CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 14

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

BEGENT THEATRE. The latest humorous film, "Block- ■ heads," in which Laurel and Hardy are featured at the Regent Theatre, could hardly have been more aptly nameS. ' Blockheads they are, blundering their way from one ridiculous situation to another throughout the length of the film. Even the opening sequence, which i? ludicrous in the extreme, seems to be invested with an air of reality when played by Stan LaureL Could anyone but Laurel, serving .In the Great War, keep on doing, sentry-duty in a deserted trench for twenty years after the war has ended because.-no one had given him orders to stop? Twenty years after, however, the wartime comrades are united in their !iome city in America, and are plunged into .the battlefield oJ everyday life, with a jealous wife and a-flirtatious young lady in the adjoining apartment to add to their adventures. The supporting programme is of such excellent quality as to deserve special mention. An interesting newsreel is followed by a very clever "Captain and the Kids" cartoon, and other short subjects are "Nostradamus," a historical mystery full of interest, a Crime Does not Pay film dealing with incendiarism, a Pete Smith feature, and a coloured traveltalk, "Cairo, City of Contrasts." MAJESTIC THEATRE. "Tovarich" concludes tonight at the Majestic Theatre. "The Crowd Roars," starring- Robert Taylor, opens tomorrow. ■ ST. JAMES THEATRE. "Our Fighting Navy" will be shown finally tonight at the St. James Theatre. "Fast Company," starring Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice, commences tomorrow. OPERA HOUSE. A musical cavalcade covering a period from the pre-war years up to the present forms a background for the romantic love story told in "Alexander's Ragtime Band," which concludes tonight at the Opera Fouse. The principal players are Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, and Don Ameche. Many favourite songs, including the famous title piece, are included in the 26 Irving Berlin favourites sung during the production. The staging is excellently done and the , various periods dealt with are faithfully represented. Some of the 85 sets which were specially designed for the picture are lavish and spectacular. The production achieves the difficult feat of being sentimental without degenerating to sentimentality. The dther feature of the double programme is "The Adventurous Blonde," an amusingly told story of an American woman newspaper reporter (Glenda Farrell) and her detective fiance (Barton McLaneV PARAMOUNT THEATRE. "The Great Garrick" and "Highway Patrol" conclude tonight at the Paramount Theatre. . . "That Certain Age," starring Deanna Durbin, opens tomorrow. BEX THEATRE. "Broadway Hostess" and "Walking Dead" conclude tonight at the Rex Theatre. • ~ , A drama with music, deftly relieved by comedy and enlivened by several new song hits, combine to make "Banjo on'My Knee," the Twentieth CenturyFox picture, which opens tomorrow, screen entertainment for every type of audience. A notable cast plays .in support of Barbara Stanwyck and Joel IWaCrM. Among the principals are Helen W«tley, Buddy Ebsen, Walter Brennan,. Walter Catlett, Anthony Martin, and Katherine de Mille. Man's age-old battle to get gold out of the ground brings war into the ranch country in Parampunt's "Bar 20 Justice," Clarence E.Mulford's latest "Hopalpng Cassidy" story, which'ls the associate film. William Boyd goes into action against the West's most daring gold thieves. ROXT THEATRE. "They Gave Him a Gun" and "Charlie Chan at the. Races," conclude tonight at the Roxy Theatre. A combination of thrills and laughs and romance is the Warner Bros, mystery-melodrama, "The Invisible Menace," which opens tomorrow with Boris: Karloff as its star. « The picture—made from the successful Broadway stage play of the same name —deals with ainurder in a government arsenal, and transfers,, part of the time, to the island.of Haiti, with its revolutions, voodoo jungle rites,- and the like. The supporting feature is "Blazing Sixes," starring likeable Dick Foran, the Singing Cowboy. It has to do with how Government agents in 1890 stopped the looting of stage-coaches carrying newly-made gold coins. TUDOR THEATRE. "Strange Boarders," starring Tom Walls, is playing a return.- season at the Tudor Theatre. The strange boarders are a motley crew from whom Tom Walls, in bis role of Secret Service agent, hopes to discover„• the identity of. an international spy who has been clever enough to obtain copies of new aeronautical plans from the stronghold of a Government office. Supporting Tom Walls in this picture is Renee Saint-Cyr, who appears as his wife; Googie Withers as a vampish maid-of-all-work; Ronald Adam as a blind man; and Leon M. Lion in the role of a Cockney laundry manager. The second* feature is "Young and Innocent," starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick de Marney. CAPITOL THEATRE, MIKA3VIAR. Action, excitement, thrills, romance, and comedy are the ingredients in Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond Escapes," latest of the popular detective series, which is showing at the Capitol Theatre. Drummond, played by Ray Milland, has eight hours in which to solve two murders, frustrate a kidnapping, break ,up a band of counterfeiters, and win the girl— Heather Angel "Boy of the Streets," associate film, is,a story of real life, that of a youth reared in the slums, who wanted to be a "big shot." EMPIRE THEATRE, ISLAND BAY. The strangest case that ever rocked a hall of justice; the most human story of the year—these phrases aptly fit "One Mile From Heaven," which is showing at the Empire Theatre. Claire Trevor, Sally Blanc, and Douglas Fow- " ley are the featured players. "One Mile From Heaven" tells the human, exciting story of two mothers fighting desperately for the same child. . Dramatically it presents the question of who has the greater right—the on.c who brought the little child into the world, but thought her dead in a fateful -ar crash, and who, after several years, found her-hopes renewed—or the one who nursed the child back to health, nurtured and guarded her, and came to love her as her own. "Prison Farm" starring Lloyd Nolan, Shirley Ross, and John Howard, is the associate film. REGAL THEATRE, KARORI. "We're Going to Be Rich," a surprising different, and thoroughly enjoyable 20th Century-Fox production, is showing at the Regal Theatre. With Victor McLaglen in his finest role as a somewhat irresponsible devotee of the "get-rich-quick" idea of getting on in the world and with Gracie Fields as his devoted showgirl wife. "Were Going to be Rich" presents a broad lusty story of life in Australia and South Africa Romance, tragedy and wild adventure march hand in hand in "Sinners m Paradise." the associate film. Madge Evans, John Boles, and Bruce Cabot have the principal roles.

