PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 22470, 15 October 1936, Page 2

PICTURE THEATRES

REGENT One of the finest musical films yet shown ih Dunedin, the_ Paramount production, ‘ Give Us This Night,’ heads the programme concluding to-night at the Regent. Jan Kiepura, whose wonderful singing was first introduced to film-goers in the very successful film, ‘ Tell Mo To-night,’ is given every opportunity to use his voice, and he has never been heard to better .advantage. He is supported by another worldfamous singer, Gladys Swarthout, who recently appeared in ‘ Rose of the Rancho,’ and a magnificent chorus. ‘ ONE RAINY AFTERNOON.’ What happens when a handsome young man kisses tho wrong girl in a darkened movie theatre ‘ One Rainy Afternoon ’ is depicted in hilarious fashion in Pickford-Lasky’s gay Parisian romantic comedy of that title which brings dashing Francis Lederer to the Regent to-morrow. The first offering of the newly-organised producing company headed by Mary Pickford and Jesse Lasky, ‘ One Rainy Afternoon,’ presents pert Ida Lupino opposite the star, and others prominently featured in the comedy are Hugh Herbert, Roland Young, Erik Rhodes, and Joseph Cawthorn. The screen play, which Stephen Moorehouse Avery adapted from the French story ‘ Monsieur Sans Gene,’ centres around the frantic adventures of a struggling Paris actor, who is carrying on a clandestine flirtation. He and the lady invariably meet in darkened movie theatres, and it is at one such rendezvous that Philippe is directed to the wrong seat and inadvertently kisses the beautiful stranger beside him. A shriek! A resounding slapl A scandal! Philippe is brought to trial. But a case of love at first sight develops between him and his beautiful “ victim,” Monique Pelerin, with the result that his fine is paid and he goes free. A hectic romance, carried on chiefly in ice skating palaces, develops between Philippe and Monique, and the romantic publicity growing out of_ the trial makes him the toast of Paris. ST. JAMES Three baffling murders are solved by S. S. Van Bine's fascinating character, the debonair Philo Vance, in ‘ The Garden Murder Case,’ which will conclude a season at tho St. James today. Edmund Lowe gives a polished performance in the leading role, wh'le his handling of the romantic interest with the delightful Virginia Bruce also calls for special comment. Nat Pendleton and Benita Hume head a talented cast of supporting players. ‘LABURNUM GROVE.’ J. B. Priestley’s well-known play, ‘ Laburnum Grove,’ comes to the screen at the St. James to-morrow with little adaptation and great success. Edmund Gwenn and Sir Cedric Hardwicke are in the principal roles. Edmund Gwenn is a thoroughly likeable and humorous character. Being pestered by his wife’s sister and brother-in-law, the lastnamed played by Sir Cedric Hafuwickp, and by a good-for-nothing who is in pursuit of his daughter’s hand, he startles them by saying that he is a forger with the police on his tracks, adding such realistic details that they all shudder at the mere sight of a policeman. So much success attends his strategem that he rids himself of his relations and his daughter of her suitor, but an amusing situation later develops when the visit of a Scotland Yard detective reveals to the audience, though not to the other inhabitants of tfie menage, that he is actually a forger. He hastily packs his family off to Holland, and prepares to escape there himself He meets at the door, however, the local policeman, representing law and order. Immeasurably relieved to find that he wants only a subscription to a local club, Mr Radfern, forger and gentleman, walks peacefully out of the picture. EMPIRE ‘ The Bohemian Girl,’ the latest comedy in which Laurel and Hardy appear, is now concluding its second week at the Empire. The picture is based on Balfe’s opera, and the music, which has retained its popularity for nearly a century, is cleverly introduced. Laurel and Hardy introduce some brilliantly clever new situations into their work, and, in short, ‘ The Bohemian

