CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 89, 12 October 1938, Page 5

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. "Yellow Jack" concludes tonight at the Regent Theatre. "A Letter of Introduction," with Andrea Leeds. Adolphe Menjou, and Edgar Bergen, and "Charlie McCarthy," -opens tomorrow. 'MAJESTIC THEATRE. A light social'drama in which witty conversation and the ultra-modern "streamlined" type of acting play big parts, "Manproof," now showing at the Majestic Theatre, is bound to keep its audiences amused and entertained. The tale is that of Mimi, a young society girl who fancies she is in love with a man-about-town of the real American type. Unfortunately he marries a girl with a great deal moz-e money than Mimi, who, after creating several scenes, recovers to find herself a man-hater. On the return of the couple from their honeymoon, however, she manages to capture the husband back for a while, and the result might be permanent were it not for the shrewd generalship of the wife. Franchot Tone gives a performance with all his usual easy grace as a newspaper artist, a friend of Mimi's novelist mother and one who is very concerned in preventing Mimi from making a fool of herself. As Mimi,* Myrna Loy is also in her best form, and Rosalind, Russell, as a normal type of gracious, sympathetic, understanding society girl, gives a performance . which again shows her calibre as an actress. ST. JAMES THEATRE. ; All the brilliance of Hollywood night life, its clubs, hotels, and the glamour of its stars, are brought to the screen in "Hollywood Hotel,'* a spectacular musical film now :'lowing at the St.. James Theatre, with ? cast of outstanding stars. Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Edgar Kennedy, Hugh Herbert. Alan Mowbray, Ted Healy, and Glenda Farrell all have important roles, and Benny Goodman and his world-famous swing band have an important part. Ronnie Bowers (Powell), a saxophone player, secures a ten weeks' contract in Hollywood, and he is given a great send-off from his small-town friends. He is thrown into "glamour circles" in an amazingly short time, but only because of tha temperamental nature of Hollywood's leading lady (Lola Lane) who, after quarrelling with her agents, refuses to attend a preview of her own picture. Fortunately, a waitress (Rosemary Lane) is discovered, and with the aid of the make-up genius, she is transformed into the beautful star who has left the city in. a. rage. PARAMOUNT THEATRE. In several recent Hollywood films Joan Blondell, formerly more famous as the wife of Dick Powell, has developed into one of the screen's finest • comediennes. And brilliant work in other pictures is carried on in "There's Always a Woman," which is showing at the Paramount Theatre. Cast opposite -Melvyn Douglas in an exciting and amazing story of a murder hunt-, Joan, determined to make her husband's detective agency the best -known in the city, follows ftp a crime in opposition to Douglas, her husband, who is on the District Attorney's staff. Her ' unconventional ideas of detection and the scrapes into which she falls as the result of her eager enthusiasm and an unrestrained imagination are richly comic,, and some of the sequences are the best of the . .year. Douglass, too, is ideal in the part o;£ the police detective: The second attraction, "Extortion," is a 'film deal- - ing 'with'a college murder mystery and -the efforts of detectives to clear..up . ■the death of the college, proctor. y'y ROXY THEATRE. ' idetro-Goldwyn-Mayer introduces a ; •novel picture in "Night Must Fall," which is showing at the Roxy Theatre. The- film is a daring venture in the - production ■ field, but even more experimental for Robert Montgomery, who deliberately chose to drop his accustomed heroic roles for the characterisation of a pathological killer. His performance is remarkable from every standpoint. Noted for his action roles, Preston Foster portrays a clever jewel ' thief who writes successful mystery stories ahout his own crimes in "Double Danger," the second feature. NEW PRINCESS THEATRE. "Dead End," Samuel Goldwyn's film production based on the Broadway stage hit by Sidney Kingsley, is the . main attraction at the New Princess , Theatre. Sylvia Sidney and Joel Mc- ■ Crea are in the starring roles. This , powerful drama of a day in the lives of , (a handful of humans who inhabit a 5 "dead end" city street, where fashionable apartments rub elbows with \ the squalid tenements of the waterfront, which set records in its Broad- ( way run and was cheered from coast ] '-'to coast, reaches even greater heights . "in the film version. The associate fea- ] ture is Paramount Films hilarious romantic comedy, "Turn Off the Moon," i starring Charles , Ruggles, Eleanore < Whitney, and Johnny Downs. J TUDOR THEATRE. j "four Men and a Prayer," now show- i ing at the Tudor Theatre, is a delightful transition of a popular story which has thrilled millions. Four stalwart young sons of a grand old soldierfather are bound by a gallant pledge j ,to rove the world to avenge his dishonour and death. That great love , pervades the entire story. Yet the i beauty of Loretta Young, and her i love for one of the brothers, Richard ] Greene, is a joy to behold. The sec- ] ond feature is "Island in the Sky," ; starring Michael Wbalen and Gloria : Stuart. The German annexation of Austria is dealt, with in a film of the ' "Time Marches On" series. ] CAPITOL