PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23353, 24 August 1939, Page 6

PICTURE THEATRES

EMPIRE Empire audiences are showing their approval of Universal’s latest comedy, ‘ You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man ’ in no uncertain terras. The film will conclude to-night. W. C. Fields and Charlie M'Carthy ■ (with Edgar Bergen and at times the uncouth _ Mortimer Snerd) are the reasons lor the film’s success, and they both excel themselves. Charlie M'Carthy is seen more often than in any previous feature, and is at all times extremely funny. ’.XTRAORDINARILY FUNNY. The main attraction for the new programme at the Empire to-morrow is ‘ Little Tough Guys in Society,’ featuring the famous Dead End kids and a supporting cast that includes such favourites as Mischa Auer, Mary Boland Edward Everett Horton, Helen Parrish, and Jack Searl. Scintillating performances are given by Miss Boland as the jittery dowager, whose son the young,ruffians “ go to work on,” Jack Searl as the son, Mischa Auer as a psychoanalyst, and Edward Everett Horton as the butler. ‘ Little Tough Guys in Society ’ has provided the opportunity for, three of Hollywood’s leading comedians to play together for the first time. The stars are Mischa , Auer, Edward Everett Horton, and Mary Boland. The last-named is east as an American society hostess, with a most objectionable young son whom she worships. 'This son refuses to get out of bed, and the doting mother, thinking he is suffering from some unusual malady, calls every famous doctor to his bedside. The last is Mischa Auer, who dabbles in hypnotism and curing of the soul. He tries to put his spell on the son'as he lies in bed, but it is the mother who falls under the doctor’s influence. .The doctor recommends low class playmates for the aristocratic son, and that is whore the “ little tough guys ” make their society debut and with extraordinary results. ST. JAMES Among the juvenile actors of the' present day, Mickey Booney has built around himself a reputation that Stands high in the estimation of the picture-going public, and justly so. In ‘ The Scrapper,’ the attraction to conclude to-night at the St. James, he has a part which enables him to make very full use of his dramatic ability. Also on the programme is ‘ Men Are Such Fools,’, adapted from a story by Faith Baldwin. . . LOVE ON WHEELS. A search for love on wheels, family life in a trailer going across the country, and contretemps arising from experime.nta in match-making by Freddie Bartholomew and Judy Garland furnish hilarity and romance in 1 Listen, Darling,’ coming to-morrow to the St. James, with Mary Astor, Alan Hale, and Walter Pidgeon as the experi-raented-with lovers. The new picture telle the story of a pretty widow, with a young daughter, who is about to marry the town banker (Gene Lockhart) she does not love .to insure her children’s security. The daughter (Miss Garland) enlists the aid of her schoolmate, .“ Buzz ” (Freddie Bartholomew), and they “ kidnap ” her in the family trailer, secretly plotting to find an eligible husband. On the trailer trip they fall in with a vacationing lawyer (Walter Pidgeon) and an insurance executive who promptly falls in love with Miss Astor. The situation is complicated further, when the banker shows up and pandemonium reigns humorously until the end. Novel entertainment is‘SOS Tidal Wave,’the i;ecent feature Republic production, which is to be the second attraction. In ‘ SOS Tidal Wave ’ the studio has gone ahead into to-morrow and given as hero a television commentator. With this new angle on which to base plot action, Republic have turned out a speedy film with a gripping climax. REGENT ‘ Four’s a Crowd,’ which is to conclude to-night at the Regent, has only one objective, and that is’to make the audience laugh. It is a bright, sophisticated comedy of the modern type, with a swift-moving story complicated by a rapid succession of novel and humoroussituations. The four persons- with whose adventures it is mainly concerned are a newspaperman (Errol Flynn), • a spoiled but charming heiress (Olivia de Havilland),' a clever and smoothtongued girl reporter (Rosalind Russell), and a rich playboy (Patric Knowles). SPENCER TRACY TRIUMPH. A graphic picture .envisaging the life and ideals of one of the most picturesque and useful communities in the world, ‘ Boys’ Town,’ which will be featured