COMMON AS KENTUCKY COLONELS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 249, 18 July 1942, Page 10

COMMON AS KENTUCKY COLONELS

Long-Run Programmes In City Cinemas

Habitual lilmgoers are likely to have a lean week, for not since Christmas has there been such a paucity of new programmes. Long-run laurels inust go to "A Yank in the K.A.F.” at the Tudor (sixth week). "1 he Corsican Brothers” at Hie King's and “llellzapoppin” at the Paramount (both held over for a third week/. . i » SeJoud-week seasons are as plentiful as colonels in Keutuckj Snnlin Through” stavs at the Majestic, "The Bugle Sounds” at the St. James, “How Green Was My Valley” at tlie Plaza. The most notable new programme ot Hie week is at the K<-gent, where liny Millaud and Paulette Goddard are starred in "Tlie Lady Has Plans.” - . ... Time Theatre announces a new and unusual policy this .weekend. -the Opera House is screening “Men With Wingji” ami the Do Luxe has Hie Mystery of Malic Bogel.” “Blue, White and Perfect” and “Private Nurse are ou the State's programme.

REGENT THEATRE When British and Nazi diplomats met in Washington drawing-rooms m the days before Pearl Harbour they . merely turned their backs on each other. When the same nations meet in odd places in Lisbon in “The Lady Has Plans” the audience is half-way to hysterics, as the crowded houses at the Regent Theatre are discover--lUWehington is the first city in Australia or New Zealand to screen' this brilliant coniedv, and if the film magnates had any misgivings about its reception iu this part of the world they must have uttered a happy and thankful “ab-b-ii ’ at the cheerful laughter that Is filling Hie Regent. The plot is farcical with—not unusual these days —a curious twist of real drama. Paulette Goddard is (lying from New York to Lisbon to act as reporter for a big American broadcasting concern. But spies have decided that her place on the Clipper will be taken by an agent who has tattooed on her back the plans of a secret torpedo. Both the British and the Germans want these plans. Unfortunately tlie right girl catches the plane and. arriving m Portugal, finds herself tlie centre ot indiscreet interest. Her scenes witli! Roland Young and Cecil Kellaway verge on the slapstick double entendre of “My T» ife’ej Family. Ray MUlaud is head of the radio company’s European oitlce, and he is hardpresricd to keep up with the mysterious and mirthful movements of the latest addition to his staff. * •‘The Lady Has Flans’’ is one at those shows that arrives in town without much trumpet-blowing and yet makes one pleased to have braved jet-black streets and crowded tramcars. It fulfills the prime function of the cinema. In other words, It is entertainment. MAJESTIC THEATRE Sentiment, especially when' laid ou with a capital “S,” is always a prime! favourite with the public, more particularly when 'the chief object of the sentimental offering Is that fascinating star Jennette Mac; Donald. And for that reason, "Smiliu Through,” which bids fair, to have as many revivals as a Gilbert and Sullivan season continues to draw crowded houses at the'Majestic. A firm favourite with the public, "Smilin’ Through” was formerly made popular by Norma Shearer, and from time to time audiences were treated to brand new prints of Miss Shearer and a good cast in revivals of the tale of a young Irish girl who was shot at the altar and whose love over a period of 56 years shaped more than one destiny. And now we have the golden-haired Jeanette MacDonald in a tcchnicolour—and what technicoiour—version ot the story that has been rewritten and been enhanced by the addition of several charm, ing numbers suug in the inimitable MacDonald style. Actually, it is one of her best efforts. For one thing, she ts.It“'- 1 t “'- Ideal star for tcchnicolour. For another, she proves herself to be no mean actress. And for another, she is singing bettei than ever. All that, combined with the beauty of the story, tlie couviucing acting of every member of the cast —the hero, by the way, its .Gene Raymond, Jeanettes “real-life” husband, who at times bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Neisou Eddy—and the popularity of all the; vocal items jnst go to show why ‘‘bmiliu Through” is still running at the Majestic. Brian Aherne and lan Hunter are two others whose performances add to the success of the show. “Smilin’ Through is iust the right sort of entertainment for these times when a little heavy romance can go a long way toward, bringing pleasant memories and romantic reminiscences to one’s mind. KING’S THEATRE Looking back over tlie majority of films that have been shown lately they seem to have been mainly concerned with (a) a woman who becomes entangled with two men- (b) a man who becomes entangled with two women; (e) a bad