CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 9, 11 January 1941, Page 6

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

TIVOLI THEATRE

The 20th Century . Fox film "Star Dust," which features Linda Darnell, is a story of adventure in a scrap for fame in Hollywood, and is being screened at the Tivoli. Warren William and Jean Muir are the leads in the associate feature, "The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady." RIVOLI THEATRE. Warner Bros.' "The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet." a worthy successor to "The Story of Louis Pasteur" and "the Life of Emile Zola," is being featured at the Rivoli. Edward G. Robinson and Ruth Gordon have the leads. Also being screened is "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase." MAJESTIC THEATRE. War pictures from Egypt and England are the principal supports to "New Moon," the M.G.M. musical picture now in an extended season at the Majestic Theatre. Exclusive pictures of the capture of Sidi Barrani (the British camera unit was destroyed by an Italian bomb) are contained in one of the Australian newsreels, and they tell more vividly than any words the story of the present lightning advance in Egypt and Libya. New Zealand troops being inspected by Mr. Churchill are shown in another picture. In the principal film, "New Moon," delightful operatic singing by Jeanette Mac Donald and Nelson Eddy, recognised as the screen's most entertaining singing stars, is the outstanding feature. In this production of gaiety, adventure, music, .and romance, audiences thrill again to the beautiful voices of the two stars who have captured the screen world in such glorious films as "Sweethearts," "Balalaika," and many others, "New Moon" bears the hallmark of perfect entertainment. The numerous songs are magnificently rendered by the two principals, and their reunion in this attractive romantic play gains new laurels for them. ■ PLAZA THEATRE. An exciting romance rippling with gaiety and laughter, "The Lady in Question,' 'is showing at the Plaza. It is a healthy and hilarious picture, yet one packed with exciting situations, with a murder trial as one of the high lights. The centre of the story is a man who serves on a jury to try a girl charged with murder, and after her acquittal he takes her into his shop without revealing her identity to his wife, and family. The inevitable happens,, and the truth of the girl's situation leaks out, but in the process the principal figures go through a series of extraordinary and amusing experiences. The girl was of course innocent, and the son of her benefactor, torn between his love, for her and his knowledge of who she was, has to be taught a summary lesson before he finally believes in her. "The Lady in Question" is a tonic and worth seeing. It shows Brian Aherne and Rita Hayworth at their best. Among the sup-1 ports on the programme is a highly interesting . newsreel showing phases of the Italian rout at Sidi Barrani, a number of news shots from general sources, and a screaming slapstick comedy. KING'S THEATRE. Daring, romantic, and bordering on the scandalous, "Lucky Partners" is screening for a further week at the King's Theatre. The stars, Ginger Rogers and Ronald Colman, team admirably in this simple yet delightfully humorous story. He is an artist; she an assistant in a book shop. They buy a sweepstake ticket —odds are a million to one against—and because of their remote chance of winning they make the fantastic agreement that if they should win a big prize they should depart on a trial honeymoon (quite an impersonal one) before the girl settles down to married life with her very staid fiance. Needless to say, .they win a prize. The honeymoon scenes, which occupy the greater part of the film, are delicious. The immense scale of the British advance along the Libyan front is brought home to audiences by films rushed to New Zealand by Fox Movietone Pictures. The capture of Sidi Barrani —details, too, of the attack —and the taking of thousands of prisoners are revealed in the war's best "short" to date. Naval units are seen assisting, and armoured units are shown advancing towards Bardia. The film, of course, is of particular interest to New Zealanders. Other supporting films are excellent. PARAMOUNT THEATRE. Another clever comedy with a good sprinkling of thrills, is "Law and Disorder," now showing at the Paramount Theatre, and featuring Barry K. Barnes, Alastair Sim,, and Diana Churchill, who have been responsible for several excellent English comedies recently. "Law and Disorder" is a timely film, and deals with the days just before the war, when reservists were being called up and the whole country was being mobilised. Barnes is cast as a young lawyer who is also a bit of an amateur detective, and gets on the trail of a German plot to guide bombers to London targets by means of secret ti-ansmitters. Naturally his efforts clash with those of the police to a certain extent, and comedy and excitement are the result. Alastair Sim gives a particularly humorous portrayal of an ultra-respectable lawyer, senior partner of the firm. The second feature, is "Champion Chumps," a straight-out slapstick comedy featuring Joe E. Brown and Martha Raye. The film traces their efforts to keep alive a broken-down university by means of building up its football team. PRINCESS THEATRE. "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" and "Everybody's Hobby" are being screened at the Princess Theatre. The former, a technicolor, by Warner Brothers, features Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. "Everybody's Hobby" tells of a typical American family, five busy pairs of hands all at work at their hobbies. When father strikes trouble it is his hobby and that of his son that opens the way to freedom and makes them heroes. KILBIRNiE KINEMA. The screen's favourite doctor-hero stars at the Kinema in M.G.M.'s latest "Dr. Kildare" film, "Dr. Kildare's. Strange Case." It provides a dramatic [ glimpse of what goes on when a young; intern takes matters into his own i hands, acting solely on a hunch, j Columbia Pictures provide the associate feature in "Too Many Husbands," starring Jean Arthur, Melvyn Douglas, and Fred Mac Murray. REGAL, KARORI. "Lucky To Me," Phyllis and Stanley Lupino, with a strong cast, is a film packed with entertainment which is being shown at the Regal, with Columbia's "Too Many Husbands" as the associate feature. This presents Somerset Maugham's story of a marital mix-up with Jean Arthur, Fred Mac Murray, and Melvyn Douglas in the stellar roles. ANNIVERSARY DAY EXCURSION. . A day excursion to Picton with train excursion to Blenheim will be made on Anniversary Day by the express steamer Wahine, which will leave the steamer express wharf at 8 a.m., arriving back about 6 p.m. At her full speed she should make the run across the open Strait in about an hour and a half. A special train will leave Picton for Blenheim at 11.45 a.m. and will give time for lunch and a ramble round the Marlborough capital or a visit to friends before leaving again for Picton to connect with the Wahine. Special launches will be arranged to run to beauty spots across the Sound, including Torea, Onahau Bay, and Thompson's Bay. • The Wahine will 1 leave Picton on her return at 2.30 p.m.

