TAGE AND SCREEN WILL ROGERS,

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 52, 29 August 1935, Page 21

TAGE AND SCREEN

WILL ROGERS.

Inaugurated fifteen years ago, Paramount Week, which this year will be celebrated from September 2 to 7, symbolises a week of quality entertainment. .During that period, pictures from the Paramount Studios, one of the foremost motion picture organisations in the world, will be screened in leading theatres throughout New Zealand. The motion picture industry cortinues to advance from year to year not only from a technical point of view but also as regards the stories filmed and the calibre of the players ■^striking example is the acquisition of Noel Coward, whose first film, "The Scoundrel," will shortly be released by Paramount. In this production Cow?J d«- ls supported by Julie Haydon. Martha Sleeper, Hope Williams, and Rosita Moreno. Amongst the films which Paramount will release either during Paramount Week or shortly following that period are:—"Paris in Spring," a musical romance with a Parisian background, featuring Mary Ellis, noted opera star, and Tullio Carminati, who scored a'big success opposite Grace Moore in "One Night of Love"; Mac West in "Now I'm a Lady " presenting the inimitable Miss West in a -modern role; Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles in "People Will Talk " ■a hilarious domestic comedy; Marlene Dietrich in "Carnival in Spain"Shanghai," with Loretta Young and Charles.Boyer; "College Scandal," featuring Arline Judge, Kent Taylor, and Wendy Barrie; ??Men Without Nanies " with Fred Mac Murray, Madge Evans, Lynn Overman, and David Holt; and W. C. Fields's new comedy "The Man on the Flying Trapeze." Charles Laugh tons very successful "Ruggles of Red Gap" will be screening at several theatres during Paramount Week.

The British Drama League is holding the 1935 Festival of Community Drama at the Concert Chamber, Town Hall, on the evenings of September 25, 26, 27, and 28. Entries close on Tuesday, September 10, with the,area secretary. The junior festival held recently was very successful, arid it is anticipated that the senior festival will prove even more successful than it did last year. The team adjudged the best is eligible. for the. Wellington and Hawke's Bay elimination festival, to be held at Dannevirke. The national final festival will be Held at-Hastings..

The comedy in "Lady TubbSj" Universal Films' new release, which comes to. the Regent Theatre, is provoked by Alice Brady's attempts to become a lady so as to establish a social background for her • niece, who was in love with a young'society man. The funniest situation is that in which she goes fox hunting, riding a horse for the first time, and not understanding any of the hunt terms used. The fact that she is the first to arrive at the catch adds to the comedy because rt is by accident that this happens. The closing scenes hold one in suspense besides being amusing, for in making known her deception she uncovers facts about her society friends that put them all on the same level. Everything ends happily for the niece and Miss Tubbs herself captures a title byrmarrying.a.baronet. The cast in support of Alice Brady includes Alan Mowbray,Anita Louise, Douglas Montgomery, June Clay worth, and many others. ■;" ■ •"..■■ '■.'■ ■: '/..■■.

After their wedding:in Sydney next month, Madge Elliott.and Cyril Ritchard will come to New Zealand for a honeymoon tour, and will be joined later by the company that is to play "Roberta," "High Jinks," and "Our Miss Gibbs" through New Zealand. The season will commence in Auckland on October 2, and Messrs. J. C. Williamson are sending to the Dominion many favourites of musical comedy who willinterpret-the.tuneful comedies. • . "Roberta" is lavishly dressed, and features, in its development (the plot concerns the inheritance of a fashion shop by;.the hero) .a wonderful fashion parade by showgirls, who have been specially chosen for the parts. "High Jinks" and. "Our Miss Gibbs" are among the most tuneful of musical comedies, and with coherent; plots, catchy songs, expert dancing, and spectacular stage setting, they will set a new : standard of excellence. It is possible that "White Horse Inn" will come to New Zealand later, and the visit of the. Viennese Boys' Choir is a certainty, following on the Australian season of this remarkable company of sweet-voiced lads.

In Detroit a special Mayfair Spool Party was held in the Fox Theatre t< see "The Bride of Frankenstein." Tin guests were invited to be at the stagi door at a quarter to midnight. '.Thi guests were all. young people and thi girls and boys were not'allowed toisi all in one; group, instead they wcri scattered singly all through the hug' theatre, no one could sit closer thai fifty seats to the next person. Sorry brave souls even ventured into the lirs balcony. Every.'light in the hous was extinguished some minutes befor the -first, scenes of "The Bride o Frankenstein" flashed on to the screer It is said that after the screenin many of the guests emerged lookin rather scared'and a number of shade paler than before.

