PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 20989, 31 December 1931, Page 7

PICTURE THEATRES

REGENT To-uiglib witnesses the final presentation oi the pantomime and ‘ The Smiling Lieutenant ’ at the Regent. Maurice Chevalier has made a great hit in this production. ‘ The Smiling Lieutenant ’ is a rollicking romance, with all the love and song appeal of his first moving picture, ‘ Innocents of Paris ’; with all the luxury of setting and story of ‘ The Love Parade ’; with the star of another Chevalier screen success, ‘ The Big Pond,’ Claudette Colbert, in one of the leading feminine roles; with another bright screen light, gorgeous Miriam Hopkins, in an equally leading role, and with Charlie Ruggles, lovable comedian, in an important supporting part. The story deals with the delicious romance of a young lieutenant of the guards, whose smile gets him involved with two women, one a cabaret performer, whom he loves and wants to marry; the other to an old-fashioned princess, who loves him, and whom he is forced to marry. How this marriage turns his life topsy-turvy, and how the unwanted wife turns the table on her rival, is the amusing topic of the romance. Box plans are at The Bristol and the theatre. EMPIRE In ‘ Song o’ My Heart,’ his first audible picture for the screen, John M'Cormack, the world’s greatest lyric tenor, sings eleven songs, logically introduced in the action of the delightful lyrical romance which concludes a successful return season at the Empire to-night. Through the medium of Eox Movietone the voice that has always been proclaimed great is considered to be made greater. Of the entire repertoire, ‘ I Hear You Calling Me,’ ‘ Rose of Tralee,’ and ‘ Little Boy Blue ’ are perhaps the most appreciated melodies. ‘ Little Boy Blue ’ is based on the poem by Eugene Field, and set to music by Ethelbert Nevin, In ‘ Little Boy Blue ’ Frank Borzage. who directed ‘ Song o’ My Heart,’ has deftly introduced a pictorial effect of a little boy, his dog, and his toy soldiers, giving an added human touch’. 1 1 Hear You Calling Me,’ which is so identified with the great tenor that he rarely fails to include it as an encore during his concert programmes, is a composition of Charles Marshall, with lyrics by Harold Hartford. ‘ Rose of Traleo ’ is a GloverDitson effort 1 Song o’ My Heart ’is the story of a broken romance which mars the life of John M'Cormack, a young and ambitious singer in Ireland. Box plans nro at the theatre, and The Bristol. OCTAGON * Fighting Caravans ’ will be presented for the last time at the Octagon tonight. Zane Grey poured into the story of ‘ Fighting Caravans ’ the very soul of the mighty force that Emerson Hough gave ‘The Covered Wagon.’ As automobile after automobile, loaded with actors and technicians, wagons filled with cameras, food and equipment sufficient to carry the company through any emergency passed through the studio on the outward march they started on an expedition almost as thrilling as the story of ‘ Fighting Caravans ’ itself. Heading the cast is Gary Cooper, star of ‘ The Virginian ’ and ‘ The Texan.’ Lily Damita, the beautiful heroine of ‘The Bridge of San Luis Rey,’ has the leading feminine role, and Ernest Torrence and Tully Marshall play the same characters, fifteen years older, they portrayed in ‘ The Covered Wagon.' Eugene Pallette is also in the cast. ST. JAMES ‘ Broadminded,’ with Joe E. Brown in the starring role, will be shown at the St. James for the last time to-night. The funny fellow with the capacious mouth has been seen in many hits, but in ‘ Broadminded ' ho is absolutely original, and furnished a host .of fun that keeps audiences in fiits of laughter from the first scene to the last. A particularly excellent cast includes Ona Munson, William Collier, jun., Marjorie White, Homes Herbert, Margaret. Livingstone, Thelma Todd, Bela Lugosi (‘Dracula’), Graycc Hampton, and George Grandee. There will bo a spe-cially-chosen supporting programme. The box plans are at The Bristol. STRAND Beautiful Ann Harding, who made such a wonderful appeal in ‘ Holiday ’ and ‘ East Lynne,' will make her final appearance in ‘ Girl of the Golden West ’ at the Strand to-night. For over a quarter of a century this drama has gripped audiences in all countries, and once it was made into a silent picture. But it remains for Ann Harding’s superb artistry to invest the story with a glamour and a grip never known before in its history. The second offering is ‘ Wedding Rings,’ a delightful romance, in which that superb actor, H. B. Warner, shares Honours with Lois Wilson. Olive Borden and James Ford are also in the cast. The film is a striking adaptation of Ernest Pascal’s famous story, ‘ The Dark Swan.’ The box plans are at The Bristol. KING EDWARD The King Edward has a special attraction to offer this week in. ‘ The Prodigal,’ with Lawrence Tibbett as a prodigal sou who has been roaming the country with a band of tramps. He goes homo to see his mother, and for the first time becomes acquainted with

his brother’s wife, Antonia. Antonia is miserably unhappy with her tyrannical husband, and is about to elope with a former lover. In his attempts to preserve tho family integrity, Tibbett succumbs to the charms of the bewitching Antonia, and finds himself in a compromising position. The unravelling of tho situation makes for an ex* tremely dramatic screen plot.