PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 22576, 18 February 1937, Page 8

PICTURE THEATRES

RACY. CLEVER COMEDY GRAND’S MAIN FILM IMPRESSES A most ■engaging comedy, deftly produced and acted, has been chosen as the principal production of the new programme that was seen by a thoroughly satisfied audience at the Grand last evening. This picture, which is titled ‘Two’s Company,’ gaily portrays the conflict between English and American ideas. Offsetting the humorous mood of this light farce (which incidentally, is quite the best shown in‘Dunedin for months) is a rousing serio-drama of the sea, entitled ‘ High Tension.’ Grand audiences should vote the show as an exceptional one during its season here. The plot of ‘ Two’s Company ’ relates the comic happenings that occur to an American family when it rents Wendover Towers, in Berkshire, from the Earl of Warke, who lives in Wark© Castle, close by. A girl in _the American party and the Earl’s son fall in love, but the rest of th© two establishments become more and more antagonistic. Ned Sparks and Gordon Barker are particularly bitter opponents, and neither of these two admirable comedians has ever before been so amusing. Sparks, who is renowned for his “poker face ” makes lugubrious “wisecracks,” while continual amusement is provided by the way Gordon Barker's curious, affected accent continually lapses into broad cockney. Henry Holman, the American father, and Morten Selten, the earl, exaggerate their national foibles in a delightfully amusing way Selten’s depiction of the English aristocrat is obviously modelled on a P. G. Wodehouse character, His devotion to butterfies equals his brother’s passion .for pigs, and it is while he is strenuously pursuing an elusive Camberwell Beauty that he dashes his net over the head of the irate American and learns that, even on his own estate, he > may be assaulted. It is while he is giving evidence against his assailant in a police court that the fluttering Camberwell Beauty reappears.' In the subsequent proceedings, Lord Warke, though equipped only with an umbrella stuck into a silk hat, destroys most of the court’s furniture and all its dignity. The dialogue is particularly humorous and Ned Sparks and Gordon _ Barker see to it that all their witticisms are perfectly timed. The romance is completely handled by Mary Brian and Patrick Knowles. Credit is also due to •the director for his handling of the comedy scenes, and to the script writer who has provided a particularly ingenious conclusion to what seems at one stage an endless chain of comic complications. A charming new player, Helen Wood, comes to the screen in * High Tension.’ As the title indicates, ‘ High Tension ’ is a fast-moving film of thrills and suspense, with Brian Donlevy and Norman Foster appearing as dare-devil undersea cable workers, who, as they express it themselves, “ have nothing to Ipse but their lives.’’ The film hits its keynote in the opening scenes with Donlevy being rebuffed by his girl friend (Glenda Farrell), and winding up in a waterfront bar where he is rescued from a free-for-all by Foster. Donlevy, ace “ trouble shooter ” for an undersea cable company, gets Foster a similar job and teaches him all the tricks of the perilous trader REGENT ‘Forgotten Faces, co-starring Herbert Marshall and Gertrude Michael, concludes its local at the Regent this evening. Providing a new type of role for Herbert Marshall, this film tells the story of a man who evolves a curious form of revenge on his former wife, who becomes the blackmailer of their daughter. This strange situation is exploited to the full in a skilfully acted, drama. AN UNUSUAL COMEDY, The.man who has raised British films in two or three years from an insular and looked-down-upon industry to that of challenger to Hollywood for world leadership, Alexander Korda, _ secured the services of one of the twentieth century’s literary giants, H. G. Wells, who had previously steered well clear of the cinema, for two of his most ambitious productions. The first of these was the imaginative spectacle of the future, ‘ Things To Gome.’ Now the partnership turns to comedy. H. G. Wells’s popular short story, ‘ Th© Man Who Could Work Miracles,’ has been adapted for screen purposes and lengthened into a first-rate film, if overseas reviewers are to be relied upon. This film will be released at the Regent tomorrow. The story concerns a little man who becomes an experiment of the immortals, and found himself suddenly invested with the power to work miracles. Roland Young plays the part of an obscure assistant in a drapery store in a small English country town, and rejoices in the name of George M'Whirter Fotheringay. One evening in the public bar at the local inn he discovers that he could work miracles, and the peace of this quiet country town is rudely interrupted by a succession of astonishing ©vents. Ralph Richardson plays the role of Colonel Winstanley, an old soldier, who is at first violently resentful of Fotheringay’s miraculous powers, but a few demonstrations to the colonel’s acute discomfort soon convince him that it is useless to battle against inexplicable happenings. STATE In a story which gives