Girl ’ may be rated as one of the outstanding comedies of the year. ‘ ROBIN HOOD OF EL DORADO.’ ‘ Robin Hood of El Dorado,’ which conics to tho Empire to-morrow, is a rousing and colourful talc of the glamorous days of Spanish rule in California. Warner Baxter heads tho cast, playing tho typo of role that made him one of the most popular stars of the screen. In ‘ Robin Hood of El Dorado ’ ho is Joaquin Mumctta, a dashing bandit and lover, whose courage enabled him to defy all authority. With him a big cast includes Ann Loring, a spectacular newcomer who socms_ destined for stardom ; Bruce Cabot in his best sympathetic role to date, Margo the Spanish dancing beauty who has become an outstanding dramatic actress, J. Carroll Naish, Eric Linden, Edgar Kennedy, Charles Trowbridge, Harvey Stephens, and hundreds of others. The story of the filming of 1 Robin Hood of El Dorado ’ has its own romantic aspects. Several hundred men and five or six women were lost for weeks in tho remote wilderness of the “ mother lode ” country of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, following tho the lonely trails that Murrietta and his band rode in “ tho days of old, tho days of gold.” Tho picture was filmed in historical locales. STATE Jack Hulbert reverts to song and dance in his latest picture, ‘ Jack f All Trades,’ which will conclude this evening at the State. The theme, whkh concerns Jack’s adventures as he bluffs his way through meetings of hank directors or rescues his lady-love fi mi a burning factory, is undoubtedly the medium to show this fun-maker at his happiest. Gina Male and Robertson Hare head the supporting cast. ‘THE LADY CONSENTS.’ How readily, if at all, can a woman, irrespective of her virtues and personal charms, take tho place occupied by another in the heart and home of a man ? This question that becomes increasingly important as society’s ideas of marriage aro modified, is answered with moving emotional drama and sophisticated comedy in ‘ The Lady Consents,’ coming to the Empire to-morrow, which costars Ann Harding and Herbert Marshall. The suave Mr Marshall, who sends his first wife to the divorce courts so that he may wed an equally lovely, but totally different, type, learns that such a replacement is almost impossible with satisfactory results to the male in a series of comic and dramatic incidents that prove how completely he had become accustomed to the character of his first wife and to their life together. Margaret Lindsay is tho second Mrs Talbot, whoso ideas of the uses of matrimony modify Marshall’s appraisal of her as the perfect sweetheart, and give Ann Harding the key to a novel campaign to recapture her husband. Walter Abel. Edward Ellis, Hobart Cavanaugh, and Tlka Chase have important featured roles. Stenhen Roberts directed. Edward Kaufman produced. STRAND Two excellent features conclude a season at the Strand to-night in ‘ Timothy’s Quest ’ and ‘ The Singing Kid.’ The former is a really deligatful tale of a boy’s quest for a mother for his little sister. The boy has Don Quixote always before him as his n r>. and this theme is cleverly woven into the story. A 1 Joison is the star of the second film, which is a brilliant musical spectacle. 4 ‘ ROAD GANG.’ According to one critic, ‘ Road Gang,’ which will open at the Strand to-morrow, is a product that will linger long in the memory of everyone who sees it. A story of deliberate inhumanity practised by callous guards, upon helpless prisoners the film presents almost unbelievable persecutions that aro claimed to exist in certain American penal institutions. It is relieved by a glowing romance in which a girl maikes a heroic flight to liberate her lover, whom she knows to have been “ framed ’ ’and sentenced to the horror of the mines for a crime he had not commited. The scenes are mostly laid in two stark, realistic setting, one a prison farm where prisoners are subjected to mediaeval tortures, and the other the Blackfoot mines, so much worse that men seldom leave the place. There are plenty of thrills in these scenes, including a terrific fight between prison guards and convicts in the bowels of the earth, where gas bombs are used by the warders. Donald Woods has the leading role, that of a newspaper correspondent sent to prison on a trumpedup charge because he threatened to expose some wealthy gangsters. Kay Liunker has the leading feminine role. GRAND The impression that American humour on the screen is of one typo is a common one, but it