PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23448, 13 December 1939, Page 2

PICTURE THEATRES

GRAND Action, romance, and comedy are thoroughly mixed in ‘ The Girl and the Gambler,’ exciting story of Mexican border life, which heads the new bill at the Grand, with Leo Carillo, Tim Holt, and Steffi Duna in the top roles._ The film presents Carrillo as a combination Robin Hood and Cassanova of the border, who alternates his robbing of the rich to give to the poor with a carefree pursuit of the ladies. So when he makes a wager with one of his rebuffed aides that ho can win the heart of a dancing girl in a border town resort he expects little opposition. Unfortunately for his plans, the dancer is not at all interested, for she is in love with a young American who operates a dice table in a casino across the street. And when the bandit becomes insistent, sbe tells him that .She and the young American are.going to be married. But the bandit interferes with'this scheme by manoeuvring the American into a gun duel with one of his own followers, the affair ending with the death of the latter. The American is put in gaol, which is just ,where the bandit wants him, for he makes the American’s life the price of the dancer’s acquiescence to his plan. What happens -when a courageous cattleman mortgages his ranch in order to aid his fellow-ranchers fight the ruthless activities of a big meatpacking company provides a rip-roar-ing action in ‘ Racketeers of the Range,’ George O’Brien’s latest RKO Radio Western, which supports The Girl and the Gambler.’ STATE ‘ The Story of Alexander Graham Bell,’ a simple and movingly told story of a great invention, is now showing at the State, with Don Ameche, Loretta Young, and Henry Fonda in the leading parts. This film presents a highly romanticised story of Bell (Don Ameche), the inventor of the telephone, and his. struggles to put his “ miraculous invention ” on to a proper and paying business footing. Loretta Young is his deaf sweetheart, and later wife, who docs so much to keep the young inventor at his work in moments of discouragement. Henry Fonda is the hard-bitten assistant who follows bis friend like a faithful hound through poverty and disappointment to ultimate prosperity. The telephone is invented at last, but, despite some public interest, it is regarded as a toy. COMEDY “UNDER BIG TOP.” Acclaimed by Hollywood' critics as one of the most hilarious films of this year, * Peck’s Bad Boy With the Circus ’ comes to the State on Friday as the newest chronicle of Bill Peck’s lovable pranks and misadventures. Tommy Kelly, who played the top role in ‘Adventures of Tom_ Sawyer,’ is starred as Bill Peck in this, the first or a series based on the comical activities of this beloved light of literature. Ten-year-old Ann Gillis, who also appeared in ‘ Tom Sawyer,’ plays a juvenile circus bareback rider. Edgar Kennedy portrays a circus lion trainer, and other "principal roles are enacted by such notables as Billy. Gilbert, Behita Hume, Spanky, MacFa.rland, ■ rand Louise Beavers, directed by Edward. F.> Cline. This time the colourful 1 big top is the existing scene for Bill Peck’s trouble-making but Jaugh-pfovokihg. antics, Fleeced of his railroad faro to camp, Bill joins up .with a travelling circus obtain his transportation—and revenge. His boyish feats—like feeding sleeping potions secreted in frankfurters to the man-eating lions contribute to the generous hilarity of ‘ Peck’s Bad Boy With the Circus.’ The film is climaxed by a rousing crosscountry race, in a Roman chariot, to camp, where Bill wins a laugh and an action-laden obstacle race. EMPIRE The combination of Grade Allen’s many talents, a story by the late S. S. Van Dine, and excellent work by a large group of featured players results in one of the best mystery comedies to reach the screen this_ season. It is Paramount’s pieturisation of S. S. Van Dine’s ‘ The Grade Allen Murder Case,’ which is at the Empire, with Grade, Warren William, Ellen Drew, Kent Taylor, and Judith Barrett in the featured roles. Events leading to the picture’s initial murder get under wav when Gracie attends a picnic given bv her uncle for his perfume company. Grade pins the guilt of a murder on Kent inadvertently aiffi Ellen calls Philo Vance (Warren William) in to solve the case. It is liis toughest assignment—for Gracie almost obstructs justice with her hilarious deductions. SWEEPING SPECTACLE, A sweeping spectacle is Republic’s ‘ Alan of Conquest,’ which will be screened at the Empire on Friday. The picture has been received with tremendous enthusiasm by Press and audiences alike in America, England, and Australia. A cast of Hollywood’s most distinguished performers enacts every scene most convincingly. Richard Dix is Sam Houston reincarnated, an aggressive man of destiny. Joan Fontaine and Gail Patrick are cast as his first and second wives. In addition, there are splendid characterisations by Edward Ellis as Andrew Jackson, C. Henry Gordon as Santa Ana, Robert Armstrong as Jim Bowie, Victor Jory as William B. Travis, Robert Barrat as Davcy Crockett, and Max Terhune as Deaf Smith; portrayals that again bring to vivid life the famous heroes of the Alamo and the Texas-Mexico war of 1836. ‘ Man of Conquest ’ takes into careful consideration Sam Houston’s life from the time he dwelt with the Cherokee tribes for a year, through his career in politics, to his glorious campaign that resulted in an independent Texas. Interwoven prominently, too, is Houston’s friendship for Andrew Jackson —friendship born on a battlefield in the war of 1812. Republic has spared no expense in making ‘ Man of Conquest ’ an unforgettable document of Houston’s life. Production is lavish, great caro_ having been taken to ensure historical and technical accuracy. Action scenes in ‘ Man of Conquest ’ are gripping, especiallv at the Battle of the Alamo ana the "Battle of Jacinto, where Houston’s army routed Santa Ana’s.

