PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 21620, 16 January 1934, Page 5

PICTURE THEATRES

GRAND ‘ Sleeping Car,’ a Gaumont-British picture from the Sheperd’s Bush studios, is delighting audiences at the Grand. This brilliant and piquant production details the amorous adventures of a sleeping car attendant, with many loves in various capitals at which the transcontinental train stops. He really falls in love with a wealthy English girl, who, having refused to answer a summons for furious driving, is due to be expelled from France. It is explained to her l that if she marries a Frenchman she will be allowed to remain in France, and straightway she advertises for a husband. Many applicants arrive, amongst them the sleeping car attendant. Of course, he gets the post, but when a former sweetheart enters upon the scene, many complications ensue before matters are finallystraightened out. Ivor Novello is brilliant in his characterisation of the sleeping car attendant, whilst Madeleine Carroll, as the slightly - naughty lady, is both charming-and fascinating. Laddie Cliff appears as a fellow car attendant who invents excuses to cover Novello’s absences from the train on amorous matters. , Other players in a superlative cast are Kay Hammond. Stanley Holloway, and Claude Allister. The craftsmen at Shepherd’s Bush constructed a perfect replica of a transcontinental sleeping car, on which many of the sparkling scenes are played. A luxurious set of the_ Hotel Atlantic in Vienna was also built for the production. A number of sequences were filmed in Paris. ‘Sleeping Car ’ is a picture that nobody should miss.f EMPIRE Clark Gable and Jean Harlow are the leading. personalities 'of • Hold Your Man,’ at the Empire. In this delightful production the principals of the brilliantly successful ‘ Red Dust ’ ; become definitely established as one of the most popular romantic pairs on the j screen. In ‘ Hold Your Man ’ the dialogue is in the best American tradition, crisp knd pointedly witty, and Stuart Erwin, as Jean Harlow’s faithful suitor, proves an excellent foil. • But comedy merges into drama when Gable becomes a fugitive from justice on a charge of manslaughter, _on the eve of his marriage to the girl, who is sentenced to a women’s reformatory as his accomplice. Life in the reformatory is, depicted with sympathetic insight. There is also a leavening of humour in the intrigues of the inmates to outwit their rather stern, forbidding, and matronly custodians. Eager to see the girl, Gable risks capture by visiting the reformatory, and by a clever ruse secures the services of a negro' preacher, who marries them. He pays the penalty for his audacity, and serves a term of im- ‘ prisonment. It would be unfair to reveal' the ending, but suffice it to say that ■it is an ending that O. Henry might have written. A highly entertaining programme of shprter films completes the programme. ’' . REGENT ‘ When Ladies Meet,’ at the Regent, affords Ann Harding and Robert Montgomery the kind of roles the public enjoys them in most, and klso contains a supporting cast of unexcelled adequacy. Adapted from the Rachel Crothers stage play, the new Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer picture presents a novel "angle on the old romantic triangle tangle. It concerns a. wife who knows her-husband philanders and a young man who is worried because be finds his sweetheart playing a 'dangerous game with a married man. He engineers the two women into a meeting that brings a result ho has hopefully and gleefully anticipated. Harry Beaumont • directed the picture with a' fine vision, and has given it a pictorial beauty in otherwise static settings. The sets have been executed with unique treatment, and are among the most interesting ever seen on the screen. The camera work is equally impressive, and adds ■ much to the enjoyment of the picture as a whole. Miss Harding plays the. part of the wife, and Montgomery is the young man who is behind the scenes in the domestic turmoil. Myrna Loy is the girl of his interest, and Alice Brady returns to the screen to triumph in a grand comedy role. Frank Morgan is the husband, and. the cast is Completed by Martin Burton and Luis Alberni. The picture is spicy and racy with a tempo that never lets down. It is entertainment of the kind that brings healthy laughs and honest enjoyment to jaded film appetites. . STRAND Air thrills galore, spectacular airplane crashes, brotherly self-sacrifice, and a glorious romantic adventure are combined in the colourful saga of barnstorming aviators thrillingly filmed in ‘ Flying Devils,’ featuring Eric Linden, Arline Judge, Bruce Cabot, Ralph Bellamy, and Cliff Edwards, at the,Strand. Based on the stirring adventures of the intrepid air-stunters, 1 Flying Devils ’ is a realistic picture of the lives and Iqves of the exhibition fliers. Miss J edge and Eric Linden soar to new histrionic heights as the young lovers. Bruce Cabot, who showed his virile appeal in ‘ King Kong,’ gives a splendid characterisation of the devil-may-care Ace. Ralph Bellamy temporarily forsakes his customary leading man roles and offers a genuinely convincing portrayal of a desperate, war-crazed Speed Hardy. Cliff Edwards as the continually inebriated girl-chasing stunt flyer is responsible for the comedy. OCTAGON In ‘ The Man Outside,’ the first-class British mystery drama at the Octagon this week, Henry Kendall, who has appeared in a great number of fine films recently, provides a piquant spicihg of comedy. Kendall plays the part of that popular character in contemporary detective fiction—the amateur detective who hides his activities behind a barrage of “ wisecracks ” and an exterior of rather inane amiability. This flippant role suits the suave and happy-go-lucky Kendall admirably. The story itself, which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Donald Stuart, concerns the identity of a mystery man who has been paying particular attention to the country residence of Captain Fordyce, and who is apparently responsible for the murder of Captain Fordyce’s chauffeur. Harry Wainwright (Henry Kendall) arrives on the scene ostensibly as a rather flippant friend of Captain Fordyco, but in reality working with Scotland Yard to trace the proceeds of a diamond robbery which the Yard has good reason to believe are hidden in the house. Wainwright quickly succeeds in antagonising the local inspector, but continues to go his unruffled way until he discloses the identity of • “ the man outside,” the murderer, and succeeds in tracing the diamonds.

