PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 21037, 26 February 1932, Page 7

PICTURE THEATRES

EMPIRE Dunedin has seen several technicolour talkies but ' Waiting for the Bride,' at the Empire Theatre, is the first by a new process. The others have been musical comedies—this is a comedy-drama. One is immediately impressed with the lifo ol : it all so distinctly different is it from the black and white we have grown accustomed to from the screen. Yet there is no glare, as with the first teehnicolour talkies. The process certainly opens up a new avenue of film work, revealing .is it does beauties impossible to portray in harsh tints. The story is original and brisk, keeping the audience completely in the dark until the last few moments. Mary Brian has the feminine lead, playing the part of a chorus girl, anxious to forsake the strenuous life of _ the stage for the more simple but decidedly less unstable one as the wife of a wealthy young man. She has sorted out Fred White, played by Geoffrey Kerr. The young man is not looking for a wife, but he likes the little chorus girl sufficiently to want to shower on her diamonds, flowers, and a nice, cosy flat. Unlike the traditional chorus girl, Mary says, " No ; " and says it firmly. That, however, is all part of the husbandhunting game. It's an exciting chase in which Mary is assisted by her girl friend and her " father." On the other hand, Geoffrey has the support of several voung men-about-town experienced in the art of dodging husband-hunters. The audience is in both camps—it knows Mary's game and it knows also that Geoffrey is aware that he is being tricked into marriage. It waits breathlessly as the couple comes to the church. It anticipates the show down —but you'll have to see the talkie to appreciate it. Excellent supports are included in the programme, which is well completed with delightful organ selections by Mr Paul T. Cullen, the "singing organist." REGENT With a street girl as its main character, 'Waterloo Bridge,' which began to-day at the Regent, has a story which' departs from the conventional screen plot considerably and to splendid advantage. Dramatically, it achieves the heights, playing strongly on the emotions throughout. Mae Clarke, cast as $ "fallen woman," comes through with easily her best work yet, and Kent Douglass, who is new to us, likewise shows up with a clever performance. Myra, a chorus girl, leaves her native America as a'member of a show opening in London. When the season ends the breaks do not come her way, and she is forced on the streets. On Waterloo Bridge Myra meets a soldier during a Zeppelin raid, and he) being on leave, accompanies her to her flat. To Mae's surprise the boy has not interpreted the sign "on her painted face," air.l instead of coarse advances he offers sympathy on her lack of friends and offers companionship, pressing her to visit the country home of his people. Keeping the true tragedy of her life from him, Myra conjures up a pose of being just a chorus girl out of luck. Although unwilling to meet his people, Myra takes full advantage of the lioy's friendship, and in no time there is a deep affection between them. He, by a ruse, gets her to the country and brings hi 3 parents along for an introduction. Myra is broken-hearted at the persistent requests for her to marry, and at last decides to make a clean breast of everything to his mother. The latter is astounded, but takes it all calmly, realising that love is all that matters. Myra hurries back to London, to be immediately followed by her lover, who lias been suddenly ordered back to the trenches. He learns from her landlady how Myra exists, and is amazed but undaunted. Searching the haunts where such women parade, he eventually locates her on Waterloo Bridge, and coincidentally under similar circumstances to their first meeting, there being a raid in progress. Forcing from her an agreement to marry him when he returns from the war, he rushes off to join his battalion. Shortly afterwards there comes the amazing climax. Well-selected featurettes are also shown,. ST. JAMES Few talkies that have come to the St. James Theatre in months have come with such lavish praia© as 'Wicked,' the Fox dramatic production starring Elissa Landi, which opened to-day. Not alone because Elissa Landi, the beautiful young English actress, is the toast of filmdom today, but because in ' Wicked ' she has a vehicle ideal for the superb dramatic ability she possesses, and also because of the excellence of the story, the sensitive direction, and the all-star cast with which she is surrounded. The star is cast as a trusting young wife who makes the terrible discovery that her husband is a bank robber instead of a bank clerk. Wounded and pursued by the police, he takes shelter in their house, and in the struggle that ensues his wife shoots and kills a police officer. When she goes to trial for manslaughter she is a widow. The scenes of the trial are treated in a manner different from the usual, the battle for and against the accused being shown fought out not on the floor of the' court, but in the privacy of the jury room. The case for the State wins, and the unfortunate girl goes to serve a term in prison. There a baby is born, but the- authorities are at least merciful enough to allow it to come into the world outside prison bars. The mother, however, must return to finish her sentence, and the bnby is left in the care of the State and is soon adopted by a rich family. Through the dreary months that follow the mother dreams of the baby she will see when she is released, but when she finally does get out it is only to find that she cannot have her child, the sole custody