REGENT Lionel Barrymore, as the cantankerous but human old doctor, guides Lew Ayres through another tempestuous adventure* in ‘ Calling Dr Kildare,’ second of the new medical detective series, which is being screened at the Regent. Ayres, as young Dr .limmy Kildare, gets into trouble with the police when, hifatnated by pretty Lana Turner, he hides and cares for a wounded murder

suspect. So there is nothing to do but find the real murderer to clear the boy. He sets out to do it, solves the riddle, then finds be has lost the girl ho did it for. The wily Dr Gillespie gets him out of his troubles in a deft dramatic twist. Several new charactcrs are added to the u Kildare family.” “SCROOGE” ON SCREEN. The'story of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ coming to the Regent on Friday, is known to the whole world; how the miser Ebenezer Scrooge sneers at the joy of Christmas, declaring it all “humbug”; how he discharges his clerk. Bob Cratchit, in a fit of rage; forbids his nephew, Fred, to wed; refuses all charity. He is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Marley, bound in the chains of his own inhumanity on earth, and conducted by three spirits first to his youth and his happy Christmases of that time, then to Christmas present, the misery among Loudon’s teeming population contrasted with the Christmas joy and love in the home of Bob Cratchit uitn his family and crippled son Tiny Tim. He learns that without his job Cratchit will not be able to provide treatment that will save the boy from death. He is shown the forgotten, untended grave bearing his name that will be his last resting place unless he changes. Regenerated, the miser spreads Christmas cheer, makes his nephew his partner that he may marry, re-employs Cratchit, and arranges for liny lim s car® as the drama closes with the child’s speech, “ God bless us, every one ” Reginald Owen’s portrayal ot Scrooge is finely balanced, and his make-up recreates, the original illustrations of the part.. Terry Kilburn is appealing as Tiny Tim, and Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, as the Cratchits, rnio'ht have stepped from the pages of the book. Barry Mackay, new English actor, is romantically pleasing as Fred, the romantic lead opposite Lynne Carver. The ghost is played convincingly by Leo G. Carroll.

