CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1940, Page 7

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. ] A courageous departure from the generally accepted type of screen entertainment is essayed wi*.h Ki-straction in the main picture at the Regent . Theatre, "On Borrowed, Time." Even if the theme is a little difficult to understand, one has no difficulty in appreciating the powerful manner in which a simple story is presented and the magnificent acting of the principals, headed by Lionel Barrymore. Barrymore gives one of the finest characterisations of his career. The supporting programme is of a high standard. MAJESTIC THEATRE. "Good-bye, Mr. Chips," starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson, is still enjoying a successful season at i the Majestic Theatre. The story J covers a period of 50 years, from 1870 to 1920, and deals with the life of Mr. j Chipping ("Chips"), who joins the teaching staff of Brookfield College, England. He remains in a rut until the German master at the college induces him to go to the Swiss Alps. There "Chips" meets Katherine (Greer, | Garson), who is on a bicycle tour with: a lady friend. I PARAMOUNT THEATRE. J "LiUle Accident" will be finally! shown at the Paramount Theatre tonight. The attraction tomorrow will be "Man of Conquest." ST. JAMES THEATRE. "The Beachcomber," starring Charles Laughton, will be finally screened at St.'James Theatre tonight. The popular "San Francisco," starring Clark Gable, Jeanette Mac Donald, and Spencer Tracy, will be shown at the head of the new programme tomorrow. Gable's vigorous roles in "China Seas" and "Mutiny on the Bounty," and Miss Mac Donald's outstanding .success in "Naughty Mari-. ette" and "Rose Marie" served as the | inspiration to bring the two notable stars together for the first time. Gable j portrays a big-time gambler of the j Golden Gate city at the height of its most glamorous period, in the beginning of the twentieth century. The part is in tune with the type that Gable likes best. Miss Mac Donald is a small-town minister's daughter who seeks. adventure in San Francisco, rises ■to fame in the music halls and, later, in the legitimate theatre. TUDOR THEATRE. "The Lion .Has Wings" and "The Escape" will be finally screened at the Tudor Theatre tonight. The main attraction tomorrow will be "Stanley • and Livingstone." The picture reconstructs movingly the thrilling'discovery of Livingstone by Stanley, in the wilds of Africa. • As Henry M-> Stanley, the "New York Herald" reporter, Spencer Tracy gives another outstanding characterisation. He is shown first' as a young man whose tenacity of purpose is such that risks mean nothing to him if there is a story to be got. The second attraction is "Frontier Marshal." Randolph Scott plays the title role of the gun-fighting marshal* who brought the law to Tombstone, sharing top billing with Nancy Kelly. Others prominently featured in the cast are Cesar Romero, Binnie Barnes, and John Carradine. VOGIJE THEATRE, BROOKLYN. ""The Return of the Cisco Kid" will be, the main attraction at the Vogue Theatre,' Brooklyn, tonight and tomorrow night. Warner Baxter, Lynn Bari, Cesar Romero, Henry Hull, Henry Gordon, and Kane Richmond take the le^|||ig roles. The popular Jones Fam. ilyi •will also, be featured in, . "The Jones Family in Hollywood," a delightful comedy-drama. ; ASCOT THEATRE. Charles Dickens's immortal masterpiece, "A Christmas Carol," showing at. the Ascot. Theatre, stars Reginald Owen as the miserly Scrooge and Terry Kilb.urn as Tiny Tim. "The Gang Show," also screening, is a Boy Scout musical. i PRINCESS THEATRE. '■ / Robert Taylor- is the central characterjof "The.Crowd Roars," which will be-shown at the head of the new programme at the Princess Theatre tomorrpvf. lii this film" Taylor is a prizefighter., who rises from the slums to the- championship of .the world. Maureen O'Sullivan once more shows herself the ideal romantic foil, sincere, appealing, and forthright. And for competition there is her school chum, Jane^Weyman, admirable as the blonde rival of Taylor's affections. If anyone could "steal" the picture from Taylor, which is nearly impossible, it would be Frank Morgan as his father. The associate attraction will be "Invitaiibn to Happiness," starring,. Irene