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

REGENT THEATRE.

One of the best, topical dramas ever produced by English studios, Convoy,: ! continues for a further season at the j Regent Theatre. Authentic scenes of ! life on board a British battle-cruiser, actually filmed at sea under wartime conditions, vividly portray the magnificent, work of the Navy at the present time, while scenes among typical i British sailors provide light relief. Clive Brook commands the battlecruiser, John Clements is his subordinate officer and Judy Campbell provides the' romantic .side. ST.«JAMES THEATRE. A human and compelling story, combined with all the thrills of the Turf, is brought to the screen with the film "Sporting Blood" at the St. i I James Theatre. It has a real typical racetrack setting, and interest is retained at a high pitch throughout the film. The story- surrounds the trials and downfalls of the many expectations a trainer has to survive before he can reasonably anticipate reaching the top of his profession, while a spectacular fire, in which several horses are lost, results in further substantial loss. Another basis for the theme is the antagonism brought to bear by the people of Virginia in an attempt to ruin the trainer in his early efforts to start up as a trainer in his home town, to which he returns after an absence of twenty years. How he finally triumphs over adversity brings the film to a successful conclusion. The races are handled with dexterity, and j the first, in which a favoured horse falls, provides plenty of thrills. Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan, Lewis Stone, and. William Gargan play the leading roles, and each in their own sphere gives splendid characterisations. The supports are headed by a shortnewsreel showing the taking of the Italian stronghold of Sidi Barrani. OPERA HOUSE. '•'Spring Parade," in which Deanna Durbin appears as a village girl, opened a season at the Opera House yesterday. It is a story which gives the gifted singer and artist many opportunities. A fortune teller gives her the idea of seeking fame in the city, and the country maid never looks back in her career. The gradual metamorphosis is perfect, and there is a delightful love interest when she meets Robert Cummings. The settings of the story are essentially romantic, and as the glamour becomes reality the progress of the great singer in her profession is rapid. The picture is a distinct advance on Deanna's previous successes in many ways. The star has more experience, and brings into her art the knowledge of life that gives it power, while the songs of '"Spring Parade" are, of course, the most appealing feature of the entertainment. The supporting cast, including Robert Cummings, Mischa Aver, Henry Stephenson, Butch and Buddy. Anne Gwynne, Walter Catlett, and S. Z. Sakall, gives life to the sparkling performance. The supports are excellent. DE LUXE THEATRE. The graft seemingly always present in United States municipal politics can sometimes form the theme for an entertaining film, and one of these is "Down Went McGinty," the attraction at the De Luxe Theatre. With a sound cast headed by Brian Donlevy and Akini Tamiroff, supported by Muriel Angelus and Steffi Dun a, it tells of a down-and-out who becomes a gangstsrsupported mayor of a large city, and then a State Governor, with a readymade family to create the illusion of a benevolent politician. In actuality, however, he falls in with the gangster's schemes of profiting from contracts for vast public works in places where they will never be needed. "Constaninoplt: Express," the other feature, is an exciting story of espionage in post-Munich and pre-war Europe, the .action mainly taking place aboard a speeding transcontinental express. Rex Harrison is well suited to the role of a sanguinely humorous French intelligence officer, while Valeric Hobson and John Loder are seen. as the daughter of a Balkan statesman and a Parisian journalist vespectively. A newsreel of President Roosevelt's election campaign completes the programme.

