PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23311, 6 July 1939, Page 6

PICTURE THEATRES

EMPIRE Tho final screening of ' Heart of the North, 1 a gripping story of the Royal Canadian Mounteu Police, will he given at the Empire to-night. Hick korun has the leaning role and Gloria Hickson plays opposite him, while there is an exceptionally strong cast of supporting players. ROMANCE OF FRANCOIS VILLON. One of the most picturesque and. romantic fellows, ever to strut across the. pages of history, Francois Villon, forms .the central ; figure in Frank .Lloyd's newest production,.lf i Were King/ which Paramount will present; at- the Empire to-morrow. Ronald Colnian, master of romantic parts, will be seen as the great poet, vagabond, lover, statesman, and soldier, the people’s hero who held all France in the palm of his hand for one unforgettable wees and taught a royal princess hoVy to Jove; Lloyd, whose ‘ Cavalcade,’ yj utiny on the; Bounty,’ and ‘ Wells,Fargo ' have: been among the greatest triumphs, of the screen, selected a' brilliant cast'to snppojt Colman. It includes Basil ilathbone, as the cynical and eccentric Louis XI. of France, Frances Dee, as the lovely princess who made a national hero out of a vagabond poet, and Ellen Drew as Villon’s tavern sweetheart. An excellent associate programme-includes a musical feature.,' Moments ofCharm/ photographed in technicolour, and introducing Phil Spitalny and his. all-girl ensemble. A “ Pop-eye ” cartoon and •the third episode of ‘ Tho Lone Ranger ’ are also, on l , the programme. ST. JAMES , f ifth "in the popular ' Gold Digger series,; ‘.Gold Diggers in Paris,’ which will conclude its season at the St. James to-night, in association' with ‘ Queer Cargo,’ is another, elaborate Warner Bros, musical. Rudy Vallee, after an absence-of three years, returns to the screen as star of the film 'domestic'complications. A new standard for tangled domestic situations is. reached in Paramount’s. new comedy, ‘ Say It In French,' which - opens to-morrow at. the St. Janies. It is a ; story of complications that arise when ■ a young American society lac) returns from abroad with a French bride only to learn that he must shield his marriage from , the world and announce his engagement to a New York heiress in order to!prevent his father’s shipping ' business yfroim going on the rocks. This, unusual situation reaches the hilarious when the bride fakes a ■job’as maid .with her husband’s family ih order to bo near him until they iron out: their difficulties. Ope mad- incident follows another as,the young man announces his engagement to stave off a panic, while bis wife devotes her efforts to nipping the family scandal in ,the bud. Playing together for the first' time, two of Paramount’s top stars, Ray Milland and Olympe Bradna, will be seen as the young husband and wife Iwhen the picture opens at the St. James Theatre to-morrow. The associate feature will be ‘Accidents Will Happen/ an expose of a new “racket ” to defraud insurance companies. The :cast includes Ronald Reagan and Joan Biondeli’s sister, Gloria.

. ‘ REGENT One of the most pleasing and thoroughly entertaining pictures in the “crazy” tradition yet to be released in New Zealand is 1 You Can’t Take It With You/ which will be screened finally' at the Regent to-night. It is more than a story of gay irresponsibility; it has a message, the old but always true one ■ that money is not everything and that its purchasing power is, after: all, very limited. A ROMANTIC DRAMA. (n a heart-stirring drama of a woman who loved not wisely but. too well, Luise Rainer reveals her consummate acting talents in ‘ The Toy Wife.’ ivhich opens at the Regent to-morrow. Laid against the Colourful background of Louisiana in the 1850’s,'this romantic drama offers an impressive supporting cast, headed by Melvyn Douglas and Robert Young, two men who figure in the heroine’s romantic, but turbulent, life Luise Rainer, whose role In the picture is that of “ Frou-frou ” Brigard, is seen as a frivolous, lighthearted girl, tho equally irresponsible wife, and finally the broken woman, over-burdened by her misfortunes, ami a victim to her follies. Melvyn Douglas returns to the type of role in which he was last seen- in ‘The Gorgeous Hussy/ and is cast as George Sartoris. a rising voting attorney and politician, and childhood friend of Frou-frou. While he loves her. Frou-frou has found an affinity in dashing, reckless Andre Villaire (Robert Young), gambler mid duellist. Frou-fron’s irresponsibilities wreck the Sartoris home, and when her sister Louise (Barbara O’Neil)—who loves George—is called in to manage its affairs, Frou-frou flies into a rage and leaves to seek out Villaire. Thereafter she becomes poverty-stricken and miserable. There is an excellent supporting programme. STRAND Hopalong Cassidy is seen in something now in 1 Sunset Trail/ which finishes at the Strand to-night. For once he poses at a dude visitor to a guest ranch, and with his chaparrejos and gun belt he sheds the Cassidy behaviour, emerging ns the timid, awkward Easterner, in which role he is unexpectedly humorous. ‘ Disbarred ’ is the second film. ‘ GAMBLING SHIP.’ A timely, action-filled drama, in which a special investigator uses motion pictures to trap a crooked gambling ring, Universal’s ‘Gambling Ship,’ will open at the Strand to-mor-row. 'Robert Wilcox, who plays an under-cover man posing as a gangster; Helen Mack, as a beautiful young gambling ship owner; Ed Broph.v, as a comedy thug; Joseph Sawyer, as an ox-prize fighter and loyal bodyguard; and Irving Pichel. as a scholarly gang loader, have leading roles. Action starts off when a speedboat explosion sets the stage for a gambling war that ends only after a scries of mishaps and misunderstandings between n romantic pair, the investigator and the girl who operates a floating casino in open defiance of a powerful gang. High-seas romance and an expose of red-handed racketeering in tho gambling game provide dramatic highlights in the story.