Dunne and Fred Mac Murray. ROXY THEATRE. Hugh Herbert and baby Sandy share starring honours as a brand-new comedy team in Universal's zestful film "Little Accident," which will head the new> programme at the Roxy Theatre., Based on the famous stage hit of the same . title, ""Little Accident" is described as a whirlwind comedy-drama. The' whimsical "woo-woo" man of the screen, is lifted from obscurity to fame through the help of Sandy, who is abandoned at the newspaper office where Herbert is employed as baby editor. Billy Gilbert, noted comedian, appears as an indignant and explosive waiter in Universal's "Rio," which stars Basil Rathbone and Victor McLaglen, with Sigrid. Gurie. "CHARLEY'S AUNT." • With just-a gentle and artistic touch of .modern make-up in concession to the passage of time since she shocked and charmed the Victorians with her pristine madcap frolics. "Charley's Aunt" has demonstrated convincingly in her Dominion tour that "there's life in'•■the old gal yet." The Celebrity Comedy Company's performance of the play throughout New Zealand has been characterised by continuous gusts of laughter, indicating that the farce which has been a joy to several successive generations of theatregoers and acclaimed one of the world's greatest funmakers, is still good for an enjoyable night's fun. Many notable comedians have been associated with the title role in this pioneer of masquerade comedies, but Don Nicol, who leads the present Australian and English combination, in no way suffers by comparison with past favourites, states an Auckland paper. The Wellington season of "Charley's Aunt" commences at the Opera House on Saturday, February 17. The -box plan opens at the D.I.C. next Monday. KILBIRNIE KINEMA. In "The Hurricane," which is being shdwn at the Kiibirnie Kinema, Dorothy Lamour and Jon Hall head a great cast which includes Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell, Raymond Massey. John Carradine, aftd Jerome Cowan. "Storm Over Bengal," Republic's new drama of the. Bengal Lancers, is. the second attraction.' REGAL THEATRE, KARORI. "Four Daughters," the Warner Bros, picturisation of a famous story by Fannie Hurst, is being shown at the Regal Theatre, Karori. A moving tale of four devoted sisters who fall in love with the same man, the film has one of the most unique casts in motion. picture history.

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

| TIVOLI THEATRE. ' The final screening of "The Real | Glory" and "Th^ Day the Bookies Wept" will take place at the Tivcii tonight. I ; "The Four Just Men" and "Climbing High" will be shown tomorrow. RIVOLI THEATRE. "Going Places" and "Code of the [Streets" conclude tonight at the Rivoli Theatre. The attraction tomorrow will be "The Four Just Men." Although based on events which could not occur in the sequence or in the exact manner betrayed, it is an intrinsic revelation of the activities which are contributing so much to the world unrest of our ! times. Unique in theme and based 'upon actual incidents in the thrill- ' tense history of the United States ! Coast Guard, Columbia's new screen I drama, "Coast Guard," will be the ! second feature. Randolph Scott, Franices Dee, Ralph Bellamy, and Walter Connolly head the cast. KING'S THEATRE, A refreshingly funny and entertaining film, "The Housekeeper's Daughter," is the attraction on the current programme at the King's Theatre, and j brings to local audiences once again j a type of screen comedy that has been too little to the fore in recent months. Containing a bright cast, assisted by the sparkle and thoroughness of Hollywood's production, the film makes an instant appeal and provides a welcome change. Joan Bennett takes the part of the housekeeper's daughter. Supports include a "March of Time" and a documentary film dealing with the development of Palestine. PLAZA THEATRE. J "Hotel for Women" will receive its final screening at the Plaza Theatre tomorrow. The attraction at the head of the new j programme tomorrow will be "Eternally Yours." STATE THEATRE. The humour of Laurel and Hardy has triumphed in the most extraordinary settings, but it is doubtful if this great combination has ever shone more brilliantly than in "The Flying Deuces," which was shown at the State Theatre last