PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 22249, 29 January 1936, Page 2

PICTURE THEATRES

GRAND Two unusual entertainment elements combine to make the great and moving story of ‘ Steamboat Round the Bend,’ one of Will Rogers’s final films, which opened at the Grand Theatre to-day. One is the amusing rivalry of Will Rogers and Irvin S. Cobb, America’s two greatest humorists, as the crusty captains of competing boats; the other is the wistful and tender romance of Anne Shirloy and John M'Guire. M'Guire is a river pilot, nephew of Rogers, who owns the Claremore Queen. In a quarrel oyer Anne Shirley he kills another man in self-defence. Rogers is angry with the girl, because of the trouble she has brought to M'Guire. But, when the boy is condemned to hung, their love for him draws them together in the fight to save him. They join in the struggle to get money for the boy’s appeal, and to find a missing witness who can save him. The biggest thrill of the picture is saved for the last, when Rogers’s boat is involved in the great race down to New Orleans as he, is hurrying to save his nephew. How Rogers manages to beat pompous old Cobb and his Pride of Paducha and at the same time save the boy is revealed in a sur-prise-filled climax. ‘ Hard Rock Harrigan,’ featuring George O’Brien, is the supporting feature. ST. JAMES The attraction at the Bt. James this week is ‘ Accent on Youth.’ The splendid acting of Herbert Marshall—virtually the outstanding point in the whole production—is based on this ironical attitude to the strange development of his play in real life. Marshall has the right touch for ,this sort of workins quiet, deliberate voice and slow smile intensify the effect. Not many men could have made of the role anything else but a sensual old man trying to find his youth again. Sylvia Sydney playing opposite Herbert Marshall, has an even more difficult assignment in playing the role of a misunderstood young woman who is more or less thrown about callously by men who love her but who cannot decide whether their love runs to the length of marriage. He cannot solve it. She dives deep and marries another man. Her husband symbolises _ the youth which the playwright advised , her to seek. She finds that youth cannot attract her. It is a problem play, after all, more than a comedy romance. There are excellent supporting films, STATE Those popular artists. Miss Gladys Moncrieff and Mr Gil Dech, are attracting large audiences to the State, where they are having a short season. Miss Moncrieff sings a large number of songs with her usual charm and artistry, while Mr Gil Dech also demonstrates the executive and interpretative qualifications at his command, playing the accompaniments to Miss Moncrieff’s songs with a deft and sympathetic touch. Light and refreshing entertainment is provided by ‘ Redheads On Parade,’ the Fox musical production, which is at present at the State. The film deals with the production of a picture, ‘ Beauties On Parade,’ which is in danger of abandonment for financial reasons. The producers conceive the idea of securing' the backing of the manufacturers of the dye, and in return offer greatly to increase his sales by changing the title of the picture to ‘ Redheads On Parade.’ John Boles and Dixie Lee are the featured players. REGENT Blue seas, cut-throat privateers, roistering sailors, and sufficient hand-to-hand combats to last a wrestling enthusiast for a lifetime are a tew of the ingredients of the film version of Captain Marryat’s famous adventure storyj ‘ Midshipman Easy,’ which is now showing at the Regent. This is a film which boys of all ages will enjoy. The story of the film follows Marryat’s classic with remarkable fidelity. Hughie Green, as a likeable if somewhat over-eager Easy; Roger Livesey, as an excellent naval captain; and Harry Tate as an hilarious Bos’n Biggs are by no means the only fine actors of a ‘long cast, which includes some notable minor characterisations, especiallv those of the negro Mesty, and of bandit Don Silvio. There is an excellent supporting programme, which includes a coloured cartoon, a techmcolour, ‘My Gypsy Sweetheart,’ and an interesting short ‘ 6.30 Collection,’ while the Regent Orchestra is also in attendance. EMPIRE Exceptionally large audiences continue to attend ‘ Broadway Melody of 1936,’ the brilliant musical film which is in its second week at the Empire. Similar in style to the original ‘ Broadway Melody,’ the first great musical film to be made iu Hollywood, the new production is an outstanding entertainment in every respect. Eleanor Powell, described by one English critic as a “ feminine Fred Astaire,” performs some spectacular tap-dancing turns, and there are items by many wellknown entertainers. Others in the cast are Jack Benny, Robert Taylor, and June Knight, and that inimitable comedienne Una Merkel. An interesting supporting programme includes a coloured Fitzpatrick travelogue of Mexico City and an oddity entitled ‘ How to Sleep.’ STRAND The story of the sister of a pretty American girl marrying her man is unfolded in ‘ Smart Girl,’ which is showing at the Strand. The love of two sisters for the same man adds a delightful romantic touch. Ida Lupino as Pat Reynolds, the young girl who outwits the unscrupulous oil brokers, is superb in a role which suits her to perfection, while Kent Taylor, as Nick Graham, the unsuspecting tool of the oil concern and object of the girl’s affections, plays his part convincingly. Joseph Cawthorn keeps the audience in laughter as Pat’s employer, and serves as the dens ex maehina that removes all their troubles. ‘ Jennie Gerhardt ’is a film adaptation of ii novel by Theodore Dreiser, one of the most forceful of living American writers. The fine story has been well adapted, and it is interpreted by nlayers of high talent and sincerity. The cast includes Donald Cook. Mary Astor, Edward Arnold, H. B. Warner, and Louise Carter. OCTAGON Au exciting film, in which the interest of the audience is sustained until the Inst sequence, is ‘ The Clock Strikes Eight,’ which heads the present doublefeature programme at the Octagon. The picture provides thrills in plenty, commencing with an apparent suicide which is later discovered to he murder, and then following up with several more murders, all of which take place under

the most unusual circumstances. The film is not without its lighter moments, however, and there is a good of music and comedy in which a prominent part is taken by Arline Judge, Kent Taylor, and Wendie Barrie. A contrast is provided by the second film, ‘ The Circus Clown,’ in which Joe E. Brown has the principal role. A versatile comedian and a clever dancer, ho is responsible for introducing the audience in a pleasant manner to the entertainment to be found in a big circus. MAYFAIR - ‘ She Married Her Boss,’ which, with Claudette Colbert at the head of the cast, opened at the Mayfair to-day, tells its story in its title. She was an efficient secretary—so efficient that when she wanted to leave the firm the boss proposed to her and followed it up by eloping with her in the same halfhour, in order to keep her “ within reach.” But her decision to become a woman and to let office life drop creates something of a business upheaval. Much more momentous, however, is the upheaval created in her husband’s tradition-bound home, where his hypochondrical sister, having turned his little child by a former marriage from an imaginative little girl into a lying and spiteful fiend, has made the place an abode of dislikes, jealousies, petty thefts, and suspicions. Claudette has a high old time reforming not only her “ dumb-bell ” husband—as his own child so aptly pufs.it—but in bringing life and colour back to the mansion and into the cheeks of those who inhabit it. In a rather elemental climax she imagines that the signs of her success are signals of failure, and promptly goes “on the loose.” “ Hubby ” is forced to realise his share in the failure of the romance, and proceeds to do not a little “ busting ” on his own account, with totally unlocked for, but most felicitous, results. LAURIER. PORT CHALMERS The fast-moving comedy, ‘ The Daring Young Man,’ is at pre'sent screening at the Laurier, Port Chalmers. James Dunn is well suited in the principal role, and gives his characteristic virile performance. He is cast as an impetuous young newspaperman who does not hesitate to risk his life, his liberty, and the affections of his fiancee to gain his ends. Mae Clark is always fascinating in tlie principal feminine part, and there are a large number of supporting players,