having been given to the adopting parents. Then the hero of the film, who up till now has been rathe in the background, really begins to make his presence felt. He is no less a person than the popular Victor M'Laglen, portraying the role of a husky Australian who has always adored the heroine, and who now turns up when he is most needed to help her fight for her child. It is a hard light, and once the heroine nearly ruins her chances of victory by a rash act, but the ending, though it is rather unsatisfactorily abrupt, is a happy one. OCTAGON Everyone who followed vaudeville at Fullers' here will remember Pat Hanna and his company of 'Diggers.' Now this company has been put on the screen in tho first all-talking feature to be made entirely in Australia. 'Diggers,' which Parted at the Octagon Theatre to-day, c: n be offered without excuses or alibis. In sound and photography it will stand comparison with any American or English production, while its humour is especially appealing to the Anzacs. Eifteo l'ilms, tho Australian company that produced it. has every reason to congratulate itself upon a job well done. The story is episodic—a series of events beginning in a hospital in 'Blighty and continuing until the Armistice, but it is framed effectively by the prologue and epilogue of a Diggers' reunion dinner. Sometimes subtle, sometimes slapstick, the comedy runs with a constant ripple, punctuated frequently by big laughs as the adventures of Chic and Joe arc unfolded. In these roles Pat Hanna and George Moon reveal screen ability of no mean order. Types familiar to all of us, never once do they step out of character. They maintain the comedy at a rattling pace right to the conclusion, when ' Diggers' shift swiftly and briefly to drama. .Just a few throbbing moments of the grim side of war to remind us—and then the film fades out on a laugh. From start to finish the picture is a thorough affair. One technical achievement not yet commented on is the manner in which the wholei atmosphere of tho battlefields, the estaminets and the ruined villages of France, has been caught and reproduced. Whoever was responsible for those settings was a real craftsman. Also on the programme is 'Honour Among Lovers.' STRAND 'Captain Applejack,' which arrived at the Strand Theatre to-day, is claimed to be a brilliant picturisation of the uproarious mystery romance which took Broadway by storm several seasons ago. The original play was written by Walter Hackett. Maude Fulton .did the adaptation and dialogue for the screen, and Hobart Henley directed. ' Captain Applejack ' has to do with a scholarly but timid Englishman who wishes to get away from the humdrum, of his ancestral castle on the Cornish coast and the companionship of his old maid Aunt Agatha—and even that of his pretty ward, Poppy. He believes that the far fields alone are green, and longs to find adventure, to be red-blooded—in short, to be like the pirates, capturing ships, stealing fair maidens, and creating ructions generally. His attorney, a wag, hears his story, advises him to sell the castle, and to set forth for the far places. It is shortly after this that his home is overrun by as odd an assortment of supposed crooks, an alluring Russian noblewoman, who begs his protection—a Russian spy who is in pursuit of her —and aged and eminently respectable couple, on thievery bent—and others to boot. After an exciting bout with them, Applejohn sleeps and dreams lie is his ancestor, Captain Applejack the pirate. Everybody is metamorphosed into the crew of tho Jolly Roger, scouring the seven seas—and then begins the strange medley of outlandish events —which opens the hero's eyes—fills his coffers and his heart. The cast is good, and includes , John Halliday, Mary Brian, Kay Strozzi, Louise Closser Hale, Alec B. Francis, Claude Allister, ana others. Action T js the keynote of 'His l'riend s Wife,' a drama of the singing rails and the men who follow them, which forms the second feature on the programme. Against a background <f driving wheels and crashing steel is patterned a maze of human emotions. Grant Withers, Mary Astor, and Regis Toomey are the strange triumvirate of common people who find "tragedy and final peace in the midst of the drama and excitement of desperate railroading. KING EDWARD 'The Sleeping Cardinal,' an intensely absorbing story of Sherlock Holmes, the great detective of fiction, is the current feature at the King Edward Theatre. The part of Holmes is admirably portrayed by Arthur Wontner, who is supported by an excellent cast. The story is ouo of tho series in which Holmes's wits are pitted against the cleverest criminal of tlie age, Professor Monarty. A young man is discovered cheating at cards, and he is threatened by an unknown person that if he does not consent to carry out certain instructions he will be denounced as a cheat. In the meantime Holmes learns of a proposal to carry a rast quantity of forged bank notes across the Channel, and immediately decided that this is the work of Moriarty. In the ensuing battle of wits Dr Watson, Holmes's friend, supplies all the necessary exclamations of wonder at the detective's astuteness to allow Holmes to give utterance to his theories and deductions. There is a good supporting programme.