on the Regent programme tomorrow, exploits the attraction and appeal for modern audiences of the realties and practical problems of life enacted in story form. The: ministry among boys in the United States of America in the past quarter-century by the Rev. E. J. Flanagan bas become an epic of actual human redemption. Hollywood story writers, producers, and artists have turned it by medium of ‘ Boys’ Town ’ into a drama which promise's to carry a message of hope for the ultimate success of human endeavour to create, a better world. Basing the theme on the actual facts and setting of Father Flanagan’s re-created juvenile world, ‘ Boys’ Town ’ uses necessary theatrical license to make a story of the building of the enterprise and of the experiences of a hard-crusted bad boy who blundered into this colony and what the town did to him. Spencer Tracy, enacting the character and living the trials of Father Flanagan, with the help'of a capable cast, rebuilds this small city of redemption which has laws and customs all its own. Into this paradise enters Mickey Rooney, casehardened young anti-socialist. Drama, comedy, and pathos fill out the picture as the inhabitants of the little town get to work on Mickey. Henrv Hull. Little Bobs Watson (as “ Poe Woe ”). Leslie Fenton. Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, and Minor Watson have important parts in the big cast. STRAND 1 Pirates of the Skies,’- the attraction to conclude to-night at the Strand, is an exciting story of modern bandits pitting themselves against equally up-to-date police. Kent Taylor, Rochelle Hudson, and Lucien Littlefield are starred in this production, and all give good performances. ‘ His Exciting Night,’ which is a comedy starring Charlie Ruggies, is the supporting film. CHASING AMBULANCES. Jealousy, with' its over-attendant romance, fear, apd conflict, is the keynotfi

of ‘ Wives Under Suspicion,’ Universal’s drama, which will come to the Strand to-morrow. The film introduces a cast headed by Gail Patrick and Warren William. A relentless district attorney, a wife whoso love slowly turns to bate when she realises that her mate is rapidly losing the fine qualities that first attracted her to him, and a chain of circumstances which places the prosecutor in much the same position as the man who is now on trial for killing his wife. These arc the highlights that mark this Universal picture. Warren William and Gail Patrick are the district attorney and his wife, Lucy; William Lundigan and Constance Moore furnish the juvenile love interest; Ralph-Mor-gan portrays the gentle visionary who kills his mate in a tit of blind, jealous rage, and then narrowly escapes the gallows. ‘ Wives Under Suspicion ’ closely parallels a number of murder trials which have aroused nation-wide interest in the last few years. That bugaboo of big corporations, the ambulance chaser, is featured in.'‘The Chaser,’ which will support. The story, a relation of the incidents attendant upon the profession of chasing ambulances with both fun and profit in view sustains laughter from the opening sequence. Romance enters the picture in the attraction of Dennis O’Keefe, the ambulance chaser in person, to" Ann Morriss, who, unknown to him, is a spy in the pay of the Street Railway Company which has suffered mostly. . from O’Keefe’s activities. Supporting players include Lewis Stone, as the drunken doctor companion of O’Keefe, Nat Pendleton, known as “ Floppy ” because of his penchant for flopping in the wake of fast-moving vehicles, and .Henry O’Neill. THE PIONNE " QUINS ” FEATURED AT THE GRAND The Dionne quintuplets were rerevealed as true entertainers on the screen of the Grand last night in their third and best 20th Century-Fox starring picture, ‘ Five of a Kind.’ It was convincingly evident, from the spontaneous applause of a large audience that 20th Century-Fox has scored an outstanding entertainment scoop with this new quintuplets starring vehicle. Although the “ quins ” are the highlights of the picture with an amazing portrayal of their newly-acquired versatility, a well-knit and actionfnl story, the plot of which sweeps from the small Canadian village to the throbbing turmoil of metropolitan New York; pro-vides-a thrilling and entertaining background for the screen antics of these fascinating'youngsters. The “ quins ” have developed amazingly since their last picture, and their song and dance renditions are woven into the colourful story via a television broadcast that gives the picture ap ultra modern angle. 