PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23270, 19 May 1939, Page 1

PICTURE THEATRES

. STATE A new actor in an old series of pictures is introduced to Dunedin moviegoers in ‘ Charlie Chan in Honolulu,’ which opened its local season at the 1 State this afternoon. For many years that popular Swedish actor, Warner Oland, portrayed the famous Chinese detective character, Charlie Chan, and it was thought by many that his untimely death would rob the screen of this favourite. So well-established had the Chan series become, however, that , the powers that be in Hollywood de- ; oided that it had to be carried on. 'To ’ this end they cast Sidney Toler, a char- ! acter actor who has been winning high praise from the critics of late, to take the place filled so successfully by . Oland. Their experiment has proved worthy of the attempt wherever the picture has been shown, and it is likely that many of Gland’s former fans will transfer their allegiance to Toler. Sen Yung portrays Chan’s energetic but rather thick-headed son, while Phyllis Brooks and John- King are also in the cast. The story is of the unravelling of a murder mystery on a ship in Honolulu harbour. OCTAGON Chief of the features which make ‘ Suez,’ which is now in its third week at the Octagon, an entertaining film, is the representation of a “ Zobanhad ” or “ devil wind of the desert,” which smites and almost wrecks the half-completed Suez Canal. For 10 aweinspiring minutes this combination of cyclone and duststorm howls across the screen producing a spectacle to equal the greatest in the cinema’s history. Only slightly less sensational is the explosion of a whole hillside brought about by Turkish guerrilla soldiers to hold up tho canal project. Hampering, but eventually inspiring Ferdinand de Lesseps ('Tyrone Power) in his work are the persistent attentions of the French actress, Annabella, cast as a waif of the desert whose devotion to the canal builder is unrequited. The central characterisation is of primary importance in the screen biography of any groat historical . figure, and Tyrone Power shows he has realised the fact by his portrayal of the great Frenchman. EMPIRE Twenty young Chinese doing the ‘ Big Apple ’ in a Shanghai cafe sounded the signal for Clark Gable and Myrna Loy to go back to work .in their seventh picture together. With praises for their recent work in ‘ Test Pilot ’ still ringing in their ears, Gable and Miss Loy began their new co-star-ring roles in ‘ Too Iloil o Handle.’ the story of daring newsreelmen covering epic news events around tho world, which is now at the Empire. The opening scenes for their new picture were filmed in a replica of a bamboo-latticed cocktail lounge in Shanghai’s International Settlement, and with Gable filming the ‘ Big Apple ’ for one of his newsreels. Miss Loy’s role is that of a courageous flyer who first meets Gable when she crashes her plane while landing in China. From Shanghai ruins, the action swings swiftly across the Pacific to bustling New York, then to the serenity of a Pennsylvania farm, and finally into the Amazonian jungles to rescue Miss Loy’s brother, a missing aviator. Walter _ Pidgeon plays the role ■ of Gable’s rival for news shots, and Miss Loy’s affections; Walter Connollv is seen as Gable’s boss, and Leo Carillo has the role of the star’s soundman. The remainder of , the cast includes Johnny Hines, Virginia Weidler, Betty Ross Clark, Henry Folker, Willie Fung, and Patsy O'Connor. The picture was directed by Jack Conway, who filmed the successful ‘ A Yank at Oxford.’ ST. JAMES Loyalty is the theme of ‘ Gangster’s Boy,’ which is the main attraction on the programme at the St. James. It is the story of two friends who planned about going to AVest Point. Jacky Cooper is Larry Kelly, star .athlete of the Andrew Jackson High School, who knows little about his idol, his father, except that he is »a wealthy man. Tommy Wonder is Bill Davis, the spn of Judge Davis, leader in the / town of Millford. AVhen Larry’s father retires from “ business ” to come to live with his son and wife in, the small .town, Larry’s last wish is granted, and he confides as much to Julie Davis, his girl friend. But dreams are blasted when Millford learns from newspaper headlines that Larry’s fat' r is “Knuckles” Kelly, a former racketeer. Larry’s loyalty to his father estranges Bill and Julie. On the night of the school dance there is an accident, and Bill_ is responsible, but Larry, believing his. father’sreputation will keep him from AA’est Point, takes the blame because he feels that Bill must go. From here the film builds up to a dramatic climax. The second feature is “ Blondes for Danger.' a British film, starring Gordon Barker. Alf Hughes (Gordon Barker) is a taxidriver with a hatred for blondes, due largely to the fact that one of them had served him with a writ for breach of promise. Late one night a woman (Enid Stamp Taylor) persuades him to drive her far into the country, and en route they pick up a stranger who keeps his face covered. Arriving at a deserted mansion, the couple alight, when suddenly a revolver shot crashes out, and the woman’s mysterious companion falls wounded. Thereafter Alf finds himself the unwilling conspirator. REGENT The screen greatness of Norma Shearer was never more convincingly established than in ‘ Marie Antoinette,’ which is now being screened at tho Regent. After the death of her husband, Irving Thalberg, Norma Shearer announced that she would retire from the screen. But now she emerges, more radiant and more magnetic than ever. She is tho central figure in a masque of kings. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has surrounded her witb the dazzling decor of the French court under Louis XV. and Louis XVI. It has clothed her in gowns of rare beauty, and photographed her with superlative art.-She proves herself worthy of the occasion, and her poise and bearing are distin-

