CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 15, 18 January 1941, Page 14

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE. ] Timely, topical, and up-to-the-min-ute, "Night Train to Munich," which is showing at the Majestic Theatre, shows with vivid drama the workings of the evil forces against which every civilised nation has set its face. It is not a propaganda picture. It is a thrill-packed romantic drama, punctuated with refreshing' humour, which yet shows conditions of today and points a lesson for everyone. "Night Train to Munich," co-stars Margaret Lockwood, with Rex Harrison. Headling the supporting cast is Paul yon i Hernried and the comedy team of (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. RIVOLI THEATRE. Against the colourful and adventurefilled background of the Old West, in the days when justice was administered at the point of a gun and roistering Judge Roy Bean loomed as the "Law West of the Pecos," Samuel Goldwyn's "The Westerner," with Gary Cooper in the title role, is showing at the Rivoli. A heart-warming romance between a big city lad and a small-town girl highlights the comedy-drama of "Dr. Christian Meets the Women," Jean Hersholt's third starring production in the favourite screen series, I which is the second feature. REGENT THEATRE. One of the best topical dramas ever produced by English studios, "Convoy" is continuing at the Regent. 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 British sailors provide light relief. Clive Brook commands the battle-cruiser, John Clements is his subordinate officer, and Judy Campbell provides the romantic side. RQXY THEATRE. Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon play splendidly in the leading roles of the London Film Production's presentation of "The Scarlet Pimpernel,' which is screening at the Roxy. "The Hardys Ride High," sixth of the famous series dealing with the popular screen I family, is the second feature. Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney are starred. VOGUE, BROOKLYN. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are featured in "My Favourite Wife,' at the Vogue Theatre. Ann Sothern and John Carroll are starred in the second attraction, "Congo Maisie," a bright and breezy comedy. Selected supports complete the programme. TUDOR THEATRE. A sweepstakes ticket, a synthetic honeymoon, life in Greenwich Village, a hero and a heroine in the persons of Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers, make "Lucky Partners," which has been transferred to the Tudor, as delightful a modern laugh-drama as ever was transferred to the screen. The associate feature is "You Can't Fool Your Wife," a comedy hit starring Lucille Ball and James Ellison. EMPIRE THEATRE, ISLAND BAY. Bert Bailey and Fred Mac Donald play the roles of "Dad" and "Dave" respectively in "Dad Rudd, M.P.," Cinesound's merry modern comedy of the famous Rudd family, which is showing at the Empire. "Grand Jury Secrets," starring John Howard, is also showing. REGAL THEATRE, KARORI. Romance and drama, songs and dances, and spectacular scenes and novelties feature "Irene," R.K.O.Radio's new film based on the famous stage success of the same name, which is showing at the Regal. Anna Neagle and Ray Milland are co-starred. "Adventure in Diamonds," a story of intrigue in Africa, starring George Brent and Isa Miranda, is the second feature. PRINCESS THEATRE. "The Middle Watch," the most successful comedy ever written ,with a Service background, is showing at the Princess. Lan Hay and Stephen King Hall's sure touch extracts a pile of fun from some absurd doings aboard one of his Majesty's ships on an Eastern station in peacetime. Jack Buchanan heads the cast. "Tell No Tales," starring Melvyn Douglas and Louise Platt, is the second feature. CAPITOL THEATRE, MIRAMAR. Tho screen's favourite doctor-hero, Dr. James Kildare, again appears on the screen at the Capitol where the latest of the "Kildare" films, "Dr Kildare's Strange Case," is showing. Lew Ayres portrays the title role, and Lionel Barrymore is co-starred. Other prominent players are Laraine Day and Nat Pendleton. The associate film, starring Randolph Scott, is a Western thriller, "Frontier Marshal." ASCOT THEATRE. Spencer Tracy reaches the pinnacle of his screen fame in a perfect characterisation of Thomas A. Edison in the amazing film "Edison the Man," which is showing at the Ascot Theatre. It tells of a great man who made his! dreams come true. Also showing is George O'Brien in an action-filed putdoor drama, "Marshal of Mesa City.1 The supporting programme is excellent. STATE THEATRE. Charlie Chan can be relied upon as a consistent thrill-producer, with plenty of excitement and suspense. His latest picture now showing at the State is no exception. "Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum" suggests possibilities which are fully borne out by the film itself. "The Bride Wore Crutches," the