KHANDALLAH PICTURES. Paramount's mystery thriller "The Cat and the"Canary," screening tonighi at Khandallah, stars Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. There. are spinetihgling thrills and gag-paced fun when seven people meet to hear read the will of a man who died ten years before. Chilly situations are nicely relieved by clever comedy. The situations and suspense and excitement are such that the film is considered un suitable for young children. The second feature is "Prison Withoul Bars." NGAIO CITIZENS' PICTURES. Joan Bennett and Louis Hay ward ar t co-starred in "The Man In. the Iron Mask," screening tonight vat Ngaio. The supporting cast, includes Warren "William, Joseph ScKildkraut, and Alan Hale. The story is set in the lavish reign nl Louis XIV of France and mirrors the extravagances, courtly brilliance, and brutalities which, eventually caused the French Revolution. "Sailor's Lady," the supporting feature,. is , a riotous comedy of the1 Navy ashore and. afloat. Nancy Kelly, Jon Hall, and Joan Da,vis are the stars. REX THEATRE. Australia's fayourites, "Dad" and "Dave," are providing a hilarious time at the Rex Theatre in "Dad and Dave Come to Town." Bert Bailey is "Dp.d" and Fred MacDbnald "Dave." ' The Charles ■ Laughton feature, "Jamaica Inn." is the second feature, and there is also a' "Jungle Menace" episode and the latest Pathe Gazette. ASCOT THEATRE. The spectacular drama of a magnificent white stallion, "Florian," showing at the Ascot Theatre and starring Robt. Young and Helen Gilbert, tells of the fall of a great empire. Also showing is "Young Man's Fancy," with Anna Lee and Seymour Hicks in a bright, hilarious comedy of youth's fling. The supporting items are excellent. CAPITOL, MIRAMAR. Samuel Goldwyn's "Wuthering Heights," based on the unforgettable love story, of the Emily Bronte novel of the same name, is being screened at the Capitol. Merle Oberon and Laurence Ollivier, as the romantic lovers, are brilliantly supported by a cast of outstanding players including David Niven, Flora Robson, Hugh Williams, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Donald Crisp, and Miles Mander. The associate features are "Everything Happens at Night." with Sonja Henie, and the first episode of the^ "Green Hornet" serial. GRAND THEATRE, PETONE, Marking something new in the' way of film entertainment the "Swiss Family Robinson" at the Grand, Petone, is a vivid picturisation of the intensely-human story that has been beloved by generations of readers. Cesar Romero plays the dashing Q. Henry outlaw in "Viva Cisco Kid," a Twentieth Century-Fox picture, the second feature. SEASIDE PICTURES, LYALL BAY. Virginia City, Nevada—through whose brawling streets forty thousand gold-mad adventurers from every corner of the globe once stormed —comes to glittering, fighting life again in the melodramatic romance "Virginia City," which, stars Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins. It is being shown today at the Seaside, Lyall Bay, with "Blondie on a Budget," Penny Singleton again portraying Blondie, Arthur Lake -the happy but harassed Dag wood, and Larry Simms as Baby Dumpling. Prominent in the cast is lovely Rita Hayworth, a sinuous siren Who steps out of Dagwood's past to ruin both his future and his bank account. PALACE THEATRE, PETONE. "Dr. Christian Meets; the-Womeh," the latest release in this highlyrpopular series, is being screened at the Palace.' It again stars Jean Hersholt, favourite of millions who have seen the previous Dr. Christian pictures. The second attraction is "Military Academy." STATE THEATRE, PETONE. At the State Theatre, Petone, William Powell and Myrna Loy appear in "I Love You Again." Never in the careers of these two favourites have they appeared in a more hilarious film. From beginning to end, laugh is piled upon laugh in a series of the maddest situations ever conceived by a group of authors.