THEATRE, MIRAMAR. i "Stolen Heaven," a romantic story of ' young love, played against background ' music of Liszt, Moskowski, Chopin, ahd Strauss, is snowing * at the Capitol ' Theatre. This tale of a pair of attractive young jewel thieves who give up their unsavoury past when they find love together in a country hide-away, : marks a new development in motion b pictures. The Arctic wastes of Alaska '. .provide the virile background for the ; gripping Columbia picture, "North of . Nome." which is the second film. —. i STATE THEATRE, PETONE. i The world's most famuos night club ! is brought to the screen for the first ,j time in "Cocoanut Grove," which is ] showing at the State Theatre. The~cast 1 is headed by Fred Mac Murray and Har- ! riet Hilliard, aided and abetted by the } antics of the Yacht Club Boys. Ben , Blue, - Rufe Davis, and Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiian Orchestra. The • story concerns itself with a swing band : and its hilarious trials and tribulations j in getting to an audition at the famed ; Cocoanut Grove. : PALACE THEATRE, PETONE. Tonight at the Place Theatre there will be a three-feature programme. '. Firstly, there is the Joe Louis v, Nathan • Mann world's heavyweight championship fight. No. 2 attraction has the well-liked George O'Brien in an action : picture, "Gun Law." In the third . feature, Joe Penner is seen in "Go Chase Yourself," a hilarious musical : comedy. GRAND THEATRE, PETONE. The latest adventure tale from the pen of that master of mystery stories, H. C. ("Sapper") McNeile, is brought to the screen at the Grand Theatre by Paramount in "Bulldog Drummond's ' Peril," a picture of the war waged by a powerful diamond syndicate to prevent a chemist from manufacturing synthetic jewels in his laboratory. ; College life set, to music and packed : with comedy furnished by Burns ancl ; Allen, Marl ha Rayc, Bob Hope, Edward Everett Horton, and a dozen others, , forms the background for "College b Swing," the second feature.

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

i PLAZA THEATRE. it Favoured, as never before, with the assistance of American production,] i- Gracie Fields rises to new heights in i !- "We're Going to be Rich," the comedy | film of gold-rush days which is now j showing at the Plaza Theatre. Still she has opportunity to sing her inimitable songs and give her laughable character skits, as she is cast as the showgirl V wife of a ne'erdowell roisterer, and it a is by her singing that she keeps the S home fires burning. Victor McLaglen ■t is splendidly cast as the tough, shiftp less husband of Gracie, and when first I. seen the two are in Melbourne, where g Gracie, has just finished saving enough c money to go back home to England, .1 where they hope to settle down. Hopes c are in vain, for McLaglen robs the c money box and buys a non-existent g gold mine near Johannesburg. Here f they start life anew, and Gracie gets a c good job at a saloon, singing while her ■_ husband does a gaol sentence. Trouble ; . strikes again, and the pair are teml porarily parted because of a feud bee tween McLaglen and Brian Donlevy, manager of the saloon. 1 ' v t DE LUXE THEATRE. America's "Devil's Island" forms the I background for the new Warner Bros.' production, "Alcatraz Island," which is r the principal attraction at the De Luxe II Theatre. The story concerns the $ life of a racketeer (John Lilel) = who is brought before the State " attorney for income tax evasion on the. day he had planned to leave America with his daughter (Mary Maguire) for an extensive tour of Europe. Sent to prison for five . years, Litel is followed by one of his L " former rivals of, the underworld who is out for revenge. From the day r his enemy arrives at the prison trouble begins, and Litel is sent to Alcatraz I Island. Litel's former rival again folr lows him, and is one day found murdered in circumstances that point to I Litel's guilt. ' thers in the ca^t are Gordon Oliver, Ann Shejidan, Dick I Purcell, Vladimir Sokoloff, Ben Welt den, Addison Richards, Peggy Bates, 3 Ellen Clancy, and George E. Stone. The 3 second feature, "Prairie Thunder," starring Dick Foran, the singing cowboy, _ depicts one of the stages in the devel- , opment of American expansion in the ! West. 3 STATE THEATRE. : Charles Boyer has his most roman- ) tic role as a lovable fugitive in Wal- . ter Wanger's "Algiers," the colourful * adventurous romance that stars him I opposite Hollywood's two most glam- - drous newcomers, Sigrid Gurie and 3 Hedy Lemarr, which is showing at the State Theatre. "Algiers" casts the dark-eyed screen lover as Pepe le Moko, devil-may-care international jewel thief, who takes refuge from the » French police by living in the Cas--3 bah, the mysterious Native quarter of ■ Algiers where the law dare not intrude. Here Pepe le Moko rules as | king. Sigrid Gurie is seen as Ines, his ' beautiful and wildly jealous native ; sweetheart. _ Then one day there strolls j- into the Casbah, a beautiful Parisian tourist. This is the day for which [ Slimane, suave provincial detective. ; has been patiently waiting. For he - knows that if nothing else can lure . the great lover out of the Casbah and , into the hands of the law, perhaps a woman can. ' RIVOLI THEATRE. : One of the most beautiful and powerful love stories to reach the screen is showing at the Rivoli Theatre. t Ronald Colman and Loretta Young are [ the principals and' "Clive of India" is ■ the vehicle. This true story of Robert CJive, a poor young clerk in the East India Company, who conquered an Empire at 26 -. and became England's greatest hero, only to see his star fall when the woman he loved had drifted from his side, is more than a great love story—it is a reflection of a life of truly heroic proportions, of staggering achievement, attained because a man believed in his own destiny. One secret of its greatP£??