ENTERTAINMENTS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 102, 24 January 1940, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS

St. James Theatre Built around two naval fliers, played by George Brent and John Bayne, sons of a pioneer naval flying officer who has died in the line of duty, "Wings of the Navy’’ is this week at the St. Janies Theatre. Brent, the elder brother, is an instructor at the nayy’s sehool for flyers in Pensacola when Payne, who is an ensign in file submarine service, decides to become a flier too, getting himself transferred to the Pensacola training school. Brent has designed a new type of plane which he hopes to get the navy authorities to accept, but before he can pilot it himself in tests, he is plunged into a serious accident. Unknown to his brother. Payne resigns from the service and, as a civilian, arranges to make a daring test dive in the plane Brent has invented. When he completes the test successfully and the navy accepts the plane. Payne is reinstated in the naval air service. Payne’s unselfish devotion to the cause of his brother also brings to a happy solution a romantic situation involving Olivia de Havilland. At the outset? Olivia is Brent's fiancee, but when she and Payne meet they fail in love. After Payne has risked his life to prove his brother’s plane practical. Brent eorageously relinquishes her. “The Beachcomber.” Charles Laughion, as “Ginger Ted,” ragged king of the South Sens’ loveliest isle, is the principal player in “The Beachcomber,” which will be shown at the St. James Theatre from next Friday. Fisa Lnnclioster. Laughton's wife, bus a prominent role in support of this delightful little comedy. “The Beachcomber” is based in a story by W. Somerset Maugham. King’s Theatre The. growing might of Nazi Germany, its conquest of neighbouring States, and the steps taken by Britain to meet its

challenge is the central theme of "The Lion lias Wings,” nearing the end of a season of two weeks at the King’s Theatre. 2V step is taken back to the days before (he war, and scenes of life in Britain—holiday crowds, the King and Queen with their subjects, the building of hospitals ami the Englishman’s traditional love of sport—are compared with the drift of affairs in Germany, witli Adolf Hitler continually making impassioned pleas to his people and defying outside opinion. Exploits of the Royal Air Force in attacking enemy positions and in beating' off raids by German squadrons are dealt with, the item of greatest interest being a realistic reconstruction 6f the successful raid on the Kiel Canal soon after the outbreak of hostilities. Leading roles are taken by Ralph Richardson ami Merle Oberon. De Luxe Theatre "Boy Meets Girl,” the main attraction at the De Luxe Theatre, is one of the best burlesques of Hollywood to have come from Hollywood. The plot revolves round two men who write stories for the films, and the way in which they help a. mother and her baji.v son. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien play the story-writers. A women’s aeroplanes race is (lie centre of interest in “Women in the Wind,” the associate attraction. Regent Theatre The screen version of Murk Reed’s successful stage play of the same name, “Yes, My Darling Daughter” is beinir shown at the Regent Theatre. “Yes, My Darling Daughter’ ’is a lively satire on people who profess to have advanced views on the subject of marriage. Priscilla Lane and Jeffrey Lynn are romantically teamed again, and some of the foremost praetitioners of the art of light comedy are with them. In their quest for laughs they have the assistance of Roland Young. May Robson, Genevieve Tobin and, to lesser extent, Fay Bainter and lan Hunter.

Plaza Theatre The Darryl F. Zanuck production, which is nearing the end of a three-week season at the Plaza Theatre, "Stanley and Livingstone” introduces Henry 51. Stanley as he was in 1860, a reporter of bulldog tenacity who willingly risked his neck to get his story, and follows him through all the thrills and dangers of his great adventures, showing with great dramatic force the influence on his character and on his whole life of his meeting and subsequent friendship with Dr. David Livingstone, the missionary-eyplorer so intimately concerned with the history of Africa. Spencer Tracy, twice winner of an award by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, plays Stanley, am] Sir Cedric Hardwicke Dr. Livingstone. The romantic interest is safe with Richard Greene and Nancy Kelly. "Hotel For Women.” One of the most amazing characters in contemporary American society, Elsa hlaxwell, makes her debut in films in 20th Century-Fox’s Cosmopolitan production “Hotel for Women,” which will be released at the Plaza Theatre next Friday. She is cast as the proprietor of a ci tv hotel for women only, and her good-natured and pungent advice to the girls whom she chaperons gives additional zest to an already entertaining picture. State Theatre The histories of many great American merchants who built huge fortunes, only to have them squandered by their' children, have been fictionally welded into one dramatic theme for “Three Sons,” the main feature at the’ State Theatre from today. Edward Ellis has the leading role, and he is supported to convincing effect by William Gargan. Kent Taylor, and J. Edward Bromberg. How a resolute young Westerner deliberately allies himself with two rival factions in an effort to establish the innocence of a man accused of murder,

and saves a large Texas rancho for its rightful owner, forms the theme of the associate feature to be, “The Fighting Gringo.”

“Society Dog Show,” a Walt Disney cartoon in colour, is on the same programme. “Society Dog Show” follows the antie s of Mickey Mouse and Pluto when Pluto enters for a show held for the town's four-legged elite. Tudor Theatre Possessed of a harmony of persiflage in spite of its sober theme, espionage and sabotage of the air force of a great nation, “Clouds Over Europe” is the main attraction at the Tudor Theatre. In “Blondie Meets the Boss,” the associate attraction, Blondie Bumstead is successful in regaining her husband’s job for him, though not without humorous incident.

Majestic Theatre “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” the story of a. kindly schoolmaster who passes almost his entire life teaching—and learning—in a great school for boys, is being received witli great, enthusiasm at the Majestic Theatre. The schoolmaster’s work, ideals, romance, marriage, the tragedy of his wife’s death, his activities during the AVorld War, are played over a period of 60 years during which he watches changing generations of boys grow up and send him their sons.