PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 22952, 9 May 1938, Page 9

PICTURE THEATRES

ST. JAMES Spectacular thrills abound in the amazing film record of animal life, 1 Trailing the Killer,’ which has begun a season at the St. James. Set in the primitive, unconquered regions of America’s great North-west, the star is a canine hero, Caesar, regarded by_ many as a worthy successor to Rin-Tin-Tin. Ctesar is very much like the famous dog of the silent films, and there are those who contend that this newcomer’s popularity bids fair to outrival that of his predecessor. In ‘ Trailing,, the Killer ’ he is given every opportunity to display his prowess. Anjong the many thrilling scenes are a battle between the police dog, Ctesar, and a gigantic puma; a fierce combat between the dog and a rattler; and the puma at death-grips with his victim—a man. "€ cesar arrives just too late—to see his master die, killed by the wicked fangs of the puma—and in a breath-taking climax _ Csesar reaps full payment from the killer. The canine star will make an appearance on the stage of the St. James, and patrons will be able to see this magnificent Alsatian, owned and trained by an Australian. In a twenty-minute exhibition he will perform some of his many intriguing acts presented in the picture. ‘ One Mile From Heaven,’ the second film, tells the human, exciting story of two mothers fighting desperately for the same child EMPIRE Three expert divers were engaged during the production of ‘ Lovers and Luggers,’ Cincsound’s thrilling pearling romance, now at the Empire, starring Llovd Hughes and Shirlev Ann Richards. to assist director Ken Hall regarding the divine sequences. Jack Childs, the only white diver on Thursday Island, who owns several loggers and is actively engaged in pearling, was in Svdney on holiday when he was approached hv a Cinesound executive, and said that'he, would be phased to assist in technical details. Harold Jorgenson has been a professional diver since 1921. He was a stevedore before he engaged in diving, a calling that had no attraction in earlier life. He recalls a curiously prophetic incident in his schooldays, however. Tn 1903. when a diver was the last thing he wanted to he, he gained as a. class a hook Jules Verne’s ‘ Twenty Thousand ernes Under the Sea.’ Mr Will Harris (now retired) was for many wars attached to the Havhour Trust. With another diver. Mr Harris recovered the bodies from the ferry Rveych’ffe, which sank af+er colliding with the' Tahiti in Svdney Harbour. Authenticity is demanded in modern films, and‘no trouble was too great for Cinesound to ensure realism in the production. Those/who see +h e amazing nnder-water sennpncea in * Lovers ana Luggers ’ should readily agree. NAVAL ACADEMY THEME. ‘Navy Blue and Gold,’ a colourful and spirited siorv of life at the United States Naval Academv, with a timely emphasis on the football activities or the famous training school, will be shown at the Umpire on Friday.Robert Young heads a cast of filmtavourites in the new picture, sharing honours with James Stewart. Lionel Barrymore, Florence Rice.’.and BilUe BimVe. Others in prominent roles include Tom Brown. Samu°l S. H lr, ds. Paul Kellv. and Barnett Parker. The story, a novel hv George Bruce, has beer acclaimed bv naval officer® the’truest drama ever written about the historic ncadbmy. It /Tpals (poVnan+lv tn+Ti fhe dpvo+ion of endets pledged to tbeir country’* service. the stern discipline, the tWOlm* sportsmanship of the pbvv’= football games, and + be love of two players for the same girl. f GRAND Jack Buchanan has always been popular with picture-goers as a light comedian, and his latest film will do much to enhance his reputation. Entitled ‘ Smash and Grab,’ it is being screened at the Grand.' This film introduces a new element—namely, mystery. Buchanan has a role similar to the American ‘ Thin Man.’ in ‘ Smash and Grab.’ His delightful fooleiy. whimsical manner, and keen appreciation of comedy are admirably suited to the role. In the story he has the assistance of Elsie Randolph, as his wife and helper, in a series of hilarious and exciting incidents surrounding the capture in Dublin of a gang of “ smash-and-grab ” thieves who have also murdered a receiver of stolen goods. Miss Randolph makes an admirable foil for Buchanan. Contrasting effectively with the comedy -of \ the. production is some hectic and thrilling melodrama. The mystery element is absent from the murder, and in this respect the film differs somewhat .from the ‘ Thin Man ’ series, but this in no way detracts from the entertainment value of the film. Miss • Randolph and Jack Buchanan have worked together as a‘ team in several films before, but they have seldom done better. The subsidiary casting has been well done, the supporting east including ■ Anthony Holies and Arthur Margetson. Smith Bellew becomes Harold Bell Wright’s most thriling hero in ‘ Western Gold.’ featuring Heather Angel, which is the second film. Ordered by President Lincoln to “ get the gold through !” the screen’s newest Western hero fights his way through the treacherous mountain passes. FINE COMEDY BILL. G.-8.-D.’s new comedy, ‘. . . Said O’Reilly to M‘Nab,’ which will be shown on Wednesday at the Grand, introduces some new comedy starf who are destined for popularity. First, there is Will Mahoney, who proves, to be just as great on the screen as'on the stage, and Will Fyffe, who is seen at his funniest; Robert Gall, promising lad from Glasgow, and Ellis Drake, especially chosen to play Mr Fyffe’s wife. Miss Drake is particularly interesting, for she is a descendant of the famous Sir Francis Drake, of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and her father was Poet Laureate of the Burns Federation in Scotland. She lias, been on the stage since she left and her first part was a woman of 60. Now she has a charming husband with whom she has never quarrelled. Her comedy role of a woman trying to reduce. in her_ first film, should reduce the most serious of filmgoers to helpless mirth. Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane. Spring Bvingtoh, Bussell Gleason, Kenneth Howell, George Ernest, June Carlson, Florence Roberts, and Billy Mahan assume their usual places around the Jones family dinner table in ‘ Big Business,’ the Twentieth Cen-tury-Fox picture which will be the second attraction.

STRAND There have been cowboy yarns showing the galloping hero in “ chaps ” and spur A on Broadway, or getting mixed up with society folk/in London’s Mayfair. There have been westerns describing virile heroes succumbing to civilisation’s progress or deserting it for the old ways. The western js one of Hollywood’s most reliable stand-bys. It is always certain of a great popular reception, for audiences seem never to tire of hard-riding, two-fisted action and outdoors romance. Let a new angle make an appearance, and its fortune is assured. Every subsequent action film will usually bo patterned after it. The latest word in westerns, however, may be said to he ‘ Hawaiian ißuckaroo,’ featuring Smith Ballew, which is now screening at the Strand. In this production the singing cowboy is seen in the strange and apparently incongruous .setting of Hawaii. _ Inc latest thing in college musicals, Columbia’s ‘ Start Cheering,’ is the associate feature and has a large cast or star names—Jimmy Durante, Walter Connolly, Joan Perry, Charles Starrett, Gertrude Niesen, Hal Le Roy, Raymond Walburn, and Johnny Green and his orchestra head the line-up. Others in the cast include Ernest Truex, Virginia Dale, Chaz Chase, Jimmy Wallington, and Louis Prima with his band. REGENT Friends of Sandy Powell will find a wealth of amusement in the famous British comedian’s latest film,. It s a Grand Old World,’ which his critics say is his best to date, and is at present screening at the Regent. Sandy s one interest in life is football, and he is attending a football game when the film opens. Sandy is “on the dole, and is disgusted when the Labour Exchange places him as stage hand .at a theatre. Sandy finds two interests at the theatre —the leading lady, Joan, with whom he falls in love, and a circus lion, which becomes the terror of his life, bandy becomes a hero catching the lion accidentally when it escapes; he also makes an enemy of the leading man by his attentions to Joan. Next he wins a football “pool,” and collects £16,000. He proceeds to turn the theatre upside down, and buys Joan s old ancestral home, which has been for auction. This he gives back to the family. Sandy goes out to the ancestral home, and finds what be thinks are gangsters plotting murder and all Kinds of villainy. Actually, it is the production of a picture in which Joan is starring, and Sandy rums the scene through breaking in at the wrong moment. Thoroughly morose, Sandy creeps away, but Joan rushes out to bring him back, and in a burst of joy they sing 1m favourite song. It s a Grand World.’ The first half of the programme provides excellent entertainment. STATE Pat Paterson and Zasu Pitts, featured in Walter Wanger’s/Fifty-sec-ond Street,’ which is enjoying a popular season at the State, and which dramatises the story or America’s also make their vocal debuts in tins picture. Miss Paterson, while doing a special dance nuifiber, introduces a new ballad, ‘I Still Love to Kiss You Good-night.’ ‘Twenty-three Skidoo is the comic melody presented by Miss Pitts. Other hit tunes featured in the production include ‘ Don’t Save Your .Love for a Rainy Day,’ ‘ I Would Like to See Samoa of Samoa, Nothing Can Stop Me Now,” ‘Fifty-second Street,’ and ‘ Let Your Hair Down. In addition to Miss Paterson and Miss Pitts the cast ..includes lan Hunter, Ella Logan, Leo Carrillo, Kenny Baker, and Sid Silvers. The picture is released by United Artists. Ella Logan, the soreen-radio-stage-night club personality who first won American fame on New York’s Fifty-second street, and is now starring in Walter Wanger’s screen version ‘Fifty-second Street/ and was born in Scotland, educated in England, trained in and Germany, and introduced to motion pictures in Holland. ‘ Fifty-second Sti'eet ’ is released through United Artists. ‘ THE HURRICANE.’ ‘ The Hurricane,’ latest evidence of the genius of Hollywood’s ace producer. Samuel Goldwyn,’ will be shown on Friday at the State. Stars of the production are two Goldwyn discoveries, Jon Hall and the lovely Dorothy Lamour. Hall is a glamorous character. He has the physique of a Johnny Weissmuller, and in addition possesses considerable dramatic ability. A talented supporting cast features Mary Aster, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, and Jerome Cowan. This film tells the history of a small island in the South Seas and the people who inhabit it. Their peaceful existence shattered by the wrongful imprisonment of their island hero, Terangi, they are eventually almost wiped out by a terrific hurricane which sweeps the South Seas. It is a graphic tale. OCTAGON For the last decade or so a great many of the popular songs the world signs and dances to have been turned out by Mack Gordon and Harry ißevel, ace song-writing team, whose signanature on a song cover is practically a guarantee of success. Yet even they will confess that it takes a good deal more than just a catchy tune to make a song “ hit ” from a melody featured in a musical motion picture. Nine times out of 10 it is the treatment accorded a number in a big motion picture extravaganza that will insure the success of a composition, although, of course, there must be “ something to begin with,” the composers agree. Consequently they spent many weeks in never-ending conferences with director Norman Taurog and musical director David Buttolph on the arrangement of their new tunes for the Twentieth Century-Fox comedy film, ‘ You Can’t Have Everything,’ which is having unpopular reception at the Octagon. Assured of a east invaluable to the success of any musical comedy, which includes Alice Faye, the Ritz Brothersl- Don Ameche, Charles Winninger, Louis Hovick, Rubinoff and his violin, and Tony Martin, the music experts concentrated on presentation, and the critics agree that this lias been done with considerable success. MAYFAIR 1 What happens when two of the world’s foremost dancing celebrities find that everybody believes they are married forms the hilarious theme of ‘ Shall Wo Dance?’ the newest Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical film from RKO-Radio, now at the Mayfair. Presenting the wing-footed Astaire as a famous ballet dancer and Miss Rogers as an equally renowned revue artist, the plot deals with a series of circumstances which bring about the marriage rumours. These rumours aro fostered by some pf the characters.

including Astaire himself, who is deeply enamoured of the lady, and denied by others, but the complications make for a delightfully entertaining picture, with tunes written by George and Ira Gershwin and with breath-taking dance numbers in novel settings, dances featuring not only the two stars themselves, but also Harriet Hoctor, America’s premiere ballerina. Jane Withers is seen in the Twentieth Century-Fox picture, ‘ Can This Be Dixie?* the second film. It was directed by George Marshall, who also collaborated with Lamar Trotti in writing the original story. A fine supporting cast includes Slim Summerville, Helen Wood, and Thomas Beck,