KINGS-THEATRE. "My Lucky Star" will be shown finally tonight at the King's Theatre. High drama, pathos, excitement, and suspense are woven into Walt Disney's feature-length picture, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which begins tomorrow at the King's Theatre. In the seven-reel technicolour picture Snow White's beautiful -but vain and wicked Queen consults her eerie magic mirror to find who is the fairest in the land. When the mirror replies "Snow White," the Queen, retreats to her secret dungeons at the bottom of the castle, through, which a mysterious river flows. Here she brews magic potions and turns nerself into an old witch, to an accompaniment of: lightning and crashing thunder. She disguises herself thus^o that she may go to Snow White living in jthe; cottage of the seven dwarfs, and, posing as an old peddler woman, induce;her to bite into a poisoned apple. The dwarfs, discovering the Queen at their cottage, chase her through a blinding thunder and rain storm, up into mountain fastnesses, where, just as she is about to roll a boulder down on them, a bolt of lightning sends her toppling over a cliff into oblivion. The dwarfs, believing Snow White dead, build a glass coffin for her so that they may still look uponx her beauty. . They place it in a flower-laden bower in the woods, where they and ;the small birds and animals take turns keeping watch over it. Romance comes riding along soon, however, in the person of a handsome young Prince, long in love with Snow White. He kisses her, breaks the spell of the magic apple, and; the two ride away to lasting happiness, with Snow White promising to return to visit her forest friends from time to time. r PLAZA THEATRE. "Hitting a New High" concludes tonight at the Plaza Thtatre. . "Little Miss Broadway," starring Shirley Temple, commences tomorrow. STATE THEATRE. "Convict 99" and "Kicking the Moon Around" conclude tonight at the btate The advent of any Jones Family picture is a signal for considerable, rejoicing and from reports it would seem that "Safety in Numbers,", their latest for 20th Century-Fox, which opens tomorrow at the State Theatre, will more than do its share in living up to the industry's current slogan, "Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment." The story gets off to a breezy start with Mrs. Jones—voted "The World's Best Mother" in a radio contest—going on the air with a weekly broadcast, advising her listeners about domestic problems. The programme is a huge success, but meanwhile the Joneses get tangled up in some pretty serious domestic problems of their own—what with Jack planning to elope and Dad plunging his own and the whole town s savings into a, mineral water investment scheme which' turns out to be a fraud. It has been a long time since anything-so funny as the gangsters dilemma in "Passport Husband" has apneared on the screen—even though the rest of this 20th Century-Fox which is the, associate film, ;is a hilarious ' piece of film madness. Picture Stuart, Erwin, a night club bus boy, married to a,,, Spanish dancer who happens to he loyed_ by two rival gangsters. °»c .of these worthies, in the absence of the other, has had her: married to Erwin to save her from deportation. Erwin, it develops, is the only person the gangsters know who has an unimpeachable record. On top of this Erwin inherits a pin-ball machine factory from an uncle. • * NEW PRINCESS THEATRE. "Letter of Introduction," starring Andrea Leeds, Adolphe Menjou, Edgar Bergen, and "Charlie McCarthy," otgether with "Mutiny on the Bounty," with Charles Laughton and Clarke Gable, conclude tonight at the New Princess Theatre. Regarding i Friday's programme, patrons are advised to watch for a surprise announcement in "The Post" tomorrow. KILBIRNIE KINEMA. "Love i and Hisses," which is showing at the Kilbirnie Kinema, marks a new triumph for Darryl F. Zanuck. The story tells of Ben Bernie, the "old maestro," who discovers Simone Simon, a great singer. He asks "old pal" Winchel, America's one-man newspaper, to build her up in his column. Winchel turns the band leader down, as should be expected, so Bernie schemes a plot. "Alcatraz Island," a Warner Bros, melodrama, is the associate film. The story is not merely one of life behind the stone walls of the Pacific-washed prison. There is plenty of action on the mainland, both before and after the protagonist—one Gat Brady, played by John Litel —is confined for income-tax evasion. OUR THEATRE, NEWTOWN. The story of how the world's ace detective finds death dealing a hand at the gaming table and how Chan takes a million to one chance to solve a "murder for a million" at