night. It is staged in what has been written up time and again as the most racking service in the world, the French Foreign Legion. The impression of it gained from fiction is one of gloom and "cafard," and discipline that is tyranny. Nobody else but Laurel and Hardy could burlesque life in such circumstances, nevertheless "The Flying Deuces" is one continuously irresistible jest. When one of them is all broken up by a disastrous love affair, the other naturally shrinks with pain also, and it is a lugubrious pair that decided to forget by enlisting. Forgetting is comparatively easy in the daily toil they are confronted with, but they make the mistake of endeavouring to forget the Foreign Legion also. Their adventures are as ludicrously appealing as usual, until they reach the condemned cell. Various alternatives present themselves, and the one they select provides illimitable opportunities for their peculiar talents in humour. Jean Parker and Reginald Gardiner contribute to the causes for the desire of the two heroes to forget. "Sued for Libel," the other half of the programme, is a thriller of the best type. Morgan Conway, Linda Hayes, and Kent Taylor throw themselves so wholeheartedly into the amazing situations in a tangled plot that the picture grips. It opens with a murder trial, complicated by an embellished broadcast put on as a joke, which is made the ground for a libel action against the paper which published the facts, and the trial brings to light a colourful society suicide. ; DE LUXE THEATRE. "You Can't Get Away With Murder" and "Let's Be Famous" will be withdrawn from the De Luxe Theatre tonight. "Call a Messenger" and "The Forgotten Woman" will be the attractions tomorrow! EMPIRE THEATRE, ISLAND BAY. Ginger Rogers is starred in "Fifth Avenue Girl," which is , being shown at the. Empire Theatre, Island Bay. Paramount's ' "Jamaica Inn," based on Daphne dv Maurier's novel of the same name, is the second feature. It features Charles Laughton. PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE, WOBURN. Earl Derr Biggers's famous character, Charlie Chan, is played for the first time by Sidney Toler in the 20th Century-Fox mystery, "Charlie Chan in Honolulu," which will be shown at the Prince Edward Theatre, Woburn, tonight. ."The Flying Irishman," RKORadio's picturisation of Douglas Corrigan's life story and his; famous flight to Ireland, is the second film. PALACE THEATRE, PETONE. George Formby, the popular English comedian, is featured in the hilarious comedy "No Limit," \ which is being shown at the Palace Theatre, Petone, tonight. The second feature is "SOS Tidal Wave." This is the first picture to devote its theme to television. Ralph Byrd and Kay Sutton are starred. GRAND THEATRE, PETONE. I Chosen as the one story that camej closest to being adequate to the amazing talent of Shirley Temple, and the ideal subject for her first technicolour vehicle, 20th Century-Fox's screen version of Frances Hodgson Burnett's immortal classic, "The Little Princess," is the attraction at the Grand Theatre, Petone. STATE THEATRE, PETONE, Co-starred for the first time in their spectacular careers, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis will appear at the State Theatre, Petone, in "The Sisters," adapted from the glorious love story by Myron Brinig. KING GEORGE THEATRE, LOWER HUT*k A gay, sparkling, and spectaculer: musical comedy, "Hard to Get,", is being shown .at the F^ng George Theatre, Lower Hutt. ISc 1 * Powell, aftd Olivia de Havilland are starred. "Bulldog Drummond's Bride," with John Howard and Heather .Angel, is the associate feature. DE LtXE THEATRE, LOWER HIJTT. Universal's latest musical film, "Hawaiian Nights," is the attraction at the De Luxe Theatre, Lower Hutt. The second feature is Warner Bros.' hilarious comedy, "Men Are Such Fools," starring Wayne Morris, Hugh Herbert, Priscilla Lane, and Humphrey Bogart.

Every effort is to be made by the Minister, of .Supply to obtain deliveries in New Zealand of hay-baling wire, according to advice received by the Manawatu provincial executive of the Farmers' Union yesterday. It was reported that it had been impossible to obtain anything like normal supplies because of defence requirements, some farmers having to resort to unsatisfactory substitutes.