' TUDOR THEATRiS. c The Tudor Theatre is presenting the t Shirley Temple 20th' " Century-Fox, d technicolour fiim "The Blue Bird," in ■- 1 which a brilliant band of players brings n vividly before the eye a fine portrayal c of Maeterlinck's famous masterpiece. :- The settings are superb, among the -- best ever seen on the screen, and there - r is the illusion of three dimensions that c makes everything like real life. The l" cast includes, besides Shirley in the c, role of Mytyl, Spring Byington, Nigel 1 Bruce, Gale Sonderland, Eddie Collins, and other players of standing, who enter into their work with zest and a real' understanding of what was rec quired of them. c i STATE THEATRE. I- "Frontier Town," at the State Theft i atre, brings to the screen Tex Ritter, h popular singing cowboy, whose thrill- -! ing exploits are daring exhibitions of L-jan expertness acquired in years of y: actual experience. He is completely s at home in the rodeo arena and has a starred at the Madison- Square Gare den rodeo, New York. In the picture 1 he plays the part of a rodeo rider who upsets the calculations of a gambling ring by repeatedly beating their favourite horsemen. A good cast supports him and the music and songs are well arranged. 3 ... c ROXY THEATRE. "The Ghost Breakers," a Paramount - mystery film with Bob Hope, Paulette a Goddard, and Richard Carlson in the 2 leading roles, is a blood curdler mii troduced at the Roxy Theatre. It blends mystery,, murder, chicanery, and comedy into-one'with-'a thrill, laugh, and new mystery in practically every sequence. Also being screened is Para- - mount's production "Hidden- Gold," 1 featuring William Boyd with Russell ~ Hayden, Ruth Rogers, Minor Watson, 2 and Britt Wood. 3 . ——— ■ 1 PRINCE EDWARD, WOBURN. I The film "For Freedom" maigniflcently commemorates on the screen the greatest British-naval drama in, history—the Battle of the River Plate. It does more than this—it shows British merchantmen going through = hell in the fight with the Graf Spec, : British prisoners rescued from the Alt- : mark, and introduces to film audiences 1 the officers and men reliving the parts * they so nobly played. "The Under- '> Pup," also being screened at the I Prince Edward, features Robert Cum- * mings, Nan Grey, and Gloria Jean. ;. Gloria sings five numbers. I SUNDAY PICTURES. " At the Paramount Theatre tomorrow night two pictures, which have pleased large audiences, will be shown. Renfrew of the Royal Mounted, "On the Great White Trail," suggested by the , popular books of Laurie York Erskine, s is a thrilling story of the .Mounties, . with James Newill and Terry Walker * in the leading roles. Other well-known j performers in the cast are Robert Fraser, Richard. Alexander, Robert Terry, Walter McGraill, Charles King, I Juan Duval, and Vie Potel. No^danger , is-too great, no task too big for Renfrew, the singing son of the North-west Mounted. An additional attraction will be "Ring Memories," which is being shown by request in view of i the recent big match at Palmerston i North. Some stirring encounters are - seen in this film. Amongst the cham--5 pions engaged are Joe Louis, James - Braddock, Gene Tunney, Jack Dcmp- ' sec, Max Schmeling, Jack Johnson, i Max Baer, and Tommy Farr. The prok ceeds are for the funds of the Artillery - Band. Patrons may obtain reserves by » ringing Paramount .Theatre (telephone - 51-842) after 7 p.m. tomorrow. 1 VOGUE THEATRE, BROOKLYN. k The story of "Waterfront," at the ; Vogue, revolves entirely about the brawny and forceful person of Dennis Morgan. It portrays Morgan as the leader of as rough and hardy a bunch of men as are to be found anywhere > in the world, the longshoremen of a typical American seaport city. "Marx [ Bros, at the Circus" is the story of two ' circus employees, Harpo and Chico, ' who engage a jobless lawyer, Groucho, to save Kenny Baker, circus owner, : from losing "his show. Harpo, Chico, and Groucho rescue pretty Florence Rice from the bad gorilla, who appears to be scaring all four. EMPIRE, ISLAND BAY. ; Starring George Brent and Isa ' Miranda, Paramount's "Adventure in - Diamonds" is being screened at Island l. Bay. Barbara Stanwyck features in ! the second attraction, "Remember the Night."