second feature, tells of the efforts of a young reporter and his girl confrere to solve a crime and establish himself as an ace newspaperman. KILBIRNIE KINEMA. "Florian" and "Talking Feet" will be shown finally tonight at the Kinema. Graphic adventures of a white huntress in conflict with jungle beasts and African savages in the shadow of a flaming volcano are presented in Universal's exciting film "Zanzibar," starring Lola Lane and James Craig, which will be shown on Monday and Tuesday. The associate feature will be "The First Rebel," starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor. STATE THEATRE, PETONE. "Virginia City," which is showing at the State, is packed with even more action and excitement than "Dodge City." The picture co-stars Errol Flynn as a tough, two-fisted adventurer and Miriam Hopkins in a new role as a singing, dancing spitfire. PALACE THEATRE, PETONE. Telling a different story of prison life, a strongly human comedy-drama of five wealthy men sent to the penitentiary and their encounters with a shrewd and sympathetic inmate who is the unquestioned leader of the greyclad convicts, "Millionaires in Prison," which is showing at the Palace Theatre, stars Lee Tracy. "The Spider" is the second attraction. i | GRAND THEATRE, PETONE. Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous novel, "The House of the Seven Gables," is showing at the Grand. "Blondie Brings Up Baby," newest of the gay and hilarious Columbia comedies based upon Chic Young's popular cartoon strip characters, is the second attraction.

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

| KING'S THEATRE. ! Based on rather an ingenious plot, i;' The Doctor Takes a Wife," which is i showing at the King's, is a fast-moving .comedy of the sophisticated type. Circumstances throw together two young I people of antagonistic temperaments, land their association as a pseudo-mar-ried "ouple gives rise to some extremely laughable and highly-piquant situations. Loretta Young plays the part of a career woman whose popularity as a novelist depends on her state of unwedded bliss; Ray Milland is a medical student who is engaged to. someone else and who is somewhat painfully allergic to career women. The story gets out and the principal characters are kept running round in small circles trying to salvage the career woman's career. In the meantime the young doctor, who has only one idea, and that is to get out of the alliance, finds ! himself promoted to a professorship I because of his connubial state. That ! makes things different and there is then I nothing in the way of a happy ending. The supporting programme is exceptionally interesting. DE LUXE THEATRE. The most ambitious of Gene Autry's pictures to date, "Ride, Ranger, Ride," heads the new bill at the De Luxe Theatre. The period in which the story is set is during the Indian uprisings along the American frontier last century- Gene Autry's pictures are noted for their musical side, and "Ride, Ranger, Ride" is no exception. Smiley Burnette provides the humour, both spoken and musical. The second feature is "Gold Rush Maisie," another of the popular "Maisie" series, starring Ann Sothern. This one, with a supporting cast including Slim Summerville and Virginia Weidler, concerns not so much the adventures of a quickwitted showgirl, as in its predecessors, as the tribulations of a farming family who lose their property in the Arkansas dust bowl and try to win a fortune by gold digging. The programme is completed by an instalment of the serial "Drums of Fu Manchu." ST. JAMES THEATRE. "Forty Little Mothers," now showing at the St. James Theatre, is one of the most entertaining Eddie Cantor productions. It has struck an entirely new note in humour and there is a more convincing plot than in the majority of Cantor films. Cantor plays the role of Gilbert Thompson, a onetime brilliant scholar, who is looking for work on the waterfront. Thompson prevents a young married woman (Rita Johnson) from committing suicide; he finds her a job and also a young baby boy in a basket with a note attached asking the finder to look after the child. He does not realise, however, that the baby is the son of the woman he has rescued. He takes the baby to his lodgings and is caught stealing milk for the child. The Judge, an old schoolmate of Thompson, manages to secure him a professorial appointment at" a school for daughters of society. It is in and around the school that the greater part of the picture is centred. And. it is one long glorious mix-up with alluring young ladies alternately abusing and vamping the unfortunate professor. The presence of the baby adds complications. There are excellent supports. PARAMOUNT THEATRE. Exciting sequences that rouse and hold the interest as they build up to a stirring climax make the blood tingle in the screen portrayal of W. R. Burnett's book "The Dark Command," which is being shown for the first time in