CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 107, 1 November 1941, Page 12

CURRENT ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJESTIC THEATRE.

Noel Coward, known to the screen as both actor and playwright, is represented for the first time as a composer in his operetta, "Bitter Sweet," which is continuing at the Majestic Theatre, with Jeanette Mac Donald and Nelson Eddy in the co-starring roles. The film is in Technicolour. Miss Mac Donald is seen as Victorian belle Sarah Millick, and Eddy as her Viennese voice teacher, Carl Linden, with whom she elopes on the eve of her wedding to Harry Daventry, is played by Edward Ashley. Sarah and Carl live an idyllic life in Vienna until an Austrian cavalry officer, Baron yon Tranisch, played by George Sanders, begins paying her attention. Then comes the dramatic denouement. Lan Hunter is seen as Lord Shayne, gambling opponent of yon Tranisch and benefactor of Sarah and Carl.

REGENT THEATRE

Social comedy with a sly dig at the cherished traditions of screen romance make excellent entertainment in "Unfinished Business" at the Regent Theatre. The film features Irene Dunne and Robert Montgomery. She is a small-town choir girl longing for excitement, and when she is left' on the shelf while her younger sister is married, she makes for New York, becoming deeply smitten by a wellknown sport. Finding that he is about to marry, she becomes reckless, and, meeting his thirsty brother in a series |of amusing circumstances, marries him, while still retaining memories of her first love. This leads to indiscretions on her part, and she and her husband separate, to become dramatically reunited tinder remarkable events. The gentle satire with which relatives and the most intimate matters are treated alternates with lively night life humours. "Ordinary People," a glimpse of London under the blitzes, and "Eyes of the Navy," a story of the training of the aerial side of the U.S.A. fleet, are supports.

OPERA HOUSE

"The Volga Boatman'," which is showing at the Opera House, is a French film which has been adapted to English-speaking audiences. At the present time, with Russia at death grips with the common enemy, the film is very apposite, for it is a stirring story woven round the lives of those who live along the , banks of Russia's great waterway. But interwoven with this aspect of Russian life is the opposite extreme—Tsarist Russia in all its pomp and glory. Tragedy, romance, and intrigue are interwoven against this picturesque background, the story alternating between past and present. Exceptionally fine acting by Pierre Blauchar is a feature of the production. Vera Korene is another star in a very strong cast. Included in the supporting programme is an unusually interesting film of London life transformed under war conditions.

ST. JAMES THEATRE

As a couple of helpless "gobs" who strike trouble at every turn, Lou Costello and Bud Abbott make their own rules in their latest comedy, "In the [Navy," which is in its; second week •at St. James Theatre. The result is a first-rate picture that teems with laughable situations as this inimitable pair fool and gag their way through at top speed. The high light of the piece is when Bud, being a bit of a ladies' man, is entertaining some friends in the captain's cabin and in the captain's uniform, and suddenly finds himself in charge of ocean manoeuvres. What happens then as a sailor's nightmare. The three Andrews sisters lend attractive harmony to the picture, and Dick Powqll, as _ a crooner who flees into the navy in order to dodge his fans, is heard in some tuneful numbers. The supports include a March of Time picture showing the political situation in America and the results of some of the R.A.F. raids, a travel picture, and a cartoon.

DE LUXE THEATRE

Dark intrigue and murder in the ancestral home of a young woman writer of radio mysteries make "Who Killed Aunt Maggie?" at the De Luxe Theatre, a most entertaining film. There is also plenty of humour in the picture, which stars Wendy Barrie as the radio writer and John Hubbard, radio advertising man, who is in love with Wendy. Aunt Maggie is an eccentric old lady who has devoted her life to finding the secret room which is alleged to be hidden somewhere in Wistaria Hall. As a result of a quarrel Wendy leaves her lover and goes to Wistaria Hall. Shortly after her departure her fiance receives a cryptic message warning him that she. must not go to Wistaria Hall. He leaves at once to protect her and finds himself mixed up in mystery and murder, me associate attraction, "Buy Me That Town," is the story of a gang whose leader, fascinated by the female town clerk of a small town in which he was fined for speeding, buys the village and installs his men in the principal positions. Lloyd Nolan has the lead, and Constance Moore and Barbara Jo Allen provide the romantic interest.

PARAMOUNT THEATRE.

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour combine to present aliumoious and colourful story in Road to Zanzibar," which is showing- at the Paramount Theatre. With, a carnival background, the film provides plenty of scope for humorous situations, tne unfortunate who usually gets entangled being Bob Hope. The story is set in Africa, and Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are cast, as carnival, men who are barn-storming their way tnrough the continent. Naturally, enough, Una Merkel and Dorothy Lamour are also in Africa more or less at a loose end, and a team-up, with resultant excitement and laughter, is inevitable. The second film on the programme is "Lucky Partners," in which Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers appear. It is a light-hearted romantic film that contains some sound acting and a great deal of human appeal.

