PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 22579, 22 February 1937, Page 11

PICTURE THEATRES

GRAND / A new ami most interesting .-cdmedy r partnership is introduced in ‘ Two’s Company,’ the principal feature at the Grand. Ned Sparks, one of Hollywood’s leading comedians, is co-starred with that inimitable Cockney hmnour- ■ ist Gordon Harker. The story opens in New York. B. G. Madison, a wealthy business man, is reluctantly persuaded - by hi# wife and daughter and his lawyer* A 1 (Ned Sparks), to take a health trip to England. On board the liner they meet Muggridge (Gordon Barker), valet to the Earl of Warke. Muggridge is travelling back to Englandin charge of his master’s champion dog. Of course, the Americans mistake Muggridge for the earl. Madison’s daughter Julia (Mary Brian) makes a hit with the earl’s son Jerry (Patric Knowles), and fun begins when the earl gets into holts with the .fiery Madison. Brian Donlcvy, a recent acquisition to the screen, is the featured player in ‘ High Tension/ a thrilling drama, which supports. _ He is a versatile actor, and if audiences can exsuch a high standard of entertainment in all Donlevy films, there can be no doubt as to his future popularity. Paramount has put a good helping of everything best in radio and screen fare into its latest show, ‘ Rhythm on the Range,’ and has come up with one of the finest programmes of film entertainment produced for many long months. ‘Rhythm on the Range,’ . which comes to tho Grand) on Wednesday, with'" ‘ A Son Comes Home,’ has Bing Crosby and Bob Burns; it has swing music, Western songs, and romantic ballads. It launches six hit tunes, with the music carried by Louis Prima’s swing band, real Western singers, and the famous Burns “bazooka.” It presents a story as rollicking as it is unusual. Bing Crosby and Boh Burns are cowboy participants in a Madison Square Garden rodeo as the picture opens. With his winnings in the rodeo events, Crosby buys a prise bull. He starts for Arizona with the bull in. a box ear. Frances Farmer, as a wealthy society girl, flees from a .prospective marriage and stows away in the box car, hoping to get to the ranch operated by her aunt, Crosby’s employee. The bull,, the cowboy, and the girl begin a transcontinental trip by box car, on foot, and by motor. ‘ A Son Comes Home ’ is a drama of sacrifice, starring Mary Boland. REGENT Another excellent example of the work of that brilliant partnership which scored an outstanding success with the remarkable film ‘ Things to Come ’ is presented in the London Films’ .production, ‘ The Man Who Gould Work Miracles,’ which has commenced . what promises to be a very successful season at the Regent. Based on the story of H. G. Wells and produced by Alexander Korda, the film is a comedy which resembles its impressive predecessor only in the originality of its conception and the amazing effects which have been achieved. As might be expected in a story from the pen of H. G. Wells, the film is quietly philosophical in tone, and it contains much sly satire on the leaders of every branch of society through the reactions of the central character—an obscue assistant in a country drapery store who becomes the subject of an experiment by the immortals and is invested with the power to work miracles. In the part of George M'Whirter Foth- ' eringay, Roland Young is superb. One evening in the bar of tho local inn he discovers he is endowed with miraculous powers, and the peace of the quiet country +own in which he lives is rudely disturbed by a succcession of astonishing events. One man in partiular. Colonel Winstanley, a typical retired