New Zealand at the Paramount Theatre. All the action anyone can wish for is provided in this gripping story of events in the old West of America. Walter Pidgeon, John Wayne, and Claire Trevor are the featured players. It is the story of a man who is a respectable school teacher in the town of Lawrence in Kansas and who, when he is defeated for the post of marshal of the town by a Texan cowboy who can neither read nor write, becomes a ruthless, bold outlaw—the leader of a band of guerrillas. He and his gang are responsible for a reign of terror, and their exploits are crowned with much success, until finally the erstwhile school teacher makes an attempt to sack the town where once he lived and worked. A pitched fight takes place in the main street, with the inhabitants led by their Texan marshal holding their own. The guerrilla band is heavily defeated and their leader meets his end. The picture carries the audience along with its good story and virile action. There are also some thrilling sequences in the associate feature, "Grandpa Goes to Town," starring the Higgins. family, but the picture is essentially a comedy. PLAZA THEAXBfi. As clever and snappy a iacce, as Hollywood has produced for,, a 'long time is Elsa Maxwell's "Etatalic Deb. No. 1," now being shown at"1 the Plaza Theatre. Spanking a soup heiress in a crowded restaurant should be'something not in a would-be waiter's curriculum, and it certainly seems to be the wrong approach to a long and beautiful friendship; but that is what George Murphy does to Brendk Joyce, arid although his subsequent relations with her are not placid he wins her to the altar. Brenda's turnover to Communism, inspired by the new butler (Mischa Aver), puts the fun on the up-grade and Cooper's Soups oh the down-grade, and her uncle (Charles Ruggles) almost into a nursing home. Murphy's method of wooing is as strange as his rumba, 'but his effects on everything from the soups to Brenda's fiance (Ralph Bellamy) make a delightful comedy. Elsa Maxwell herself gives a quite massive shoulder for Ruggles to put his troubles on, and all the other members of the cast, including battle-scarred Maxie Rosenbloom, are excellent. A tiger humt and the training of a stewardess for air travel are features on the supporting programme, which also includes pictures of South African troops on the move through Kenya, the arrival of victims of the enemy raider in Australia, and an interview with the master of the Rangitane. KHANDALLAH PICTURES. "Drums Along the Mohawk," photographed in Technicolor and starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda, is showing at the Khandallah Pictures. The story is of those stirring days I when America was fighting for her i independence and very existence. The supporting feature is "This Man In Paris." Valeric Hobson, Barry K. Barnes, and Alastair Sim are the stars. OPERA HOUSE. Together for the sixth time, Jeanette Mac Donald and Nelson Eddy add prestige as the screen's favourite romantic team in "New Moon," which is showing.at the Opera House. Set against the colourful background of 1780 New Orleans, the plot sketches the story of a lady of noble French birth and a man whose dream of a republican form of government is realised when, cast upon the shores of an island remote from shipping lanes, he sets up a community with the members of his shipwrecked crew and the passengers of the boat New Moon, which he and his men seized on the high sea. PRINCE EDWARD, WOBURN. "Dad Rudd, M.P.," which is showing at the Prince Edward, is a moderni ised story of the adventures of the i popular Rudd family, made to make 'audiences laugh, just when they need I a laugh most. But whilst comedy is !the predominant note of the film, it is also rich in real Australian sentiment. The supporting feature is "The | Ghost Breakers," starring Bob Hope 'and Paulette Goddard.

TIVOLI THEATRE. Edward G. Robinson stars in "The Story of Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet," which is showing at the Tivoli. Not a gangster picture, yet a war on the deadliest public enemy of all, it is highly exciting film entertainment. When Dad retires and heads the Jones Family towards Broadway, things are bound to happen and happen fast. And they certainly do in "Young As You Feel," the funniest of the 20th CenturyFox comedies, which is the second feature. REX THEATRE. Dramatic true-lif? story of Father Edward J. Flanagan and his fight to establish a home for underprivileged boys, "Boys Town," starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney, is showing at the Rex. The associate film is "Merrily We Live," starring Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne. NGAIO CITIZENS' PICTURES. "The Prisoner of Zenda," starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks, jun., Mary Astor, land Raymond Massey, is showing at the Ngaio Pictures. Also showing is "Code of the Secret Service," starring Ronald Regan.