Many filmgoers will remember that famous .film "The Broadway Melody," "Which was released. some years back. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have decided to repeat its success and, "The Broadway Melody of 1936" is now being "shot" at the studios. In the cast are Robert Taylor, -Eleanor Powell, Sid Silvers, Buddy and Vilma Ebsen, Frances Longford, Shirley Ross, Robert Wildhack, and Jeni Legon: The songs will be written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, who did the original music for the first "Broadway Melody."

"OUR LITTLE GIRL."

Following the success of "Bright Eyes" and "The Little Colonel," Shirley lemple has been, given a picture that appeals to young and old. It is '.'Our Little Girl,", which, comes to the Plaza Theatre tomorrow. "Our Little Girl" is a poignant story, tenderly conceived, freighted with heart-tugs, yet» leaving the audience strangely happy. Hundreds of novels and short stories in print and typescript were read before this particular story was selected for Shirley.. When the list thinned down to 30, the producer discovered that ."Our Little Girl" was ready-made for the adorable star. It tells the story of a happy family disunited'by. suspicions, threatened1 with wreckage, and of a little girl, who runs a way. from her home when she. finds all the joy-and safeguards gone. The supporting cast includes Rosemary Ames, Joel McCrea, Lyle Talbot, Erin O'BrienMoore,' Jack Donohue, and Poodles Hanneford.

Since.the.death of Mark Twain "Will Rogers was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding American humourists.

H,e was selected by the United States Government to receive the late Sir Thomas Lipton when he made his last; effort to regain the Cup, and made him a presentation on behalf of the people of the United States. He was a prolific' writer and: he contributed to a number of American publications. ; He. was the biggest box-office draw in the U.S.A. and Canada. He topped the list as, a drawing power for the last ten years in these countries, and will be a great loss to. the. film industry and "to Fox1 Films, especially; He had just completed "In Old Kentucky" and "Steamboat Round the Bend,"; which have not yet been released in New Zealand.

Every now and then Hollywood produces a big film that really moves. Of that company is "She," RKO-Radio Pictures' production of the famous H. Rider Haggard novel that has thrilled readers for nearly . seventy years. "She," of course, is practically everything. That is to say, if is a triangle love story, a mystery drama, and a spectacle. But for those who like their movies fast and furious, "She" will always remain in their memories as a picture packed with' excitement of the most bizarre kind. People are constantly calling for more action and less talk in their film fare. "She" will give them plenty to talk about.

•It, was.recently announced that Mr. Winston Churchill will collaborate in the making of the London Film production, "The .Conquest of the Air." Mr. Churchill will' personally supervise many of the sequences, dealing with' the history of English air development, and his unique knowledge of the events which brought about certain aspects, of aerial development will be of invaluable assistance in the making of what it is confidently believed . will be the greatest and most authentic epic of the air ever chronicled. The "film, will be directed by. John. Monk SaunderK.

'The London "Daily Mail" waxes enthusiastic over the excellence of BKO'snew technicolour film. Here ;s what it. said:—"The new colour film, 'Becky Sharp,' was received with the greatest possible enthusiasm when it was presented for the first time at the New Gallery last night. If the applause then'can be taken as an index of popular opinion, it is that colour in films will not only be appreciated but demanded. The wonder' of colour will not be so readily exhausted as the wonder of sound because it is capable of infinite variety in the hands of each new colour master. The ovation was not only for the beauty of the colours but, a,lso for ,t.he stereoscopic quality evident in many sections of the film. Those producers who have been awaiting the verdict oE public opinion need wait no longer. It was generally agreed last night that colour has enhanced tha talking picture in the same degree that sound enhanced'-the.silent film-"