~ lf secret it is—is certainly that 'Clive of India" dares to tell the whole truth about a great man, glossing over nothing—not even the man's less ad- ■ mirable deeds. The seventy-odd remaining speaking roles are expertly tilled by popular and expert players. The second attraction will be that compelling and interesting film "The Story of Louis Pasteur," which is based on the life of the famous French scientist and medical, man. Paul Muni is seen : m his most powerful role. KILBIRNIE KINEMA. ! An original story by Erich Yon ; Stroheim, once a distinguished Hollywood director, "Between Two Women," : is showing at the Kilbirnie Kinema, i with Franchot Tone, Maureen O'Sulli- l van, and Virginia Bruce. It is a - dramatic narrative of life, death, and | romance in a great metropolitan hospi- ; tal, and it has been produced by Metro- , Goldwyn-Mayer with all of its lavish '. resources. A new challenge to the amusement-seeking, public's risibilities i is now on the motion picture screen in : "Bringing Up Baby," the second '■ feature, which is a fast-paced modern ] comedy romance with Katharine Hep- ] burn playing mad pranks as an heiress j animated with mischief, and Cary Grant in an equally bizarre but con- i trasting role as tlie victim of her tor- < ments. j REX THEATRE. \ "Boulder Dam," a Warner Bros, pro- J duction heralded as a drama of thrill- \ ing action, heroic deeds, and glamor- _ ous romance, is showing at the Rex Theatre. The picture is based on Don M. Templin's story of the building of this mighty project, and the lives of the daredevil workmen who blasted ' their way through solid rock and \ scaled the walls hundreds of feet above , the river is painted in the picture- in colourful detail. Patricia Ellis plays , opposite Ross Alexander. "Times i Square Playboy," the second film, is a sparkling comedy drama taken from ] the famous George M. Cohan play, j "Home Towners." There is a brilliant , . cast which includes besides William and Misjs Travis, Barton Mac Lane, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. REGAL THEATRE, KARORI. In picturising Marc Connelly's famous Pulitzer Prize play, "The Green Pastures," which is showing at the Regal Theatre, Warner Bros, have given the drama a lavishness of production that far. outstrips the stage play. The picture, hailed by some critics as the "modern Divine comedy" ' and "America's best-loved play," is in- 1 deed a veritable classic in its simplicity and sincerity, its poignant beauty, and remarkable characterisa- ; tions. Its rich humour is happy and : appropriate, yet so tactfully presented ; that it evokes smiles both tender, and , reverent. Superb settings, which emphasise the glamour and charm of the ■ gay city of-Budapest, are featured in : "Prescription for Romance,' 'the second • attraction. "Prescription for Romance" is filled with exciting situations and . alternating moments of suspense and romance. OUR THEATRE, NEWTOWN. The boisterous spirit of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, of "What ' Price Glory?" and "The Cockeyed World," rises high in the 20th Cen-tury-Fox comedy of American Legionnaires in New York, "Battle of Broad- . way," which .heads the double-feature programme at Our Theatre. Victor McLaglen and Brian Donlevy are the two "tough guys." Alice Faye, Tony Martin. Joan Davis, and Fred Allen have the principal roles in the musi- ; cal comedy, "Sally, Irene, and Mary," which is the associate feature. Varied and entertaining supports complete the programme. BROOKLYN THEATRE. Irene Dunn and Melvyn Douglas are the stars in "Theodora Goes Wild," ; which will be shown tonight at the , Brooklyn Theatre. Others in the cast . include Thurston Hall and Rosalind Keith. "Devil's Playground" will also be screened. The cast includes Richard Dix, Dolores Del Rio, and Chester Morris. There will also be three supports.

TIVOLI THEATRE. A whole new world of joy-laden wonder comes winging from the snow-sil-vered Norseland with America's newest sweetheart, Sonja Henie—radiant beyond imagining, in "Happy Landing," the 20th Century-Fox production) which is showing at the Tivoli Theatre. Cesar Romero, cast as an orchestra leader whd, with his companion, Don Ameche, flies across the Atlantic, starts this musical of superlative splendour on a fast-moving pace. An ocean fog puts the flyers off their course and they land in Norway, where Jean Hersholt's*five daughters (one of them Sonja) are happily engaged in a "Brides' Fair" festival. The local custom that a young man who dances twice with a girl is proposing to her gets Robero involved in a love affair which is all hero-worship on the part of a lovelorn Sonja, and all basking i in the ever-satisfying warmth of egotism by Romero. Don Ameche, sincere in his interest, tries to keep things on an even keel, but there is the matter of another girl of Romero's back in the States. "Wife, Doctor, and Nurse," the second- attraction, is a gay, penetrating drama with a catch in its heart and a twinkle in its eye.