PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 19533, 14 April 1927, Page 3

PICTURE THEATRES

EMPIRE Only one more opportunity is afforded patrons of the Empire Theatre of seeing the highly amusing'picture ‘Poker Faces.’ Laura La Plante and Edward Horton, both well known for their work in comedies, play together in ‘Poker Faces,’ which lias to do with a, young clerk who has an argument with bis wife, with the result that the loiter leaves home. The opportunity to earn extra money presents itself when the employer of the husband asked him and his wife to secure :m important contract. Unfortunately the dork’s wife does not return home, and he is forced to'hire..an actress with a prize-fighting husband to act as his wife. At) goes well at first, hut the prize lighter arrives on the scene, and a free fight ensues. Explanations follow, and the picture ends with a genera) reconciliation. LANGDON COMEDY COMING.

A peculiar thing about the supporting ■ cast of the comedy ‘ The Strong Man ’ is that every member is well known as a dramatic actor, and none as a comedy player. The cast includes Priscilla Bonner, Gertrude Astor, William V. Mong, and Arthur Thalasso. Harry Langdon supplies nil the fun of the picture, which is said to surpass all the comedian’s previous efforts. During the war many American girls did their hit by adopting a soldier ‘at the front. They sent_ letters and candy to the soldiers. Mary Brown adopted Harry, a Belgian soldier. Ho had never attracted any attention from girls, and Mary’s letters .wero great events in his life. When she sent her picture, he immediately fell in love with, her; so much, in fact, that a gigantic German found it an easy matter to capture him. After the war Harry and his captor became great friends and partners in business. The German was a professional weight-lifter and Harry was his assistant. Ho persuaded the German that they could do well in America, so they emigrated. Harry really wanted to find Mary. In New York Harry found Alary no longer lived at the address he had. Aided by her picture and name, he searched New York, but only got into trouble by accosting the wrong girls. In the meantime the strong man had booked the act over a small town circuit, and Harry bad to go along. One of the towns on the circuit was the nest of bootleggers, whore Mary’s father had moved. Ho was a minister and was having difficulty in subduing the evil element of tho community. When Harry discovered Mary there he was overjoyed, declared his love, and found that she returned it. Her father, how-' ever, said there could never bo anything between them, ns Harry was working in the den of iniquity, tho music hall. Heartbroken, Harry went hack to the music hall, and found that he had to put on his partner’s act, duo to his incapacitation. Harry went through tho act in front of_ tho evil mob. Then ho started a riot, when the audience refused to pray with the Rev. Brown. In the midst of the tumult bo blew off the roof of the music hall, and thereafter it was an easy matter for tho minister’s, followers to chase the bad element out of town. As a reward for bis spirit and bravery, Harry received tho greatest prize of all—Mary.

That is_ the story of ‘ Tlio Strong Man,’ which is coming to ihe Empire Theatre on Saturday. . OCTAGON _ Nearly all the scenes in ‘You Never Know Women ’ are intimate glimpses of lifo behind tho stage, and the stow of tho picture,- which is to have final presentation at the Octagon Theatre to-night, deals with the fickleness of woman. Two members of a vaudeville troupe are in love. Tho woman in tho case is only awakened to tho call of love when the man pretends to have ; committed suicide to clear tho way, f6r j another. Florence Vidor is tho girl, and the man who eventually wins her 1 is Lowell Sherman. i ‘TIN GODS’ NEXT CHANGE.

Magnificent scenery and splendid acting are the main features of ‘ Tin Gods,’ which is to open a season at the Octagon Theatre on Saturday. Thomas Meighan, as the hero, gives'a sympathetic portrayal, and Renee Adoree, Aileen Pringle, and William Powell are well cast in minor parts. The story tells how Dr M'Coy and the padre watch Roger Drake enter a little church at Del Rio. It is built on a cliff projecting .below a towering bridge. 'The priest asks about the man and M'Coy recounts his life. A rising young engineer, Drake marries Janet Stone, ambitious daughter of a wealthy man. In the palatial home given them, Roger neglects his career. A,baby boy is born. Janet becomes a candidate for the Stale Assembly. Their homo, is a political stamping ground, Drake comes to blows with one of the habitues and Janet scathingly denounces his conduct, One day, the child disturbs a meeting, and Janet's secretary locks him in his nursery. The boy falls from an open window to his death, and the couple decide to follow their own separate, paths. Drake secretly takes to drink and goes to construct a bridge at Del Rio, South America. Tactiturn and disagreeable, Roger is the only man unaffected by the blandishments of Carita, a dancing girl. _ When stricken with black fever, it is sho who cares for him. Tony Santclli, the cafe proprietor, shows Carita a newspaper which gives an account of Janet’s campaign. On being defeated, the latter decides to visit Drake and effect a reconciliation. Carita, thinking ho still loves his wife, leaps from the bridge, and so Roger returns each year to a chapel ho has erected in memory of the ono beautiful episode of his life. EVERYBODY'S The two photo-plays, ' Temptation ’ and ‘Diplomacy,’ which form tho programme at Everybody’s Theatre, will he finally screened to-night. ‘Temptation,’ which has for its star Hugette Duflos, a Parisian beauty, is a great French love story. The other picture, is one of intrigue' and mystery, featuring Blanche Sweet in tho leading role. Picture patrons are promised a fine programme on Saturday when one of the most unusual crook melodramas of the season, ‘Men of the Night,’; will be offered. The new attraction is a tense and thrilling drama of life among the criminal element in a big city. Some of these undesirables give a home to a lovable old lady they find selling newspapers for a living, in order that her straight-forward honesty may divert suspicion from their so-called “art shop,” really a fence, where they sell their loot. Tho old lady and young Dick Foster arc sooir calling each other “mother” and “son.” When the woman discovers that her benefactors are jewel thieves, and are going to rob Lady Broderick, she follows and is caught by a detective just as she is putting back in tho safe- the jewels she had abstracted from Dick’s pocket. When Dick learns that his “ chief ” is going to let his “ mother ” go to prison for them, he breaks away, fights Dodd to a finish, and confesses his share in tho theft. Tho old lady goes free, and so docs Dick. < Ho also wins the love of a sweet girl._ Gareth, Hughes plays the part of Dick, Wanda Hawley that of his sweetheart, Lucy Beaumont is his adopted mother, Herbert Rawliuson the master crook, and Jay’ Hunt an accomplice. t Besides this photo-play, ‘School for Wives,’ adapted from Leonard Merrick’s powerful novel, ‘ The House of Lynch,’ will ho showing. Conway Tearle plays the lead, and among the other popular favorites in the cast are Signd Holmquist, Peggy Kelly, Arthur Donaldson, Allan Simpson, Jill Lynn, Orlando Daly. Brian Dunlerv, Dick Lee, Dorothy Allen, Gerald Oliver Smith, Emily Chichester, and Alybe Mills.

