ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 2, 27 September 1939, Page 5

ENTERTAINMENTS

New Opera House That Russian-made film of the Nazi terror in Germany, "Professor Mamloek, is due for release at the New Oi a House next Friday. “Professor Mamlock” is at once a dramatic, highly ex citing story, it is a piece of Lstory, and it reveals those things tor which N< m Germany stands, those things which tain ami France are now gathered to crush, naked and ruthless. Dr. Mamlock is a Jewish doctor of the highest standing, the head of a cl,IU ® “ Berlin, politically detached, a man honoured for his gallantry at. Verdun, and concerned only in serving humanity with his skill. His son, a brilliant young scientist, is on the eve of a discovery which will benefit all mankind; but, he 16 swept up in the stormy currents ot German politics. The father docs not understand the situation which is being created, and -bitterly resents . this political activity by one of his family. Only utter the election, when by trickery and force the Nazis have won power, and when one of the Aryan doctors at thy clinic appears in the swastika-ed uniform, does it. begin to appear just what Nazism’s ruthless and violent philosophy means. The doctor is dismissed and degraded, is hastily summoned back again when it appears that his skill i« needed to save one of the leading Nazis, and then is driven to attempt suicide by trickery. The son, striving to reach his father, is carried off by Aslaek Guards and beaten and tortured. H;s escape, and the father’s realization that the Germany he knew and loved has passed away, that a new and alien Germany, filled with hatred, with violence, and cruelty, has arisen, are strikingly shown, and the final speech by the professor is a masterpiece of invective ana telling condemnation.

Regent Theatre “The Sun Never Sets,” which will end a second week of a season at the Regent Theatre today, has as its theme the t.ra-’ ditions and the high sense of duty in the British diplomatic service. Basil Rathbone is a v< 4 era ( n administrator on the Gold .Coast, and Douglas Fairbanks, jun., is his younger brother, a headstrong tyro in the service. The brothers manage, to locate and to destroy a wireless station which is broadcasting messages inciting the peoples of the world to take up arms. “Four Daughters.” Scheduled as the next change at the Regent Theatre, “Four Daughters is a charming, heartbreakingly human comedydrama about life in a musical fam'iy of lovely daughters, occasionally ruttlea by the masculine world outside. vA “ c . n Jeffrey Lynn comes to Claude hams s home to board, the four daughters ot the house—Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane and Gale Page—immediately fall in love with him. It. is Priscilla, however, who captures his heart, and they are to be married. But when she learns from John Garfield that Gale is heartbroken, she marries John instead. Her sacrifice is useless. Jeffrey goes away, and Gale finds other happiness. It is Priscilla who has to face tragedy before she can nave the man she really loves. Theatre Majestic Nelson Eddy, playing a young Harvard law graduate of the 1860’s, who has to resort to trickery to win a battle against unscrupulous railroad interests,, gives a mose virile characterization in “Song oi. the Plains,” a lusty, outdoor drama or the pioneer West, which is in the second week of a season at the Theatre Majestic. “The Ice Follies of 1939.” A picture designed for the entertainment of the whole family, “The Ice hollies of 1939,” will be the next attraction at the Theatre Majestic. Ice skating, graceful enough iu itself, is enhanced;for the screen—by the making oi the picture in colour. The story has a Hollywood background and gives intimate glimpses into studio life. James Stewart and Lew Ayres are fancy skaters. When Stewart marries Joan Crawford, and adds her to the double act, trouble ensues. The loss of a job in a skating rink causes the girl to seek employment bn her own and, because of her unusual voice, she secures a film contract, signing it before she notices the "no marriage” clause buried in the legal terms. The three finally drift apart, Stewart to seek backing rbr the staging of an ice follies, Ayres to one-night stands in skating rinks, and Joan Crawford to film stardom.

State Theatre O. Henry’s lovable outlaw, the'Cisco Kid. who inspired the greatest legends of the colourful West, meets with his most thrilling adventures—and his most beautiful senoritas —as he rides back over the border in that exciting and romantic film, “The Return of the Cisco Kid,” the main feature at the State Theatre from today. But while a hundred posses hunt the bullet-proof bandit whom no jail can hold, and a thousand senoritas sigh for him, Cisco yearns for the one girl he cannot have. Cisco is played by Warner Baxter. Lynn Bari is the beauty for whose love the romantic bandit robbed banks, burned down jails, and generally risked his neck. Dashing Cesar Romero gives a characterization that is a far cry from his usual suave type, as Lopez, the Cisco Kid’s faithful but bloodthirsty henchman. Henry Hull, who lately scored as the irascible newspaper editor in “Jesse James,” plays Miss Bari’s sly but lovable old grandfather. Kane Richmond plays Cisco’s successful riyal for Miss Bari’s heart, and others prominently cast are C. Henry Gordon and Robert Barrat. “It Could Happen To You,” a thrilling story of a young advertising man who returns from a gay party and finds a murdered woman in the back of his car, will be the other feature. Plaza Theatre The affairs of a young Englishman (Melvyn Douglas), professor of Greek at. a midwesteru university, who finds in the Aesop fables the answers to the many perplexities be encounters in American life; and the escapades of a pert, blonde waitress (Joan Biondell), who has every intention of going to Paris, but whose conscience prevettjs her. from going by the “gold-digger” route, are the major entertainment values of “Good Girls Go To Paris,’’ which is being screened at the Plaza Theatre. King’s Theatre Adhering closely to the real-life story of the “dancing Castles.” “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castles” has been released at the King’s Theatre. The Castles’s meteoric rise to fame in dance engagements which took them across two continents till their reputation was established as the outstanding d.nce duo of their time; the breaking-up of the team when Vernon enlisted with the British forces on the outbreak of the War; aud Vernon’s untimely death in a Texas' air crash, are the main ingredients. St. James Theatre Based on the Peter B. Kyne novel of the same name, “Valley of the Giants” is this week at the St. James Theatre. Round the turn of the century a successful fight was waged to prevent the utter despoliation of California’s famous: redwood forests by ruthless Eastern lumber interests, and it is this which "Valley of the Giants” centres on. Though concerned with one local aspect, of the fight, telling in highly exciting manner of the clash between one despoiler and an altruistic young lumberman. “Valley of the Giants" is typical of the situation throughout the redwood country at that time. Tudor Theatre Love, war, swordplay, a king’s wickedness, and all the glamour of the France of Louis XIV, adorn “The Alan in the Iron Musk” is this week at the Tudor Theatre. The principal players are Joan Bennett and Louis Hayward. A domestic comedy, “M.y Wife's Relatives,” is the associate film.

De Luxe Theatre Comedy, breezy fast moving, is the keynote of “Hard To Get,” main attraction at the De Luxe Theatre. The fun arises from Dick Powell’s efforts to show some capitalists his plan to establish a chain of combined petrol station and car camps. Olivia de Havilland is a spoiled heiress who orders petrol and oil at a station operated by Powell, and then finds she is without a cent, to pay for it. In a series of tensely wrought situations, Swifty Taylor, with the aid of his secretary, who is secretly in love with him, unravels murder mysteries in the associate attraction, “The 13th Man.” X//