Tom Keene is the star in ‘ Son of the Border,’ the second attraction..

ST. JAMES ‘ Summer Liglitning,’ the P. G. Wodehouse story at the St. James, is a. sure cure for the blues. The film is! full of clever and amusing dialogue, and, as might be expected of a Wodehouse story, the plot is stronger than in the ordinary comedy. Added to this, of course, is the fact that the picture is enacted oy a cast of talented players, headed by Ralph Lynn, who has a chara9teristio part as Hugo Carmody, and gives one of his best portrayals. Lynn’s facial expressions,’ his witty dialogue, and his polished acting combine to make this an outstanding performance. Winifred Shotter, who has appeared in the feminine lead of many of Lynn’s, pictures, has the part of Millicent, for whose sake Hugo Carmody starts up the pig-stealing episode which leads to all the fun. Miss Shotter gives a charming performance, and provides the romantic interest in the picture. Dorothy Bouchier also has an important, part as the chorus girl, Sue Brown, and fills it splendidly. Esme Percy plays the part of Baxter, Gordorf Jones portrays Pillbream, and the roles of Lord Emsworth and his sister, Lady Constance, are played by Horace Hodges and Helen' Feners respectively, both giving outstanding performances. KING EDWARD In ‘ Smoke Lightning,’ the Fox production at the King Edward Theatre, George O’Brien demonstrates that a cowboy’s life in the modern West can be a thrilling one. Bristling with gun fights; a gaol break, a poker game tLat ruins one of the players, a gripping duel across the car roofs of a racing train, and some of the most brilliant riding ever shown on the screen, this picture is scheduled to dispel any ideas that the West of to-day is tranquil. The story is taken from the Zane Grey novel ‘ Canyon Walls.’

Another stirring and fast-moving story of the modern West, featuring William Boyd, Chic Sale, and Dorothy Wilson, 1 is ‘.The Great Decision,’ the second attraction. ,