TIVOLI THEATRE

Paramount's Technicolor film "The Shepherd of the Hills," starring John Wayne, Betty Field, and Harry Carey, is showing at the Tiyoli Theatre. It is a thrilling story of an untamed mountain girl and her vengeancecraved lover, The associate film is "Free and Easy," a comedy, starring Robert Cummings, Ruth Hussey, and C. Aubrey Smith.

CITY AND SUBURBAN THEATRES

KING'S THEATRE,

PLAZA THEATRE.

STATE THEATRE.

TUDOR THEATRE,

ROXY THEATRE.

Illuminating— and a little disturbing —is "So Ends Our Night," at the King's Theatre, a story of lives wrecked by officialdom, of people to whom, the most wonderful thing on earth would be, the scrap of paper called a passport. This production, the screen version of "Flotsam," by Erich Maria Remarque, is remarkable, not merely for the Nazi brutality that is in the background by implication, but for the superb acting of the whole cast. It would have been more apt, perhaps, had "Flotsam" been retained, for that is what the people are who have been exiled from the 1937 Germany. They have no passports, and therefore no country. They are pushed across border after border, to live in other countries in constant fear of arrest and deportation. Fredric March is excellent as Steiner, the man wanted by the Gestapo, but Margaret Sullavan and Glen Ford take more of the spotlight: It is fine, thought-provoking drama, and very timely. On a good supporting programme is more about soldiers in the Middle East and Malaya.

War, as parodied by those inimitable British comedians, the Crazy Gang, is the subject of "Gasbags," now in its second week at the Plaza Theatre. "Gasbags" tells of the adventures of a barrage balloon crew, consisting of the gang—Nervo and Knox, Flanagan and Allen, and Naughton arid Gold. They are carried off on their balloon to France, and thence to Germany and a concentration camp, where their farcical adventures as they fight the Gestapo, impersonate Hitler, and get themselves into scores of embarrassing positions, provide humorous entertainment. Flanagan .and Allen, who made successes out of such songs as "Home Town" and "Run, Rabbit, Run," sing a new song, "Yesterday's Dreams." Everyday life in London at war i$ shown in the principal supporting film.

As was the case with Deanna Durbin, Jane Withers has had to be carefully coached from short skirts and hair ribbons to young womanhood. The title of her new film at the State Theatre, "Her First Beau," is self-explana-tory, and the beau himself is Jackie Cooper. The second feature is a typical cowboy yarn, "Western Caravans," starring Charles Starrett. It is a simple tale with plenty''of action and excitement.

"Sunny," Anna Neagle, John Carroll; "Little Men," Jack Oakie, Kay Francis.

PRINCESS THEATRE,

"Under Your Hat," Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge," "Mr. Dynamite," Lloyd Nolan, Irene Hervey.

"Man-made Monster," Lon Chancy, jun.; "King of the Zombies," Manton Moreland, Dick Purcell.

SUBURBAN ENTERTAINMENTS.

Empire (Island Bay) .—"Topper. Returns,' Roland Young, Joan Blondell; "Margie," Mischa'Auer, Nan Grey. Rivoli (Newtown).—"Escape to Glory," Pat O'Brien, 'Constance Bennett; "The Parson of Panamint," Charles Ruggles, Ellen Drew. •

Capitol (Miramar) .—"Philadelphia Story," James Stewart, Katherine Hepburn: "Wild Cat Bus," Fay Wray, Paul Guilfoyle. .

Regal (Karpri).-r-^Gheers-f<jr Miss, Bishop," Martha, Scott, William Gar-' gan; "Mr. and :Mrs. Smith," Carole Lombard, Robert. Montgomery. Ascot (Newtown).—"Go West," The Marx Bros.; "Yes, My Darling Daughter," Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn. King George (Lower Hutt).—"Buck Privates," Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, the. Andrews Sisters.

Kinema (Kilbirnie). — "Virginia." Madeleine Carroll, Fred Mac Murray; "Money and the- Woman,"- Jeffrey Lynn, Brenda Marshall. ■

State (Petone).—"Andy Hardy's Private Secretary." Lewis Stone, Micky Rooney.

Vogue (Brooklyn).—"Night Train to Munich," Rex Harrison,-, Margaret Lockwood; "Two Girls oh Broadway," Laria Turner, Joan Blondell.

Prince Edward (Woburn).—"Mr. and Mrs. Smith," Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery; "Down to the Sea in Ships," Roy Emerson, Kay Walsh. De Luxe (Lower Hutt) .—"The Flame of New Orleans," Marlene Dietrich; "Bachelor Daddy," Baby Sandy. (Palace (Petone).—"Nancy Drew, Detective"; "Beauty For Sale," Marjorie Weaver. Ned Sparks.

Grand (Petone).—"No, No, Nanette," Anna Neagle; "Dead Men Tell."

Khandallah Pictures.—"Tom Brown's Schooldays," Freddy Bartholomew, Sir Cedric Hardwicke; "Stagecoach," Claire Trevor, John Wayne.

Ngaio Citizens' Pictures.—"The Great Victor Herbert," Allan Jones, Mary Martin; "San Francisco Docks," Burgess Meredith, Irene Hervey.