boy who does what the good boys can't; (d) a good girl who gets what the bad girls can’t. . There have been quite a number with even less l>I But not “The Corsican Brothers.” It has a ripe, round plot—two plots in fact. And just to prove that audiences today are neither blase nor highbrow, this exciting Dumas classic has now run into its third week at the King's, Douglas Fairbanks plays the Brunch! twins, separated at birth by the surgeon’s. knife. One of .them is reared in the wild Corsican forests, pillowing his head on the ground and riding about with his red stocking cap Hying in Hie wind. The other, Mario, leads a much gentler’life in Purls, quite unaware that, on a Mediterranean island, he has a twin brother who burns to take -revenge ou the Franchis’ sworn enemies, the Colonnas. Also—and here is the story within the story—'Mario' is ignorant that his Corsican brother leads a life for the two. When Mario is wounded, Lucien feels Hie pain. When tile Franehi in Paris falls in love, the Corsican Franclii’s pulse races. Biopsychology would probably brand this phenomena as nonsense, but it makes for a tensely exciting story. “The Corsican Brothers” is exciting stuff. If one cannot, experience the doubtful thrill of having bombs falling handy, one can al least indulge in a schoolboy desire to watch men fighting with slim aud fatal rapiers, and watch lightly-armed right triumph over corpulent might. DE LUXE THEATRE It was the advertising for the lilm that first intrigued this critic:— Who iri the Phantom Mangier of Paris? What is tlie secret of the Woman who had no Face? Who experimented on the brains of the Mu rderer’s Victims ? But it was the picture itself that commands praise as a film one cut above the average “whodunit” thriller. First, it. is haded on the story by Edgar Allan Foe Secondly, it has the exciting-title uf “The Myster.v of Marie Roget.” Thirdly, it is ns exciting a« only can be Poe. an ant ho? who is quite the wrong person to read with the inkj' blackness of Wellington spread about one and the winter wind moaning in the Kelburn pines. It is a mystery film in the full and classic manner wfth a purring murderess and plenty of gullible males. The tieene is Paris, and the stars are Marie Montez, Patrie Knowles and that excellent actress, Marie Ouspenskaya. ‘ . . The second film at the De Luxe is also a thriller, but broader and more blatantly brutal. “Mississippi Gambler” is all about a man who had had a plastic surgeon do a job on hit? face (a popular theme today), who was thoroughly loathed by everyone he met. Audiences will like him. if only because he is the central figure in a murder thriller full of excitement. Kent Taylor and Frances i.angtord play the leading roles. There is also another chapter of the serial, “Jungle Girl.” OPERA HOUSE A few will's ago films about planes and the men 'who tly them were auatlwina to film-goers. Now air films are riding tlie wave of popularity as sueli stubborn successes as "A Yank ill tlie R.A.h. are proving. The latest to return to Welling; ton is “Men With Wings," th“ coloured drama which is drawing big bouses to the Opera House. , , , , , It is built on Hie bld, unshakeable formula of the good flyer who loves and makes his sacrifices, the rakish llyer who makes one mistake and pays Hie penalty and a girl who is willing to love them all, bless her heart. , Fred Mac Murray, Ray Milland and Louise Campbell are tlie stars of a him that has plenty of action, some excellent si tint flying and enough colour and good shots to commend it to the person whose eye is aesthetic rather than for brawn ami aerobatics. TUDOR THEATRE Proving <ls stubborn «is tbc Kussiun rosistnnec. “A Yank in the R.A.F.” refuses In bo dislodged from Wellington, wl'pep it is now in its sixth week. 1 he I ud"t’ Theatre continues to do big business with this excellent Twentieth Century-Fox film. The star is Tyrone Power, who plays the part of a young American civil flier who finds himself in London aud In love with a chorus girl from his own country. He enlists in the R.A.F.. and from then onward the film sweftps with the speed of a Spitfire through a series of adventures that are a part of contemporary history. Also on the programme is “The Man at the Gate.” with Wilfrid Lawson. TIME "THEATRE Changing conditions are making new demands of almost everyone, the film industry not excluded. The Time Theatre tails into line with. a now policy. In future this cinema will be open from < p.m. till midnight, the second complete programme starting at half-past nine. There will be n special programme starting at midnight ('very Sunday. Matinees will be restricted to Saturday afternoons. This week the Time is screening “City for Conquest,’ with Janies Cagney and Ann Sheridan, and “Tower of Terror,” with Wilfrid Lawson.