SHEER'S The final screening of ‘No_ Man’s Gold,’ Tom Mix’s latest starring vehicle, will take place at the Queen’s Theatre io-night. This., picture deals with tho discovery of a rich mine and tells of the adventures that befall the owners before they are able to work it.

On Saturday next a thrilling Western picture, entitled ‘ AVar Paint,’ will be screened. In this picture Colonel Tom M‘Coy makes his initial; appearance as a star. ‘ AVar Paint ’ is a thrilling drama of the ’eighties when a general spirit of restlessness pervaded the Indian tribes of the Far AVest. _ More than 500 real Indians take part in the picture, most of which was filmed on location, in'Wyoming. Tho organisation- producing this picture did a wise thing when it went to tho great open spaces of Wyoming and selected a star who-had never faced the camera before. Colonel Tim M‘Coy, a product of the plains and mountains of tho great West, is a romantic looking figure, who plainly shows bo has not boon touched with egotism which so often goes with the appearance of professional screen artists. M‘Coy looks at the AA r est and ho acts the AVest with a naturalness and. frankness that will-surely make him a favorite with picture-goers. He goes, about the business of the same as ho would go about the business of ranching in Wyoming, where he has largo ranch holdings. The second picture will he 1 The Story of Abrasives,’ an instructive picture showing the making of carborundum.

PLAZA AND GRAND 1 Ransom’s Folly ‘ and ‘ The Boy Friend ’ will he screened finally at the Plaza and Grand Theatres to-night. The former is a thrilling story of the West in the early eighties, while the latter tells of a girl who wants to go to New York and how she was kept at home.

Saturday’s new programme will ho headed by the AVestern favorite, Buck Jones, in ‘The Flying Horseman.’ In this picture tho star is. seen as the god-father of eight merry, but unregenerated, children, who have a shiftless. happy-go-lucky father and no mother. Buck, as Mark AVinton, by force of circumstances, finds that be is morally responsible for their welfare, but finds them a hopeless lot until Juno Savary (played by Gladys M'Connel!) comes to his rescue. Shq it is who that they be given a sound training by way of tho Boy Scout method. So Scout uniforms are bought and June teaches them the Boy Scout ritual from the manuals with which each is supplied. In the story itself the children dominate most of the .many funny- situations, as well as rescue Mark AVinton from gaol, where be is held on a false charge. They have the help of Silver Buck in this as well as of June. But they first reach him at his high prison window by making a Hying pyramid _in true Boy Scout fashion. ‘The Flying Horseman’ is the kind of picture, that is sure to please old and young alike, because the situations are the logical result of the plot, and there is enough action and humor to keep everyone who sees it well entertained. The second picture will he a Jack London story of the frozen wilds of Alaska.

KING EDWARD Keginald Denny will bo seen finally in ‘ Where Was I?’ at tho King Edward Theatre to-night. The story cent res about the attempts of a young business man to remember where he was on a certain_ date. On the same programme is ‘Diplomacy,’ which tells of the struggle of different countries to secure possession of some valuable documents and how a romance was nearly wrecked by it. Commencing on Saturday is tho picture version of Peter B. Kyne's novel, ‘ War Paint.’ The picture was directed by W. S. Van Dyke from the original story, - and most of it is laid in Wyoming. Besides the star, the cast includes-'such names as Pauline Stark, who has the chief feminine role, and Charles French, Carle Pane, and the Bedskiu chiefs, Yowlacho and White Horse.