PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 20311, 21 October 1929, Page 7

PICTURE THEATRES

lIEGEHT ‘Lorei-s of virile screen drama should not - miss . seeing ‘ Strange Cargo, a dramatic P.D.C. completely talking picture, which is the headliner at the Regent Theatre. It is a remarkable, thrilling screen drama. The story tells of a mysterious murder at sea, and the action is swift moving and effective. Critics who have seen this gripping miirder. mystery ‘ Strange Cargo ’ judge it to be one of the best pictures of recent months. . ' ..The story is set aboard a palatial pleasure yacht a thousand miles at sea, and is portrayed by a cast that includes many of the best-knbwn names on the Broadway stage. Among the ; players are Lee Patrick, George Barraud, Kyrle Rellew,. June Nash, Russel Gleason, Frank Reicher, Ned Sparks, Claude King, Andre Beranger, Otto Matieson, Warner Richmond, Josephine Brown, - Charles Hamilton, and Harry Allen. . : Pretty Nancy Carroll, the Paramount star, is seen and heard singing a catchy love melody in the Paramount sound picture ‘ The Shopworn Angel,’ the second attraction. The song is ‘A Precious Little Thing Called Love,’ and is made full of life by the little star. ‘ The Shopworn Angel ’• tells a story of a soldier boy who wins the heart of a Broadway Follies girl against a struggle of tragedy. All of the sound effects of rehearsals of a big musical comedy show behind the scenes are included in the synchronisation. The music score, rendered by an eightypiece orchestra, is magnificent. One entire reel of,the picture is in dialogue centred round the marriage scene. The minister, as well as Gary Cooper and Nancy Carroll, are heard speaking in the sequences. . Roscoe Karns, the stage manager in the picture, is also heard in some good comedy laughs. Music from, a full military band is also featured in the scenes showing Gary Cooper off to war. EMPIRE ‘ Behind that Curtain,’ an absorbing melodrama which combines successfully stage technique with that of-the silent screen, is the current feature at the Empire Theatre. The story has to cm with a woman who married the wrong man, and of the man who loved patiently, hoping almost against hope. .In the part of Eve Mannering Lois Moran gives an admirable presentation of a young English girl, whose sense of honesty and of the binding force of a promise lead her into a maze of difficulty and despair. The setting of the Story adds to no little extent to its attractiveness. Opening in a fine old English country home, it moves rapidly from India to the Persian desert, to Teheran, and then to San Francisco.. In a caravan tent, set amid the sandy wastes of Persia, Eve Mannering and John Beetham are brought face to face with life, and they have to work out their problems to the accompaniment of all the weird sounds of a native encampment. . One hears every, sound incidental to the things which one sees. In the part of Colonel John Beetham Warner Baxter gives a pleasing performance. • One of the most striking characters, however, is Sir Frederick Bruce, of Scotland Yard, played by Gilbert Emery. Possessed of a fund of rich humour and an indomitable will, lie exerts a powerful influence over every character in the production. , The chief of the short subjects is the address given by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while the others include a scenic film of-Corsica, ‘The Home of Napoleon,’ a silent news reel, and a Fox Movietone news. Mr Leslie V. Harvey’s principal organ offering is the sweet Irish melody ‘ Macushla.’ STRAND * Submarine,’ the Columbia De Luxe which Is now showing at the Strand Theatre, is a composite of the most thrilling incidents in all the great submarine disasters of the past. It graphically pictures the conditions under which the rescuers work, the steps being taken by the Government to safeguard the lives of men in submarine service, the conditions of the sailors entombed in a wrecked under-water craft, and • the. efforts to get oxygen down to the vessel. The interior scenes were reconstructed from actual descriptions by snryivors._ They are tense, dramatic, and pathetic. The captain trying to keep up .the spirits of_ his men when he realises that there is practically no hope of rescuej the efforts of Graves, as an : officer, to entertain the men with card tricks and by telling fortunes; the pathetic scene of a youth, who had visions of becoming an admiral, writing a postscript on a card to his mother, “I guess I won’t be an admiral now ” —are *a of the highlights of the production. , Every newspaper reader recalls the horror of submarine disasters, the interest with which the public read descriptions, and ■ breathlessness with which it; awaited news of the rescue. • Submarine ’. gives the summary of each of these in a most dramatic manner; ' It is real, convincing, and illustrates just - what occurs under water. All the big: tragedies of recent rears are brilliantly produced in Columbia’s great film. Special supporting features are also showing. '