PLAZA THEATRE The Englishman is the simplest of all the humans. Whatever be bis environment. his beliefs, bis political institulionc?, his ciiurtUies, his homes, be ia hanself, aud, being himself, ho acts accordingly. . ‘ . So writes an American, Walter b. Hinchman, in a new book on England. So might a critic write after seeing that splendid lilm al the ’‘How Green Was My Valley,” although a purist may contend that a Welshman is nut an Englishman, -it is a Him that is nut. ponderously sad —it. merely leaves one with a pleasurable, sense uf sadness. The fiim lelcscopeti the events of a good many years of Huw ,^ or ' gun’s life into a two-hour span. hirst there is a boy. of 12. His lather aud iris brothers work in the pit. His mother and his sister, Angliarad, keep the. stone cottage speckless and see to it that there is always goud food and steaming kettles on the huge old-fashioned stove. Gradually troubles come to the Welsh valle.v and the beginnings of the labour disiiutes of the nineteenth, century. Uuw’s brothers migrate to New Zealand and America, his sister contracts an unhappy marriage, his father .dies in a pit disaster. Upright, simple and God-learing is the father, a man to whom domestic virtue is the defence of the realm. Donald Crist) plays the part with austerity and the dignity of the common man. Sara Allgood, tipecially at the moment wheu she stands in the snow and the wind defending the integrity of her husband, gives a periormanee as’ austere and dignified as Crisp’s. Maureen O’Hara and Walter Pidgeou, not, quite so happy in their parts, give adequate performances. But to little Roddy/ McDowall, pinched, shy, courageous, must go half the praise earned by “How Green Was My Valley.” Through his eyes the Rhonda Valley turns from green trees to black slag, industrial . strife besmirches domestic quiet, and life becomes death. Each change and each new trouble is reflected in the moods of this amazing young actor. ,

ST. JAMES THEATRE Wallace Beery, old campaigner of many a bioodv battle on the screen, bloods himself again for the benefit of film fans in a grand picture, “The Bugle Sounds,” now into its second week at the St. James Theatre. The titory briefly deale with the break-ing-in of an old diehard, “yellow-leg" cavalry man (to quote Beery’s own words in the film) to the vast mechanization of a modern army, the change-over from horseflesh to steel. Besides giving an injpressive picture of the might of the present; day United States Army, it is charged with the dynamite of human emotion, varying from laughs which ricochet from scene to scene, to bursts of a deeper sentiment. which quickens tlie heart to tears. Inevitably, Beery plays the part of a hardboiled sergeant, with a tongue like a whiplash and a heart whose arteries flow witli the milk of human kindness. This is no picture for those who ‘cant take it.” It Is packed with thrills, tensing the audience at times to gasping-point. Many ot its most spectacular passages arc played against a background provided by tlie men and equipment of the U.K Army Itself, with the Army Air Corps also ou the spot. Technical advice in the "shooting of military spectacles was given by Army officers. Lewis Stone and George Bancroft, with Marjorie- Main, Dowua Reed and William Lnndigan share honours in supporting roles. _ , An interesting series of news-reels, and shorts make up the first part of the programme. PARAMOUNT THEATRE What Hitler lias