guished. Her voice has an entrancing quality of gentleness. She makes the character of the ill-fated Austrian, Marie Antoinette, a dramatic creation of remarkable significance and stature. Endowed with such grace, charm, and beauty, Miss Shearer is a living Marie Antoinette. Audiences will see her as a spoiled royal darling, wearing a crown while still in her ’teens, and frustrated at tho beginning in her overpowering desire for love and happiness. Between her elevation to the throne and her end on tho guillotine she journeys from a hundred-room palace to a common gaol; from gaol to scaffold; from goldtn coach to tumbril; from admiration to hatred. AVhile cn route to the destiny prescribed for her, Norma Shearer once again gives a performance filled with singular emotional appeal, dramatic lire, and overwhelming tenderness. _ ; GRAND American producers are not slow to seize ou events of national and international importance ac the basis of their pictures. For instance, the sensational espionage activities reported from the United States of America some few months ago no doubt inspired ‘ .Smashing the Spy Ring,’ a Columbia production, which heads the double-feature programme at the Grand. As the title suggests, it is all to do with an extremely efficient spy organisation which succeeds in obtaining much secret information about aeroplanes, poisonous gases, and so on till a Government agent, endowed with good looks, a strong right arm, and a brain obviously more nimble than most, steps in and 1 scores one of those characteristic, “ clean-tups ” so dear to all lovers of thrilling fiction. The other feature. ‘ Homicide Bureau,’ presents Bruce Cabot as a fighting police lieutenant whose zeal, is curbed when he arrests .a gangster suspect on . a- charge of murder, only to have his evidence destroyed by Miss Hayworth, who appears as the police department’s new scientist. Working sometimes with and sometimes against each other, Cabot and Miss Hayworth, nevertheless, manage to track down the gunmen responsible for the deaths of honest junk dealers who- had refused to allow their •crap iron to be shipped abroad. .STRAND Presenting two;of Hollywood’s latest potential stars at. the Strand to-night will be ‘ Burn ’Em up, O’Connor,’ a modern story of the race tracks and the dare-devil drivers. Dennis O’Keefe has the leading role as a country youth who enters big races and encounters amazing adventures. Cecilia Parker, popular daughter of the Hardy Family pictures, has her first leading role: Both of these youngsters are on the way to stardom. A series of horrible crashes on the tracks have marred the ..but authorities-have beer, .jq liable to establish the cause. As he roars around a turn the new pilot suddenly goes blind. By instinctive feeling of the road and a perfect sense of timing, he brings the car in and unexpectedly! solves the mystery of "the. accidents which have been engineered by a gambler and a dishonest physical examiner at the track. A new series of detective stories will be introduced as “ James Lee AVong,” in the person of Boris Karloff, who makes his bow in Monogram’s ‘ Mr Wong, Detective.’ James Lee AVong is a native of San Francisco, an educated, cultured Chinese. He is a scientific “ test tube” detective, who revels in intricate cases. The more baffling tho mystery the more intrigued is Mr AVong. Signing Boris Karloff for the lead was a master stroke. Karloff, long known as the “ horror ” man, hated this epithet, and has yearned to become identified on the screen with a character who would have other claims to fame beside his ability to scare children. Boris Karloff spent weeks in research seeking a prototype for the Chinese detective. ‘ Mr AVong, Detective,’ is the story of a rare poison gas. and the matter of three men who tried to steal its formula. MAYFAIR Two outstanding English films are screening at the Mayfair, and they run the gamut of screen i entertainment, comedy, and drama being effectively blended. ‘Dr Syn,’ the first feature, serves to introduce the ever-popular George Arliss, who' has been absent from the. screen for some time. The second feature is the comedian Tom Walls’s latest production, ‘ Second Best Bed.’ Running along the traditional lines of Tom AValls’s films this is an hilarious tale of the complications of a married couple with the third of the “eternal triangle.” GREEN ISLAND ‘ Three Men on a Horse,’ which as a stage play is now well into its second year on Broadway and still going strong —and which has toured the country inseven road shows—will come in film form to the Green Island Theatre tomorrow. There is a grand east headed by Frank M'Hugh and Joan Blondell. M'Hugh. whose faintly-querulous laugh and outlandish antics have made millions laugh for the last six years—is cast as Erwin (pronounced Oiwin) — a timid and hen-pecked writer of greeting cards—who keeps to himself his weird gift of picking the winner, in horse races. He lias a book in which he notes his prognostications and imaginary winnings—until his wife finds it—and tihnks he is “ two timing.”