her full scope for the introduction of the cheerful soug-and-dance numbers which have won her wide popularity with flhngoers, the delightful child actress Shirley Temple is seen at her best in ‘ Poor Little Rich Girl,’ the attraction concluding to-night at the State. The supporting cast includes Alice Faye, Jack Haley, and Gloria Stuart. FOREIGN LEGION CLASSIC. For many years Ouida’s great romance, ‘ Under Two Flags,’ has been a classis of the Foreign Legion. It has been brought to the screen with a sweeping spaciousness, a warm realism, and a generous aggregation of stars and .well-known actors that make it easy to believe _ in the quarter of a millions pounds it is said to have cost. The film will commence to-morrow at the State. _ Ronald Colman plays the young English aristocrat hiding himself in the Foreign Legion because he has taken the blame for a crime committed by his younger brother. Th© story is concerned with the awakening of love in the care-free estaminet girl, Cigarette (Claudette Colbert), the pet of the Legion, for the dashing young Englishman; his careless encouragement when she makes a dead set at him, and her sacrifice when, brokenhearted by the discovery that he loves a titled woman visitor to the Legion headquarters, she leads a relieving force to the little company of gallant men who have been left to fight against desperate odds because Commandant

Victor M‘Laglen is jealous over her affair with Sergeant Ronald Colman. Miss Colbert makes the mischievous Cigarette a provocative figure. ST. JAMES Excellent comedy entertainment is provided in the British film ‘ Southern Roses,’ which concludes its current local season at tho St. James this evening. The film offers convincing evidence of the ability of English producers to make a success of that kind of film. Neil Hamilton and Gena Malo are co-starred in this tale of an English society girl masquerading as a cabaret entertainer. A FASCINATING THEME. The key situation of ‘ The Devil Doll,’ which comes to tho St. James to-morrow, is the discovery of a system of atomic reduction which reduces human beings to doll-size. The brain is also reduced, but functions perfectly in obedience to the will of an ordinary mortal. _ Lavond, an escaped convict, appropriates this discovery and uses it to wreak vengeance on the three bankers who sent him unjustly to prison. In the guise of an old woman he opens a doll shop in Paris and waits his time. A moral twist is given to the eerie story by the emphasis placed on Lavond’s motive for revenge. He wants to clear the family name for his daughter Lorraine, so that she may marry her taxi-driver sweetheart, Toto. The trick photography of the human (and animal) dolls is amazingly effective. Real suspense and eerie horror are achieved by the spectacle of tho little creatures inexorably propelled by Lavond’s will. Arthur Hohl is suitably sinister and cowardly as one of the victims; and Frank Lawton and Maureen O’Sullivan infuse the briefly sketched romance with attractive freshness. In essentials; however, the spectator’s interest is centred on the “old lady” of Montmartre and her “ dolls.” Few more original ideas have ever been exploited for a film. The St. James is also featuring a list of variety short subjects, foremost among which is a coloured travel talk, ‘ Los Angeles, the Wonder City of the West.’ Other items booked are a Pete Smith oddity, a tabloid musical, and a Metro news. EMPIRE Thrills, pathos, and excitement are skilfully interwoven to form a highly entertaining film in ‘ Suzy,’ which has entered the second week of its season at the Empire. From the opening scene in the engagement office of a London theatre to the final shot on a wartime aerodrome in France, not once does interest in the rapidly changing scenes and situations flag. At times the situations are so tense that a strained a’tmosphere can be felt in the audience, but the producers have then neatly inserted _ comedy turns which send the house into roars of laughter. Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, and Cary Grant soar to even higher peaks in their already outstanding careers. Jean Harlow’s • performance is outstanding, while the mere mention of the names of Franchot Tone and Cary Grant is the theatregoers’ guarantee of brilliant, versatile acting. Lewis Stone is another who deserves special mention. The story is most involved, and must be seen to be properly understood. It evolved round the lives of_ a chorus girl out of work, who marries an air-man-inventor, but believing him killed by a spy, flees to France, where she marries the crack “ ace ” of th© French Flying Corps. Her former husband comes to the front, and the trio meet in a delicate situation, which is neatly, although tragically, solved. STRAND ‘ The Voice of Bugle Ann,’ based on an actual court case in Missouri, tells the. story of a veteran fox hunter and his favourite dog. Lionel Barrymore presents one of tho finest characterisations ho has ever given. Tho picture concludes to-night, with ‘ Three Cheers for Love,’ featuring Robert Cummings ,and Eleanore Whitney—an excellent double programme. PALM SPRINGS The gay life of Palm Springs, playground of west coast millionaires and movie stars, forms the setting of Paramount’s ‘ Palm Springs.’ produced by Walter Wanger, to be showS at the Strand to-morrow. The name of. Palm has become synonymous with the Riviera, tho Lido, and other world spots as the ultimate ip. luxurious idling. Like an oasis out of the Arabian Nights, this modern community is the winter stamping ground _ of film stars, industrial magnates, diplomats, social leaders, and cosmopqjites from everywhere. Here during the fashionable “ season ” that lasts a fewmonths, celebrities can enjoy every luxury of the richest metropolis, and at the same time remain within sight and sound of scorching-wastes. Hotels, dude ranches, ho rap of motion picture notables and millionaires, and pleasure haunts dot the sands, into which even Indians hesitated to venture not so many years ago. Winter resorters today laze in marble swimming pools under towering palms in a country where natives and animals once perished of thirst. ‘ Palm Springs ’ offers in the stellar roles Frances Langford, Sir Guy Standing, Smith Ballcw, Spring Byington, and E. E. Clive. This is the first time that the inside story of Palm Springs has boon told on the screen. The second picture wilt be ‘ They Met in a Taxi,’ starring Chester Morris, Fay Wray, and Lionel Stander. OCTAGON * Arizona Raiders,’ an adventurefilled Western, the film version of Zanc Grey’s famous novel ‘ Raiders of the Spanish Peaks,’ concludes to-night at the Octagon with ‘ Koenigsmark,’ a [powerful drama of forbidden love.' The developments of ‘ Arizona Raiders ’ are set in the old West, where cattle rustling was a real and everpresent problem. Larry Crabbe and Marsha Hunt are the principal players. YOURS FOR THE ASKING Ida Lupino becomes a lovely adventuress who has adopted so man:/ assumed names that she has trouble remembering them in the Paramount comedy-romance ‘ Yours for the Asking,’ to be shown at tho Octagon tomorrow, with George Raft and Dolores Costello Barrymore in stellar ides. The picture revolves around tho problems of a man who sots up a gambling club in a mansion, seeking to get the society trade. Miss Barrymore, a society girl, aids him in getting the place in operation, and in giving it the proper “ tone.” Three of Raft’s aides—James Gleeson, Lynne Overman, and Edgar Kennedy—worry about the newest ideas of the boss ; they fear that he is falling in love with Miss Barrymore. To forestall the romance the trio get Miss Lupino and Reginald Owen, seller of Broadway trinkets, to pose as a societv girl and her aristocratic' undo. Miss Lupino sets about winning Raft, and Raft, taken in by her impersonation, goes to Miss Barrymore for instruction in high society manners. Before tho romance is straightened out Raft’s quest for polish and the scheming of Ms aides lead to a

score of comedy situations. The second attraction will be ‘ King of the Castle,’ a fast-moving comedy in which Claude Dampier, clever English stage and screen comedian, is responsible for some hilarious scenes. June Clyde, Billy Milton, Cynthia Stock, and Wally Patch are also starred. MAYFAIR In adapting to the screen H. G. Well’s amazing fantasy the producers of ‘ Things To Come,’ which is now screening at the Mayfair, nave attempted a stupendous task, and with supreme daring have succeeded in bringing within the realm of filmcraft a theme of such magnitude that to present it successfully would appear almost an impossibility. In his novel the author creates a fabulous new world—-a world of immense things—and imaginatively carries his readers into the twenty-first century. But tho film goes further than this, and by magnificent photography and uncannily skilful direction illustrates with astonishing realism events and things which the book can make-enly vaguely comprehensible. As a spectacle the picture is unquestionably one of the great achievements of tho screen, and technically it transcends anything of its type ever before attempted. it is all very futuristic, but somehow one loses sight of the apparent improbability of the theme and marvels instead at the adroit manner in which the author’s literary ideas have boon transferred to tho screen. The second feature is ‘ Millions in the Air,’ starring John Howard and Wendy Barrie. GREEN ISLAND All the romance and adventure of eighteenth century seafaring life and the beauty of unspoiled tropic islands are crowded into ‘ Mutiny on the Bounty,’ the film now at the Municipal, Green Island. Captain Bligh left England for Tahiti about 150 years ago in the warship Bounty, the purpose of the voyage being to load breadfruit trees for the West Indies. The role of the cruel and tyrannical captain is played with great ability by Charles Laughton. The Bounty herself is a splendid reproduction of a period vessel. A beautiful ship—with bell aboard her. The allure of. Tahiti, added to the brutality of the captain and his system of discipline, provoke the mutiny. Th© great sea saga and th© mutineers’ retreat to Pitcairn and Bligh’s open boat journey are magnificently portrayed, and the east, which includes Clarke Gable as Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutineers, and Franchot Tone as Midshipman Byam, is beyond praise.