soldier, takes strong exception to Fotheringay’s miraculous powers, but a few demonstrations soon convince him of the futility of argument. Ralph Richardson plays the part of the colonel to perfection, and his performance ranks second only to that of Roland Young in the title role. Other important parts. are equally well filled by Lady Tree, Joan Gardner, Ernest Thesinger, and Robert Cochrane. BT. JAMES . For those who like the unusual in screen entertainment, ‘ The Devil Doll,’ which is now at the St. James' Theatre, should be a thoroughly satisfying film. So unusual is it that it departs entirely, at times, from the reality of everyday life into the realms of fantasy. An atmosphere, charged now with wonder, now with a touch of horror, combines with many tense situations ,io produce a film which grips the attention from first to last. The story concerns a scientist and his wife, obsessed with an amazing discovery which enables them to reduce living things to one-sixth their normal size, when they can be motivated only by the will of some other person. A banker, escaping from Devil’s Island, uses the discovery to carry out his one wish, to revenge himself on his partners, who had him unjustly imprisoned. Tho weird scenes in the amazing laboratory, where human beings are reduced to Lilliputian size are relieved by the quaint and amusing antics of the tiny creatures, in incidents that call for some brillijmt trick photography. How the banker exacts a terrible revenge of the partners brings the film to a stirring climax. Lionel Barrymore brings consummate artistry to his task, both as the banker and in his disguise as an old doll seller. Maureen O’Sullivan and Frank Lawton are well cast in tho chief romantic roles, while Henry B. Walthall and Rafaela Ottiano give compelling performances as the crazed scientist and his wife. Grace Ford and Arthur Hohl are two of those who appear first as normal human beings and then as the “ devil dolls,” and others in the cast include Robert Greig, Pedro de Cordoba, and Clare de Brey. An entertaining programme of short subjects, presenting news, comedy, and interest items, will also be shown. MOORE AND TIBBETT. ‘ New Moon,’ with the two fine operatic singers Grace Moore and. Lawrence Tibbett, is scheduled as the next St. James attraction. Lovers of good music will find much to enthuse over in the picture, for the singing of the principals is of a quality rarely heard on the talking screen. The basis of tho film’s plot is the musical operetta by Oscar Hammerstein, although most audiences may find) more enjoyment in the musical score by Sigmund Romberg, famous for his many beautiful compositions. Hammerstein and Romberg are perhaps the most famous collaborators in Broadway to-day. Whether the main players are singing a ribald gipsy song or a tender love song, the audience is promised something that is seldom heard l . Adolphe Menjou, -Roland Young, and Emily Fitzroy also are in the cast. OCTAGON ‘ Yours for the Asking ’ is the title of the star feature on the new programme at the Octagon, and has had an excellent cast assembled'to carry it through. The staging is also effective, and there is plenty of boisterous humour to link together the straight comedy and undercurrent of simple romance. _ George Raft is well cast as a professional gambler who aspires to better things through the medium of romance. Dolores Costello Barrymore is rather colourless as the heroine, but Ida Lupino, Reginald Owen, James Gleason, Edgar Kennedy, and Lynne Overman work hard and with good effect in support. Johnny Lamb, proprietor of an underworld gambling house, becomes acquainted with Lucille Sutton, a society girl whose home is mortgaged, and he persuades her to turn the bouse into a fashionable casino, with him as her partner. Johnny’s intention is to improve his social status, hut Saratoga, Bicarbonate, and Honeysuckle, his three well-

meaning thugs, think that he is “ going soft,” and hire Gert Malloy, an adventuress, to pose as an aristocrat and lure him away from Lucille. This she does, but when Dictionary M'Kinney, her accomplice, who poses as her uncle, extracts money from Johnny by false pretences there is a general showdown. After forgiving his misguided associates Johnny desides to give up night life and settle down with Lucille. The settings include elaborate night club interiors, artistic chateau sequences, realistic fights. ‘ King of the Castle,’ which supports, is a fast-mov-ing comedy featuring June Clyde and Billy Milton. EMPIRE Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Cary Grant, Lewis Stone, Benita Hume—such is he imposing array of stars heading the cast of ‘ Suzy,’ now in its second week at the Empire. This is a drama of war-time espionage which holds attraction for every type of filmgoer. Set in London and Paris, and opening in the stormy days of 1914, ‘ Suzy ’ has a scope and spectacular appeal that belie the simplicity of its title. Jean Harlow _ unquestionably reaches the high note in her career as a star in ‘ Suzy.’ At the opening of the story she is seen as an American actress stranded in pre-war England. In London she meets a young inventor interested in aviation and marries him. He is shot under peculiar circumstances which point to her guilt. Terrified in the belief that he is dead, she escapes to Paris, and there, after the war is raging, marries again. The first husband appears, and her life is more deeply involved than ever. The war forms a spectacular background to the tangled story, but it never overshadows the interest of the spectator in the central characters, Jean Harlow is superb in a difficult portrayal, while the supporting cast are without exception highly satisfactory. ‘ MY MAN GODFREY.’ Heading a noted cast, including such players as Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette,, and Gail Patrick, William Powell, with his usual captivating nonchalance, plays opposite Carole Lombard in ‘ My Man Godfrey,’ the splendid comedy coming on Friday to the Empire. As a “ forgotten_ man ” rescued from a shack on a city garbage dump and engaged as a butler by the “.barmy ” Bullock family, Powell gives a truly remarkable performance. Although there is a horse in the library/ and in spite of the numerous windows broken in the revellings of the night before, Powell manages to retain his position, and a series of mirth-provoking scenes follow in which the women of tho household all more or less fall in love with the house’s latest acquisition. Complications arise, however, when a former friend of Powell’s arrives on the scene and almost reveals his true identity. The clean humour, clever acting, and spontaneously witty dialogue of the picture cannot fail to please. STRAND A delightfully gay comedy-romance set to music is ‘ Palm Springs,’ featuring Frances Langford, Sir Guy Standing, and a former radio star, Smith Bellew, which has commenced a season at the Strand. Set in the famous California playground frequented by screen stars and millionaires, with a novel plot and several tuneful songs, capable acting, and jdeasing voices, the film is pleasant entertainment of the lighter kind. A young society girl discovers that her once wealthy father is penniless, and she determines to marry a millionaire to provide for both her father and herself. A rumour is circulated that she is the daughter of an English earl, with strange consequences. Frances Langford, who made her debut in ‘ Broadway Melody of 1930,’ piaj's the leading role with Skill, and her lovely contralto is heard in several songs. Sir Guy Standing, that very capable actor, takes every advantage of his role of the girl’s father. Smith Bellew, a newcomer to