OCTAGON Romance, that quivers and throbs with the life that is woven into it, shrilled audiences at the Octagon Theatre oh Saturday night, where Richard Allen and Mary Brian, supported by a superb cast,. sparkled in the fast-moving, all-talking. Paramount picture, ,‘The Man 1 Love/ Both Mary Brian and Richard Aden have given promise of great things in the past, but in 1 The Man 1 Love’ they realise a glorious fulfilment. The story,-dealing with the love affair of a boy and girl who go to New York in answer to an fjmbitious urge, and find only disappointment, is filled with the adventure in which youth revels. Aden as the boy lover is great, and as the: young man filled with the pride of achievement he is superb. A shining thread of humour, supplied by Harry Green and Jack Oakie, keeps the laughs going throughout the piece. They are supreme comedy men. Baclanova is charming in a strong role, and 'Pat O’Malley, Leslie Fenton, and the rest of the cast deserve the highest praise. - ‘ The. Man I Love ’ is the kind of picture that everyone will love. It is entertainment well, directed, well acted, and excellently portrayed. There is not a dull moment in the show from beginning to end. Miss Brian’s voice, singing the theme song -f Celia,’ is especially worth hearing It matches 'her personality perfectly.' It is sweet and _ gentle, yet strong and characterful. Richard Aden talks in ‘The Man: I Love’ for the first, time on the screen, and Badhnova’s - delicious accent is another point for the'excellence of the picture. A Reginald Denny laugh special en'titled''l the Decks ’ is also showing, whiio other short films are on the same bill.,

GRAND AND PLAZA An earnest, i nexpericuced young man is trying to make good as a real estate salesman. The father of-a beautiful girl who is .not content. with his work as an art collector, but must needs delve into character reading. A band of crooks unwittingly aided in their escape by the over-zealous hero. A fight in a cafe of the underworld district of a great city. An unusual .idea of controlling a gang by preying on the leader’s superstitious fear of black cats. These are some of the high-lights of ‘His Luckv Day.’ the. Universal screen farce comedy, starring Reginald Denny; which is now holding the screen at the Grand and Plaza Theatres. Thrilling Alpine tempests and glittering cabaret scenes are some of the features / of the, well-produced British Dominion film, ‘The Inseparables,’ which is pn the same bill. It is a story dealing with the triumph of love oyer jealousy, vindictiveness and avarice. The magnificent settings and wonderful acting make this film stand out as a British, triumph. EVERYBODY'S Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, acclaimed as the most successful short storv writer of last year, now. under contract to Fox Films, wrote the story of ‘Protection,’ Folx Films production directed by Benjamin Stoloff,. which is the current attraction at Everybody’s Theatre, A clash between the power of the , Press - and the power of the underworld and a clash between two powerful personalities—a hard-boiled editor of a newspaper and a king of racketeers—is the theme of the story, Robert Elliott plays the role of the unafraid editor, and Ben Hewlett the king of racketeers. Paul Page, recently in" ‘Speakeasy,’ and Dorothy Burgess, of ‘ln Old Arizona ’ fame, have prominent roles. ‘The Escape,’ a sensational pjeture of New York night life, is'the supporting feature. KING EDWARD What happens when the pitiless searchlight of publicity—through the medium of the Press—is turned on politicians and racketeers when a fearless and . honest managing editor, unafraid of the underworld, machine guns, and all else, takes the bit in his teeth and cleans up, though it proves a tough fight, and not without loss of life, is pictured in ‘ Protection,’ which will be shown for the last time at the King Edward Theatre to-night, ‘Something Always Happens,’ a mystery comedy, starring Esther Ralston, is the other picture.'