STAGE AND SCREEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 21

STAGE AND SCREEN

EXCITING FILM,

Seldom are horse-racing sequences so exciting as in "Breezing Home," a Universal picture, which will shortly be released in Wellington. Starring Wendy Barrie, William Gargan, and Binnie Barnes, the film has an old theme treated in a novel way. The plot centres around the racing career of Galaxy, a thoroughbred, which comes into the hands of a young singer ; through the. death of its owner. The I transaction is arranged by a notorious I bookmaker, and but for the assurance '■■■■ of the horse's trainer that the animal would run a fair race, the stewards of i '■ a certain race meeting would not have :* , accepted the entry. Unfortunately, the ■ horse-is fouled by a jockey in the pay of the bookmaker and is seriously injured. After a spell of six months it \ regains its normal health, and it is entered for a handicap race at a meeting in a distant State. Through the .(._ intervention of the bookmaker ? diffi- . :J culty is again experienced in'enter--' .; ■ ing" Galaxy, but eventually, .'after many nf tense scenes, the horse , leaves the ,f barrien- and manages to beat its most ; t s serious competititor by:.a big-margin, 'it The romantic interest is developed in as an unusual way, and everyv.member 12 of the cast gives a first-class,'perform-as ar>ce- . •• :'X' in' FIRST THESPIAN PRODUCTION. le ' ••- •"■"■ ' ' :r. One of the most popular characters c- in. English literature is-Samuel Pepys, j es the famous Secretary to the Admiralty, ss whose-diary has been read and enjoyed i for so many years. • It is therefore not I surprising that J. B. Fagan's play "And ( II So To Bed," which introduces .that ] ii famous character and many of. his j 111 friends from the pages of the diary, i !§ was one of the most successful plays I :?:: of recent years in London, and has re- j ;B peated that success wherever it has ;;§: been played. "And So To Bed" has S:: been announced as the first of the p Thespian productions for 1937, and the W- usual appeal of this delightful costume # comedy, which will be presented with '■■■'< ■■■ all the resources of the society, should ■;■;■■ make it one of the most popular plays > of the year in Wellington. The play is to be produced by D. G. Edwards, ■ ■'': and directed by Victor S. Lloyd, advis- .; ory director to the Thespians. A ; > strong cast including some of Wellington's best-known performers has been !- selected, j those taking part including' A. D. Priestley, a s .Mr. Pepys; Zeno- ; crate Mountjoy, as Mrs. Pepys; Sin- : clair Ronald, as-Mrs. Knight; Warren Toogood, as Charles -II; Dorothy Tans:i: ley, as Mrs. Pierce; Mary Marsden, as is Mrs. Knapp; and George Aldridge, R. ■ J Larkin, Beth Mapleston, Lorna Baxs ter.Jean Combs, Evan Harrowell, Sam il Tansley, and Eric Evan-Young. The ii stage manager is Myles F. E. Wright II and the property mistresses Isobel Burjl ton and Peggy, Lucas. . . ■ | QUEEN ELIZABETH. » The film "Fire Over England" shows the Queen in the latter part of her ' reign between the years 1580 and 1590, ' and still surrounded by many of the ■' faithful friends of her youth. She is - forty-seven years old when the story opens, beloved by her people and concerned only for the welfare of her country, now on the threshold of its greatness. The principal enemy is King Philip of Spain, who sees his r" Empire in the New World threatened p, by English admirals. He is secretly - '. building the Armada to crush England 11 once and for all, and the agents of n Elizabeth are desperately seeking de-, IS tails of his plans. These are the : stir-". n ring days of Drake and the Spanish '' Main, of the dark menace of the In- '' quisition. and of the threat from the a mighty Armada of "Fire Over Engr~ land." '-. ' ' FAMILIAR ROLE. Ann Dvorak, who actually owns and y helps operate a farm in San Fernando [. Valley, is having her first opportun- .. ity to play a screen farm' girl. In y RKO-RadioV "Racing Lady," she lives ) on a stock farm and helps her father ' ("Harry Carey) train racehorses. "It's 1 not- exactly what you'd call a reallife role, however," said Miss Dvorak. "In the first place, we raise walnuts instead of horses on our farm. And even most of our work is done by tractor." The comfortable and undeniably, eye-appealing outfit of dunsome of the picture scenes is familiar, however. It's much the same costume she wears while working on her fa own farm. , a BEETHOVEN'S LIFE STORY. £ ' . .-< — C The life story of one of the great- S est musical geniuses of all time, Lud- si wig Beethoven, will soon be brought to 1< the screen, according to word from the o Warner Bros. First National studios al ft Burbank,' California. Milton Krime, d who wrote the film play for "Green a Light," the best-selling Lloyd C. Doug-1 V las novel, whose screen transcription B stars Anita Louise and Errql Flynn, is- a now busy on the dramatisation of fi Beethoven's life 'story. si —— st "SAN QUENTIN" COMPLETED. q a: Under Director Lloyd Bacon, filming " has been completed of "San Quentin." ° The story, laid in the famous California penitentiary from which it takes its title, has two leading masculine roles, - which are being interpreted by Pat _ O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart. The j" heroine of the plot is Ann Sheridan, titian-haired beauty from Texas, who II was recently signed to a long-term con- I tract by the studios. Barton Mac- II Lane is also prominent in the cast, and I some of the other principals are Joseph I Sawyer, Garry Owen, Joseph King, II Gordon Oliver, and William Pawley. II The original story of "San Quentin" was written byßobert Tasker and John Bright; and it has been adapted for the screen by the collaboration of Peter Milne and Humphrey Cobb. FLOWERS FOR STAR. Hollywood florists ware busy one morning recently all because Joan Crawford started her new picture, "Love on the Run," with Clark Gable. Joan usually receives many flowers when she starts a picture. This is her friends' way of wishing her success and happiness. Both her portable dressing-room and her dressing-room suite at the M.G.M: studios were filled with flowers. . TWO PICTURES.

James A. Fitzpatrick has completed 7" 1 the second and third of his group of i feature pictures. These are "The Captain's Table," directed by and featuring Percy Marmont in a murder-mystery ;.■■• story on the high seas; and "Auld Lang Syne," the life, poetry, and songs of Robert Burns, which stars Andrew Cruikshank in the title role, and was . , directed by Mr. Fitzpatrick himself.