STATE THEATRE.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 4

STATE THEATRE.

"Kidnapped," the story which Robjert Louis Stevenson is said to have [considered his best, commences today at the State Theatre. Spectacu- ! larly produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, it has a cast of 5000. Every person conversant with so much as high school English has thrilled to the adventure in "Kidnapped." It will be these who will remember that the story .had little or no "feminine interes t"_being chiefly the tale of the escapades of Alan Breck and David Balfour (portrayed on the screen by Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew). Purists may try, therefore, to quarrel with Hollywood's introduction into the story of a Jean Mac Donald, Hignland lass who becomes enamoured of Alan Breck. The role is portrayed by an astonishingly vivacious and beautiful screen discovery, Arleen whelan. It is interesting to note, then, that the motion picture people have no less a precedent than Stevenson himself fpr allegedly "tampering" with the facts. He admits he tampered with the historical facts in writing the book. It is more honest to confess at once how little I am touched by the desire for accuracy. This ('Kidnapped') is no furniture for a scholar's library, but a book . . ." The cast of "Kidnapped_' includes C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Owen, John Caradine, Nigel Bruce, Miles Mander, Ralph Forbes, and H. B. Warner. , . DE LUXE THEATRE. At last a worthy successor has been found for the mantle of the late Rudolph Valentino, who introduced "Sheik technique" into modern romancing, and whose name became a byword for a generation. Valentino was the greatest of all the screen romantic idols and what he did to feminine hearts all over the world as "Tne Sheik" is now motion picture history. Those romantic thrills are now dispensed by Roman Novarro in 'The Sheik Steps Out," now at the De Luxe Theatre. Handsome Ramon has proved that "The Sheik" as a romantic institution is here to stay and that desert songs and flying burnouses are just as glamorous today as they were ten years ago. Moreover the modern sheik has a sense oi humour, and a greater imagination than his predecessor. He wins the palpitating maiden, of course, by the power of his dominating personality, but added to this elemental "menace are all the niceties of modern love-making including suave wisecracks and a dash of polished and urbane frivolity. Lola Larte, who plays opposite Novarro, makes a very appealing heroine. America's favourite family, the Joneses, not only borrows trouble, but pays it back with interest in "Borrowing Trouble," the associate 'feature. PALACE THEATRE, PETONE: "The Sky's the Limit" and "She's Got Everything" conclude tonight at the Night of It" which commences tomorrow, is • a spectacular musical production with Buddy K?dgers and June Clyde in the leading j roles. Song hits of the Production include such numbers as When My Heart Says Sing," "The Spider, and the Fly" and "I Went to Havana.' The second atraction is "Blind Alibi, starring RichardDix^ndWhitaey Bourne.,