include two War pictures—■ ‘’Hell’s Angels” and “The First World Wa r.” It is some years since “Hell's Angels,” that mighty flying epic, was first launched —as a silent film. Subsequently the cast and story were revamped, and all of the non-flying sequences refilmed, with sound and dialogue, Ben Lyon, James Hall, and Jean Harlow are co-fcaturej in the leading roles, and are supported by such players as John Darrow, Lucien Prival, Jane Winton, Lena Malena, Douglas Gilmore, Stephen Carr, Tommy Carr, Pat Somerset, Granville Divis, Lisa Gora, and Wyndham Hall. Almost three years of research went into the making of “The First World War.” There is no faking of the scenes, and every one conveys a message Io all, particularly to the post-war generation. Close-ups of hand to hand fighting are varied with enthralling and horrifying aeroplanes and torpedoing sequences. “Bulldog” Drummond Al Work Again Al De Luxe A 300-year-old trasure of gold and jewels, buried during the Civil War by Royalist soldiers, is the basis for "Bulldog” Drummond’s latest adventure in " ’Bulldog’ Drummond's Secret Police,” the main attraction at the De Luxe Theatre. Drummond no longer has to seek adventure for in this film, adventure seeks him out. A famed scientist and a notoriour criminal arrive simultaneously to look for .the treasure, which is buried in the depths of Drummond's own castle; and when the criminal murders the scientist. and carries off Drummond's fiancee—they had hoped to be married the next day—Drummond joins in the hunt for the criminal. “Boy Trouble,” the other attraction, concerns the laughs, joys, and heartbreaks of modern family life. Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles head the cast. Majestic Screens “Honolulu” How a famous screen actor changes place with a plantation owner—the plantation is in Honolulu —who is his exact double, but immediately finds that his new status brings him more trouble than amusement, for jjis double's fiancee is determined to marry him straight away, is the story of the tilni “Honolulu,” which screens at the Theatre Majestic. His embarrassment, however, has its happy side, for it provides opportunity for as gay a series of adventures as have ever been brought to the screen. Exciting Saga Of New Zealand At Opera House About Manui, daughter of a Maori chieftain, and her love for Mara, warrior of mi enemy tribe, is that saga of New Zealand laid in the days before the coming of the white man, “Hei Tiki,” which screens at the Opera House. Mara impersonates the war god to whom Manui is to be sacrificed, and not the least thrilling sequences in the film are those showing the lovers’ flight from Manni’s people. Ingredients of the associate film, “Forged Passport,” are touches of humour, and a good deal of! action involving speedins' petrol wagons, a time bomb, ami a totally unsuspected villain. “Forged Passport” is a swift-moving stoi-y about, the smuggling of aliens into America across the Mexican frontier. Picture Of Daring Outlawry Presented At Tudor How Jesse Janies (Tyrone Power) and his equally notorious brother, Frank (Henry Fonda) began their careers of crime as a direct result of the murder of their mother, is shown in the film, “Jesse James.” which screens nt the Tudor Theatre. For a short time Jesse found happiness in his innrringe with Zeralda, a gentle girl who forsook :i life of luxury to live with him; but when se left him, his exploits became worse and worse. Though musketeers, the Ritz Brothers know more about, the use of carving knives than of swords in the musical comedy version of ‘“The Three Musketeers,” the .associate film.