"THE SCOUNDREL/

The latest big film of Miss Grace Moore, the celebrated soprano of the New York Metropolitan Opera House who scored such a great success in "One Night of Love," was previewed this week and revealed as thoroughly acceptable entertainment with Miss Moore given more opportunities, if possible,; than in her first film. Once again the story is of a girl with a voice, but this time a girl who needs to be fairly launched on her career— she has no great faith in her own ability. That she reaches the top is due to the work and loyalty of a curious gambler, a man who used to slaughter in the stockyards but now owns several big places in the city. How she reaches the top is a story of romance, often touching and made the most of by Leo Carillo who has the ' role of his life as Miss Moore's leading man >and appears to have ■■ known it. While Carillo is squeezing the last drop of juice out of the part'of the amusingly ignorant, gold-hearted gambler, Miss Moore is singing away in a range of numbers from "II Bacio," upon which she embarks within thirty seconds of the beginning of the film, through "Love Me Forever," the ever- ,, popular "Funiculi," and other pieces ' to all the high spots in the first act of "La Boheme" with a magnificent Rodolfo and the "Civ- gelida manina," "Si mi chiamano Mimi" and closing duet all finely given. It is difficult to see how anyone who liked the first film can refuse to succumb to this.

Says London "Punch" of "Autumn Crocus," which is to be produced by the Wellington Repertory Theatre in the Concert Chamber from September 11 to 14, under the direction of Mr. W. S. Wauchop: "Miss C. L. Anthony has accomplished with much credit the notoriously difficult feat of handling a theme of romantic sentiment without letting it degenerate into a discomforting sentimentality and -giving it a patterned background of humour which does not decline into mere caricature. . The scene is laid in a pleasant little, inn.in' the Austrian Tyrol. In it are gathered an Anglican clergyman and his maiden sister; a vague absent-minded lady who persistently mislays her underclothes and loses her way; a devoted German couple who achieve an appetite for Mittagessen and Abendessen; two young British things conducting a companionate experiment and sedulous that no one shall mistake them for husband and wife. The host is a handsome, mendly, carefree peasant with an imagination and easy manners. Two more guests arrive, school-marms on holidays—the elder an angular, resolutely virginal, and unsentimental person; the younger a timid, pretty, and apparently colourless young woman in spectacles and ill-fitting tweeds. While the two young moderns are babbling and bickering, the German gentleman is putting away lager; the clergyman is studying the Kraft-Eb-bings and Freuds lent him by the young moderns, and his sister is describing with an engaging frankness set free by beer, and brandy her adventures; and the angular spinster is bristling and being very reserved and British—you can see'that the. 'little school teacher has completely lost her heart to the mountains and the stars and the (lowers and the gallant young bare-kneed innkeeper and that he will come under the spell of the quiet, wistful little Englishwoman in the two following acts.."

Noel Coward, the man responsible for "Design of Living," "Cavalcade" and "Private Lives," three of the most popular cinema productions of the last five years, at last turns film actor himself to appear in the leading role of "The Scoundrel.", Coward, actor, playwright, composer, and generally conceded one of the most •, brilliant figures of the contemporary theatre, plays a literary Casanova in ■ this sharp and .satiric tale of deca- ' dence in the New York smart set. 1 He is a hollow, artificial, and bril- < liant publisher so accustomed to play- 1 ing at love with the unreal people who ' comprise his society that he fails to understand the realness of Julie Hay- ] den, a young poetess, who offers him ] her heart. 1 Coward takes her from the .boy who really loves her, breaks her heart, and 1 sets her adrift, in his corrupt circle. ] He goes on an aeroplane trip to ess cape one of the importunate women j and is reported killed. There is a grip-, i ping climax. ;

A FILM-GOER'S NOTEBOOK. George Kaufman, who recently; completed work in Hollywood with his former stage collaborator, Morris Ryskind, on an original story for the Marx Brothers, has signed a new extended term contract with. Irving Thalberg. Kaufman will continue his stage activities, under terms of the1 contract, but will also work on'future .pictures for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is now- in New York, and no.. definite date has been set for his return to Hollywood. • A boon-in the manufacture of top hats is expected to result:iffbrh RKO Kadio's musical "Top Hat," which costars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and is now in production. "Toppers" are blossoming out like wildflowers in a California spring on the picture's sets.

Enterprising atmosphere players seeking work in the production are evea showing up at the casting office window in top hats. \ Spencer Tracy's first picture under his recently-signed Metro-Goldwyu-Mayer contract will be "The Murder Man." 'This is an original story, wita Harry Rapf as production executive. Virginia Bryce will have the leading feminine role.' \ ?.■-'■. Colin Tapley, the young New Zealander who is under contract to Paramount Pictures, has been assigned roles' in two "forthcoming productions —:"Peter Ibbetson," which features Ann Harding and Gary Cooper, and. "The Last' Outpost," with Claude Bfeins heading the cast. Both productions/ are being made by Paramount. . / »