films, but well known in American radio, is the leading man. Ho has a pleasing voice, and is heard with Miss Langford. The songs, specially written for the film by two of the ‘‘ ace ” combinations of American song-writing —Gordon and Revel and Robin and Ranger—are ‘ Palm Springs, ’ ‘ I Don’t Want to Make History/ ‘Dreaming Out Loud/ .‘The Hills of Old Wyoming/ and ‘ Will I Ever Know?’ The second picture is ‘They Met in a Taxi/ starring Chester Morris, Fay Wray, and Lionel Stander. STATE Delightful comedy, ' captivating romance, and swift, dramatic action are to be found in ‘ Under Two Flags/ the picture which is now drawing crowded bouses to the State. Finely acted and produced with telling realism, the tale makes excellent entertainment. It is one of those few films which anyone with a love of action, true dramatic art, and excitement appreciates from beginning to end. The magnitude of the whole production and the infinite pains obviously taken to secure the correct atmosphere are most impressive. It is an epic picture. The simple tale of love and jealousy in an exotic desert setting still weaves its spell. Many stories have been woven around the Foreign Legion since Ouida first captured the imagination of an older generation, but the sad tale of Cigarette and her great love and even greater sacrifice will live for years to come. In spite of a charming performance from Claudette Colbert and a shorter, _ but equally * accomplished, interpretation from Rosalind Russell, Ronald Colman dominates the story. As a sergeant in the Foreign Legion, whose past is mysterious but entirely honourable, he has a part to which he is admirably suited. His cultured but slightly melancholy air gives just the right touch to the character, and one lives udth him in his triumph and hardships with one of the greatest fighting forces _ the world has ever known. As major of the battalion, a blustering, forceful fellow, but a fine soldier, Victor M'Laglen also has a part which allows him full scope. Hjs affection for ■ Cigarette and his jealousy for the regard, and later the love, she shows for Colman, is the driving theme. The scenes of the fighting in the desert are without precedent, MAYFAIR ‘ The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo,’ which is the main feature at the Mayfair at present, is a gay and charming romantic comedy with Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, Colin Clive, and Nigel Bruce in the chief parts. Colman enacts the role of an impoverished Russian prince who runs up his meagre savings as a taxi driver into 10,000,000 francs at the Sporting Club at Monte Carlo. He returns to Paris and divides half his winnings among his fellow expatriates, who had added their savings to his original stake. Having met and fallen in love with Joan Bennett, hired by the gambling syndicate to lure Colman back to Monte Carlo for another session at the tables, he uses his fortune in pursuit of her. She and her companion in deceit. Coliu Clive, lead Colman a merry chase through the gay centres of Europe to Interlaken. Switzerland. Here, in a setting of moonlight romance, Miss Bennett falls in love with her victim. She tries to save Colman, hut Clive manages to get him back to Monte Carlo. Colman loses his winnings, but wins Miss Ben-

nett, much to the satisfaction of both principals and to the audience. In support is another comedy romance, ‘ Kelly the Second',’ which features Patsy Kelly, Charley Chase, Pert Kelton, and Edward Brophy. GREEK ISLAND The most thrilling adventure of the eighteenth century now becomes the greatest adventure of the twentieth century. If the motion picture camera had been in practical use 150 years ago no more authentic nor thrilling record of the amazing exploits of H.M.S. Bounty and the historical mutiny could have been recorded than are seen in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s saga of the seas, ‘ Mutiny on the Bounty,’ which is now at the Municipal, Green Island. Charles Laughton surpasses all his other masterful performances as the tyrannical disciplinarian, the cruel but dauntless Captain Bligh. Clark Gable portrays Fletcher Christian, the young officer who leads the mutiny. Franchofc Tone enacts the part of Midshipman Byam, who supports Gable’s insurrection. In addition to the native girls, Maria and Mama, featured roles in ‘ Mutiny on the Bounty ’ are played by Herbert Muiuliu, Eddie Quillau, Dudlc, Digges, Donald Crisp, Henry Stephenson. Francis Lister, and Spring Bylugton. with hundreds of supporting players appearing in the production’s many spectacular sequences.