is none the loss incorrect. Proof of this is given in ‘ Doubting Thomas,’ which has commenced a season at the Grand, with Will Rogers, Alison Skipworth, and Billio Burke in the leading roles. The humour is contributed mainly by the quiet, shrewd, and rather whimsical Will Rogers, whose work is never showy or forced, but always deliberate. His tragic death some time ago is to bo deplored if for the only reason that it has removed from the screen a man whoso sane philosophy of life made him an actor whose value was more than that of a more entertainer. Tho many comedies in which ho has appeared have always been notable for tho clean, wholesome typo of humour contained in them, and l ‘ Doubting Thomas ’ is no exception. The picture was adapted from George Kelly’s stage hit ‘ The Torch Bearers,’ and shows Rogers in the role of a simple homo-loving sausage manufacturer, whoso life-world is tossed into a turmoil when his wife, Billio Burke, goes theatrical, as docs his son’s fiancee, Frances Grant. The two appear in an amateur charity show. How Rogers effects a cure for them is one of the highlights of the picture. Billie Burke is excellent as the stagestruck wife who thinks she has been suppressing a desire all those many years. Alison Skipworth very capably and expertly repeats the part of Mrs Pampinelli, which she played on the stage: and Sterling Holloway, as the bunw'U"- sound-effects man for the play, is very humorous. ODTAEOU 1 of Bed Gn’ and ‘ W'ngs in tV Hr!?.’ the two features couc'iul iiw at the Octagon t'”‘s ove-dug, pro v : d , » excellent and diversified fare 1 Wings in the Dark ’ dsnicts tho thrills ard romance in tho devolenment of ii"ace-tinie aviation. Carv Grant and Myrna Lny aro eo-starred. The other film contains many delightful absurdities, rising to the heights of comedy, with Charles Laughton as the principal. DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME. Herbert Marshal!, suave Englishman of Broadway and London stage fame, who won immediate screen popularity

as Marlene Dietrich’s scientist husband in ‘ .Blonde Venus,’ makes another important film appearance in the leading male role in Ernst Lubitsch’s Paramount picture, ‘ Trouble in Paradise,’ which, with Miriam Hopkins, Kay Erancis, Charlie Haggles, and -Edward Hortoji in the cast, will open at the Octagon to-morrow. in ‘ Trouble in Paradise’ Marshall appears in tho role of a super-crook who preys upon European society. When he ultirataely meets Miriam Hopkins, his feminine counter-part, they team up, professionally and matrimonially. The two double their individual success, and move with easy good humour from one capital to another until they arrive in Paris. There they choose Kay Erancis, lovely French widow with a bank balance nearly equal to the war debt, as a victim. But Marshall, fascinated by the proposed victim; leans nearer the point of respectability, and an amusing climax develops when the two women who love him- get together to settle matters. ‘ The Eagle and the Hawk,' starring Fredric March, Cary Grant, and Jack Oakie, will bo in support. HAYFAIB ‘ Barbary Coast,’ a powerful drama of the gold rush days with the lawless gambling saloons of Sail Francisco as a background. is at present ' being screened at the Mayfair. Miriam Hopkins is brilliant in the leading feminine role of a young woman who arrives in San Francisco to find that her fiance has been killed. She plunges into the perilous life of tho_ great city, and assists Louis Cbaraalis (Edward G. Bobinson) in the running of a crooked gambling saloon. The romantic theme is developed when she meets a young prospector, James Carmichael i Joel M'Crea), and persuades him to fling away all bis winnings on a crooked roulette wheel. Although she tries to hate Carmichael, she finally confesses her love for him, and Cbamalis, learning of their romance, becomes jealous a”d swears that he will Fill the prosucftT. The peace-loving c’tizens of the city, however, form themselves into bands of vigilantes, -ml succeed in banging Chamalis’s lieutenant for murder, finally starting out in search of Cbamalis himself. Some dramatic scenes take place at the finish, when the story unfolds itself in an unusual manner. The supporting programme includes several entertaining short subjects.