Tile associate feature. ‘Little Miss Thoroughbred,’ introduces a new childstar in Janet Chapman. John Litel. Ami Sheridan, and l''rank M‘l I ugh '•••v,., important roles in support of her.

ATTRACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT GRAND’S NEW PROGRAMME With an unconventional but convincing, happy ending, 1 Let Us Live,’ which heads the new programme at the Grand, is the type of- film too seldom made by Hollywood. It is serious drama, acted with power and conviction. The statement, made on good authority, that 30 per cent, of the people in prison are innocent of the charges preferred against them gives a background of fact to the plot of the filin', and adds considerably to its’value. The story varies an old plot the betrayal of an innocent man by the relentless and unimaginative machinery of the law—but is adroitly treated to stress the mental effect on the victim, without being too psychologically introvert! It is a “ thriller ” in a manner of speaking, but what gun play there is lias been put in its proper place. Even the baffling problem with which the heroine had to wrestle, while her man awaited “ the hot seat.” was quite subservient to the real “ message M of the story.

Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Sullivan are engaged, and Fonda, who is a taxi driver, takes Maureen to churchy, waiting for her outside. Just around the corner from him tragedy is afoot, several gangsters murdering the guard of a movie theatre while they rob the house, then making their getaway in a cab. The police apprehend every driver who drove that particular kind of taxi. Fonda among them, and ns Alan Laxter is Fonda’s room mate, they take him also. In the manner of reality, some of the theatre employees swear to them as two of , the gang; Maureen’s evidence is discredited, and the men are held for trial. The police are anxious to get a conviction, not earing very much as to the correctness of the finding, so the victims are tried and sentenced to ho electrocuted. Meanwhile Maureen is endeavouring to got evidence to save the innocent youths, and even manages to get something that changes the mind of one of the police, Inspector Ralph Bellamy, who becomes convinced that she is. right, and he resigns in cider’ to. follow the fresh clues, hut it is only onfi'bc very day, of the execution the gang and the stolen- stuff. ' The police arrest three men. and Then ,the theatre employees identify thent as.” the real criminals. V , - The supporting feature is ‘.Trapped in the Sy.’, a thrilling feature of sabotage in the air and the chase for the plahsofa'secret military, plane. 'JackHolt, Katherine de Millc, Qr Henry Gordon and Svdney Blackmer appear in the cast. ■” ■ .r . STATE

Bernard Sliaiv’s . brillianteonicdy ‘ .Pygmalion continues to attract ’large audiences tp the State. As the eccentric Professor Higgins, a phope,tic.i,expert who wages that he can educate a Covcnt Garden .flower- girl,sufficiently to have her accepted as a society debutante at a dnehe-ss’s reception within three months, Leslie Howard has never, had a role more subtly suited to his personality, and never one which ;he lives with greater relish. A Lancashireborn actress, Wendy Hiller, personally selected for the role bv Bernard Shaw, plays the part of the cockney girl with rare ability and understanding. She is one of the greatest acquisitions to the screen in the past few years. Wilfred Lawson as the girl’s..father, who accepts £fr for' his daWghttvig 'btVt refuses £lO “ because it would be against his principles,’’ gives what many consider the finest supporting performance in a character role seen ih any film for a considerable period. MAYFAIR Gnomeland, with its population of those wonderful Beings, elves, dwarfs, enchanted birds and beasts, witches, and lovely ladies that weave magic spells, and dance and sing through perpetual sunshine, is brought to the screen of the Mayfair in- ‘ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,’ which commenced last night. To all who have read Grimm’s' fairy tales a real treat is provided when they see this picture. More important yet is the fact that ‘ Snow White ’ is produced in techni,colour by Walt Disney in full length. It is an* event in film history ranking in significance with the birth : of the first talkie. It is not only a delightful vision of Gnomeland and jts wonderful little people, screened with marvellous beauty and full of rollicking comedy but it is dramatically appealing. The story of the jealous queen’s attempted murder of the little princess, who is valiantly aided by her tiny friends, the dwarfs, is a genuine thriller , with trenchant appeal for young and old.