Monte Carlo is the main attraction at Our Theatre. Warner Oland is starred, and the supporting cast features Keye Luke, Virginia Field, and Sidney Blackmer. The exciting new mystery-romance, "Island in the Sky," starring Gloria Stuart and Michael Whalen, is the associate feature. Entertaining supports complete the programme. PALACE THEATRE, PETONE. A triangular romance between a transport pilot, a society girl, and a student flyerf forms the basis of "Sky Giant," R.K.O. Radio's new drama of modern aviation now showing at the Palace Theatre. Richard Dix appears as the pilot, with Joan Fontaine and Chester Morris in the starring roles. A crash of a big plane in Alaska while mapping out a new air route to Europe provides the dramatic climax of the film, which was directed by Lew Landers under the production guidance of Robert Sisk. GRAND THEATRE, PETONE. Two of the most striking and popu lar stars of the talking screen are seen together for the first time in "Mannequin," Which is showing at the Grand Theatre, in Joan Crawford and Spencer Tracy. Joan as the factory girl who, fights her way from poverty to wealth and position, and Tracy as the jard-Jutting, self-made millionaire furnish as exciting and romantic a costarring team as the screen has seen in some time. Featured in the supporting cast are Ralph Morgan, Mary Phillips, Oscar O'Shea, Elizabeth Risdon. Leo Gorcey, and others. STATE THEATRE, PETONE. "Man in Possession," starring Robert Taylor and Jean Harlow, is showing at the State Theatre. It is a thoroughly entertaining film with the two stars at their best. Young Freddie Bartholomew apparently excels in any role that comes his way. The boy who gave such a vivid portrayal as "David Copperfield," and again as "Little Lord Fauntleroy," now appears as a modern urchin in New York's lower East Side in "The Devil Is a Sissy," which is the associate film. TAM-TAM, THE LEOPARD MAN. Visitors to the Evans Bay Carnival will have the opportunity of viewing the first Leopard Man ever to leave Equatorial Africa. Although small in numbers, the Leopard Men are the most feared and dreaded of all African tribes, for not only are their bodies spotted like the leopards, but they hunt, stalk, and kill their human prey in exactly the same manner, leaving the imprint of the leopard's claw on the victim's throat. Tam-Tam is a true representative of this strange tribe.

RIVOLI AND TIVOLI THEATRES. One of the popular surprise programmes is showing at both the Rivoli and Tivoli Theatres. It is indeed a surprise programme, for included on the programme are two 1939 film releases—pictures never before seen in Wellington. One of them introduces a hew and sensational singing star. TWO FOLK FROM FAIRYLAND. Like a page from "Gulliver's.Travels" or "Peter Pan," is the announcement that the Giant Guardsman and his midget bride are appearing together at the Petone Beach Carnival. For the Giant Guardsman is the world's tallest man, standing Bft s£in in his stockinged feet, and his petite and charming midget bride was formerly Miss Alma James, of Winnipeg, Canada, and is only 3ft in height, and toured with John Lester's Midget. Revue Company. Their marriage is being watched with great interest by the leading medical fraternity of America and the Continent whether the children of this strange union will be giants or midgets. However, the manager, Mr. C. J. Delariey, has stipulated a clause in his two years' contract, forbidding children while on tour. This is their first visit to New Zealand, and they are particularly impressed with the^_ hospitality, of the people. The Giant Guardsman and his Midget Bride give a ■ pleasing and amusing. performance; and show visitors; should not miss, seeing "these remarkable personalities. A MAN-WOMAN. Claimed to be a woman who is now changing to a man, Anna John Budd is attracting much attention at the Evans Bay Carnival. Anna John says that the most notable characteristic of her changing world is the awareness that man possesses an aggressive pugnacity which is in direct contrast with the defensive timidity of woman. While her voice has been changing to a much deeper tone and hair has begun to appear on her face, her muscles have become more powerful and the bones heavier on her right side. Anna. John, born June 16, 1900, in Vancouver, Canada, was a normal child. The parents never entertained the slightest doubt as to her sex. But as a "double-bodied woman" and as a person of more than ordinary-intelligence she gets much happiness out of life, and having been before the public for some time she is used to being looked upon as perhaps one of the most unusual persons alive today. . ■