ST. JAMES lu 1 Premiere,’ the main attraction on the St. James programme, the crime fiction lover will find great entertainment, for the solution of the murder of a theatre impresario in a crowded auditorium points to several possible culprits, but all their apparently questionable behaviour is explicable. Hie stars are John Lodge, Hugh Hnhams,; Judy Kelly, and Edmond itteon. The second film is ‘ 23i Hours’ Leave, from a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart A former silent hit, the film presents James Ellison as Sergeant Gray, and he is ably abetted by pretty Terry Walker. FAITH BALDWIN DRAMA. ‘ Comet Over Broadway,’ one of Faith Baldwin’s greatest stones, will ho the next feature attraction at the St. James. Busby Berkeley directed the picture, which stars Kay Francis and features lan Hunter, John Litel, Donald Crisp, Minna Gombel, Sybil Jason, Melville Cooper, lan Keith, Leona Marcical, and many other prominent players. Miss Baldwin’s story, adapted for the screen by the famous columnist, Mark Helliuger, and Robert Buckner, tells—as the title suggests—about the rise and fall of a great actress and the behind-scenes drama of her life, which causes her to give up her brilliant career and the man she loves in order to pay for a youthful mistake. An actress o‘f the calibre of Kay Francis has the title role in tho support, ‘Woman Doctor.’ An attractive cast, led by Henry Wilcoxon, lends strong support in this story of a woman’s struggle to combine a career and marriage. Claire Dodd, Sybil Jason, and Cora Witherspoon are _in important roles. As a doctor. Miss luescourt’s talents are constantly in demand, and she finds that her time with her husband and their little . daughter _is limited. When an emergency operation prevents her from joining her husband in tho celebration of their twelfth wedding anniversary, he finds solace in the company of another woman. Again, when other hospital duties keep the doctor from attending a musical recital in which her little girl is performing, this “ other woman ” alienates her husband by evincing interest in the daughter. Events' go to separate the husband and wife.

STRAND

‘ Heritage of the Desert,’ which is at the Strand, is a picturisation of Zane Grey’s Western classic, spinning •!;« fortunes of an Easterner who goes \\ est to find out what has happened to his lands and why a once prosperous estate is now worthless. The Easterner, realistically portrayed by Donald Woods, has his suspicions confirmed when in attempt is made upon "his life. Ho later finds out that C. Henry Gordon, Ins representative, has not only been cheating him of a fortune, but that he has been using his name as a shield for his other schemes. Otto Kruger, Gertrude Michael, and John Clements are the leading players in ‘ Stars of the Circus,’ the second attraction. ‘SOME LIKE IT HOT.’ The accent is squarely on swing in Paramount’s new romantic comedy, ‘ Some Dike It Hot,’ which will bo opened on Friday at the Strand. Starring Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, and Gene Krupa, whose orchestra is featured in the picture, the plot concerns the hairbrained efforts of Bob Hope to promote a place in the “ big-time ’ for himself and Krupa and his orchestra. But Bob is turned down by a hard-boiled agent, and when he meets Shirley Ross, she attempts to encourage him by letting him pawn her ring so that he will have enough money to finance his efforts, but he loses it in a game of dice, and ho loses almost everything when the girl and the ’ orchestra become famous on their own momentum. Fitting into the plot of the picture arc two grand new tunes. One is 1 Some Like It Hot,

played with mad abandon by Krup» and his orchestra, and the other is. ‘The Lady’s In Love With You,’ sung by Bob and Shirley. Behind a good portion of American crime is a beautiful, demanding, and brilliant woman,, That’s the belief of J. Edgar Hoover, Chief of G-men, who has written a thrilling story about such a character which, under the title of * Persons In Hiding,’ will be in support. Heralded' as the most amazing and frankest of all Hoover’s crime dramas, ‘ Persons in Hiding ’ traces the career of one of these “ crime queens,” a beautiful and thrill-mad girl, who gives up everything worth while in life to follow the star of a desperate killer. With , him she embarks on a spectacular career of plundering, killing, and eluding the, authorities until her uncontrollable feminine instincts betray her and her partner.

MAYFAIR Famed producers of the screen’s most notable “ shockers,” Universal studios reassume the position as leader in the field of spine-tingling drama# with * Son of Frankenstein,’ which heads the new programme at the Mayfair. It combines the stars of the original ‘ Frankenstein ’ and the equally shuddery ‘ Dracula,’ Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Basil Rathbone assumes the mantle of Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, possessor of the dread heritage of the family, a , destructive monster. In one of his most difficult roles, that of a doctor torn between love of. his wife and daughter and scientific fervour for his sinister experiments, Rathbone wins new laurels. The story, penned by Willi# Cooper, opens when the new Frankenstein figure returns to his ancestral castle 25 years after his father’s death, as stipulated by the elder Frankenstein’s will. He stumbles upon hi# father’s grim creation, the hair-rais-ing monster of destruction, played by Karloff. ‘ Personal Secretary ’ supports.