done to modern warfare,.. Olsen and Johnson have done to the modern screen.' All the old “Thou-sluilt-nots” have gone overboard, and . the result is a film thta Is twice as crazy as the world we live in—and one can’t t>ay more than that! “Hellzapoppin,” which comes back to Wellington for yet another season (this time to the Paramount), throws all the accepted movie creeds and formulae overboard. It ic? like nothing that this critic has ever seen before. It is designed more for men than for women. If you enjoy “Esquire,” you’ll think ‘‘llellzapoppin” is a great comedy. In many ways it is. • • Between moments of running the film upside down, taking the audience into the operating box, throwing slides across the scene (“.Stinky Miller—your mother wants you!”), and having the players talk -to the operator, there is some sort of plot. But no one cares. It .is like the host at the very bright, cocktail party who shouts. “Dinner’s ready. What’ll we do with it.' The scenes are lavish, as far as this critic remembers. A young couple fall in love and croon songs— ; but maybe that was some other picture. are' the least essentials of “Hellzapopplu.” What will be long remem-bered is the droll, helpless fooling of Olsen and Johnson, who started out. at the beginnlng/with ideas of making a film and abandon the whole troublesome notion to caper into nonsense that makes the Marx Brothers look like church elders. There is another film on thQ programme, too. It iti called “Almost Married.” Slate Theatre. —The latent thriller is at the State this week, and ha« the fresh and deceiving title of “Blue, White, and Perfect.” This time the crime is in an aircraft factory, which seems to be filled witu as many spies and saboteurs as workers. Matters move speedily, but Lloyd Nolan, who must, be a past master at trlppiug gangsters*, hteps in and shows that Michael Sha.vne can do it again. Mary Beth Hughes plays opposite Nolan iu thia film, which Is not all murders but quite a bit o L comedy as well. Jane Darwell, who won a recent Academy Award, plays the title part in “Private Nurse.” the second leg of the programme. SUBURBAN THEATRES Cupitol (Miramar).—“Old Bill and. Son,” Moreland Graham. John Mills; "Missing Ten Days,” Rex Harrison. King George (Lower Hutt).—"The Shadow of the Thin Man,” William Powell, Myrna Loy. De Luxe (Lower Hutt).—"She Knew All tlie Answers.” Joan Bennett, Franchot Tone; "Pacific Blackout," Robert Preston Martha O'Driseoll. Prince Edward (Woburn).—“The Son of Monte Cristo," Louis Hayward. Joan Bennett; "Flying Squad,” Richard Arlen, Jean Parker. Rivoli (Newtown,.— “They Dure Not 1,0ve.” Martha Scott, George Brent: “Gunga Din.” Cary Grant. Victor MeLaglan. Regal (Karori).—"Lady Be Good." Eleanor Powell. Ann Sotlicrii; "Under Age." Nan Grey, Allan Baxter. Ascot (Newtown).—“Tlie Girl In tlie News.” Margaret Lockwood. Barry K. Barnes; "Ou Your Toes,” Zorina. Eddie Albert.. Tivoli (ThorudouL—"Unholy Partners,” Edw. G. Robinson, Edward Arnold: "Puddin’ Head,” Judy Canova. Empire (Island Bay).—"Quiet Wedding.” Margaret Lockwood; “Tillie the Toiler.” Kinema (Kilbirpie).—"Lady Be Good,” Eleanor Powell, Ann Southern; “Give Us Wings." Dead End Kids. Little Tough G uys. Vogue (Brooklyn).—“Bitter Sweet, Jeanette MneDonald, Nelson Eddy; “Outlaws uf tlie Desert,” William Boyd. Jean Phillips. Seaside (Lyall Bay).—"Virginia,” Madeleine Carroll, Stirling Hayden; "Tlie Seventh Survivor,” Austin Trevor. Lindon Travers.