20th Century-Fox has endowed the picture with a superlative cast, superb photography, and lavish production ■value's. Jean Hersholt excels in his role of the beloved doctor and gives a convincing and gripping performance. The fast, breezy action, romance, and thrills of the story, however, revolve around the other members of the cast, notably Clair Trevor, :as an ace . reporter,' and Cesar .Romero, romantically inclined toward * Claire, but her resourceful and persistent rival in other matters. Slim Summerville, Henry Wilcoxon, Inez Courtney, John Qualeu, Jane Darwell, and Pauline Moore are also featured. '; ' The action starts when Romero, causes Claire to lose her job through the planting of a phony story . . She makes a new bid lor success by trying to ,-sign up the “ quins ” ; fori, a 'series of broadcasts after seeing them in a newsreel. Amusing complications develop which, after many vicissitudes, are brought to a logical conclusion. ‘Meet-the Girls’ is the-second feature. The Big Town Girls are the liighly-attractive June Lang and Lynn Bari. Their first exciting escapade together, which forms the subject of the picture, opens in Honolulu, where they are stranded without funds or farie back to the States. In the hope of finding breakfast the girls board, the San Fran-cisco-bound liner Maori, which sails before they can disembark." When they accidentally observe the theft of a valuable‘diamond aboard the ship the excitement begins. Robert Allen, Ruth Donnelly, Gene Lockhart, Wally' Vernon, and Erik Rhodes are included in the cast of the film,, which is one of.the Movie Quin . 250,000d0l contest pictures. • • ’ . STATE Gracie Fields has seldom given her millions of followers a greater feast of fun than she does in her second Twentieth Century-Fox release, ‘ Keep Smiling,’ which is the attraction on Friday at the State. From the first moment, when we moot her as a burlesque “ Tommy,” having difficulty with her uniform, to the last scene at a luxury beach pavilion, she is the life and soul of the party. Monty Banks, director of Gracie’s last success, ‘ We’re Going to be Rich,’ has derived the utmost from his story and cast. The story of ‘ Keep Smiling ’ provides filmgoers with a refreshing tonic. A riotous show is being staged in a provincial theatre by a touring music hall troupe, with Gracie Fields as their star. Their manager, played by Joe Mott, has agreed to give charity the proceds, but is discovered attempting to keep most of the money himself. Gracie leads the troupe in rebellion, and they walk out on Mott. Penniless, they determine to start their own company. Gracie takes them all to her grandfather’s farm. Avis (Mary Maguire), the troupe’s soubrette; Bert (Roger Livesey), the pianist; Denis (Jack Donohue); and six other raembris of the company go with Gracie to the farm. They completely upset the routine of the place with their rehearsals in the open air. infuriating old Silas Gray (Edward Rigby). It is a stray dog (“ Skippy ” of ‘ Thin Man ’ fame) who eventually helps the troupe to success at a seaside pavilion, but only after the villainous manager has been severely dealt with, romance has flourished between Avis and a celebrated pianist (Peter Coke), and the love of Bert for Gracie lias been declared.

MAYFAIR Will Fyffe, the Scottish comedian, who obtained wide popularity as a radio personality before his first film, ‘ Said O’Reilly to M'Nab,’ won him even a greater following, heads the cast of ■ Owd Bob,’ which is at the Mayfair. His characterisation in this production is one of the most delightful pieces of screen artistry that has been seen for some time, and Fyffe makes Adam M'Adara, the wily old shepherd of the Cumbcrlandi hills, a living personality. John Loder and Margaret Lockwood supply the romantic interest, and two other important characters are Owd Bob and Black Wull, sheep dogs owned by Loder and Fyffe respectively. Of. a decidedly different nature is ‘ Cowboy from Brooklyn,’ the second attraction, with Dick Rowell, Pat O’Brien. Dick Foran, and Priscilla Lane. Blended with an amusing story are melodic interludes. in which Powell,'Miss Lane, and several cither nfemhers of the cast sing the five new songs written for this production, as well as some old-time cowboy ballads.