PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23653, 13 August 1940, Page 4

PICTURE THEATRES

: STRAND $ 1 : ' Black Friday,’ at the Strand, is a •1 (Briant on the story of Dr Jekyll and k »tr Hyde. A famous brain specialist ?!: W yes the life of a friend by transplant!j. ing into this man’s head the brain cells i, belonging to a criminal. So the friend, = who is professor of English at an Ame- ’ rican college, has bouts when his whole ;■ personality changes and. the forces of fdestruction are released. The second if production is ‘Kid Nightingale.’ I REGENT £ Dunedin hde seen and welcomed the .* play 1 Balalaika,’ and now theatref goers have the opportunity of wjtness:,fng Hollywood’s cinematic version of ‘■'this world-famous stage play. It is $ still filling the Regent, although'in its second week. I COMING OF STEAM SHIPS. t Douglas Fairbanks, jun., Margaret • Lockwood, and Will Fyffe are the prinvcipals of ‘ Rulers of the Sea,’ which '[comes to the Regent on Friday. ‘ Rulers of the Sea ' is woven round ;:‘a courageous inventor who undertakes '"to prove that the steam engine ho has ; perfected can drive a ship across the 1 Atlantic. He is helped to the ultimate i realisation of his dream hy a young seaman who has had enough of the brutal treatment meted out by the v skippers of sailing “ packets,” and Jby a, brave daughter —a girl in love with the mariner — whp wisely guides her '.father and the man she loves to sucEMPIRE The adventures of Maurice Xavier, ; who returns to life to wreak vengeance ■ and to find victims so that he can keep .himself alive with their blood, are told .in * The Return of Doctor X,’ the eerie "film that heads the Empire programme. MADCAP MARX BROTHERS. ;; The madcap Marx Brothers now ’turn their guns of mirth upon the circus in their newest comedy riot, * At \ the Circus,’ which will be opened on Friday at the Empire. To enable, the Marxes to tear a circus to pieces with , their picturesque antics a complete i three-ring, streamlined circus was constructed, with modernistic menagerie, ; sidn-ihows, and all the other appur- ; teuances for their pleasure. In the .cast are Florence Rice, furnkhing the 'romantic interest with Kenny Baker; ■ Nat Pendleton, as the world’s strongest ;man; Eve Arden, the upside T down girl .who walks on the ceiling. ‘ At. the CSr- ‘ cus ’ is the hilarious story ,of two circus ‘clowns. Harpo and Chico, who engage a crackpot lawyer, Groucho, to prevent Kenny Baker, part-owner, from losing lik share of the circus, and they ■succeed in the most riotous fashion. I ■ ——— % GRAND • > Fhw people, are but Gordon Harlcer, who has lilie ..leading role" in ‘ Inspector Hornleigh _on Holi?day,’ to finkh to-night at the Grand, . has the gift of perfectly effortless hu- . nsour. The support is a Jones family comedy introducing Joan Davis as a country cousin of .the Joneses. . THRILLING ACTION. Based upon, the dangerous consequences of mistaken identity, Columbia’s ‘ Fugitive at Large,’ with Jack Holt playing a dual stellar role, promises to reveal an ingenious and absorbing melodrama when it opens at the Grand to-morrow. The film has already been acclaimed as Holt’s best, not only because of its enthralling story, but also because the outstanding supporting cast features such personalities as Patricia Ellis, Stanley Fields, and Guinn (Big Boy) Williams. Starting from the moment when a bandit trio hold up the payroll car of the construction company for which Holt is engineer, the film scatters action sequences with extravagant profusion. The darinz hold-up is successful be- , cause of the resemblance between the leader of thegang and" the construction boss. The engineer is blamd for the crime and sentenced to a long prison term. ■' How, be eventually turns the tables'is said to 1 make a most exciting film'narrative; The associate feature. ‘ Two-fisted ' Banger.’ stars Charles SturretL Iris Meredith, and the ‘ Sons of the.fPioneers,’ a hill-billy combination.' STATE The schemes _of mice and men gang aft agie.y. This Robbie Burns quotation explains the title of ‘ Of Mice and Men,’:. ; which Bat .the State. But it gives no due' whatever to the character of the story,_to the stark realism with which the life of a certain class of unskilled worker, is revealed, the dreams of the human mice and the crashing tragedy that misunderstanding brings. POPULAR CLASSIC* FILM^P, One. of the most popular classics'over the past century has at last been adapted to the screen. This is ‘ Swiss Family Robinson,’ which will be shown at the State on Friday. It is a story ideally suited for film production, with its romantic adventure theme. Thomas Mitcholl, Freddie Bartholomew, Edna Best,' and Terry Kilburn portray the Robinsons. ST. JAMES ‘ Unexpected Father,’ at the St. James, features Mischa Auer and Baby Sandy. The support is the story of a number of small-town Americans who become involved in a murder case. ‘DEAD END ’ KIDS AGAIN. As the title so aptly indicates. ‘ The Angels Wash Their Faces,’ the Warner Brothers’ picture which will bo opened at the St. James on Friday, presents the six 1 Dead End ’ Kids in the some-

what unfamiliar guise of law-abiding citizens. Ann Sheridan heads the adult contingent of players, which also includes Ronald Reagan, Henry O’Neill, Eduardo Ginuelli, and Ilerton Churchill, and in addition to the Dead Enders. the juvenile contingent includes such accomplished youngsters as Frankie Thomas, Bonita Granville, and Jack vSearl. The picture is exciting and engrossing entertainment. OCTAGON Twentieth Century-Fox prepared the way for a great job of work when they commissioned Darryl F. Zanuck to produce ‘ Stanley and Livingstone,’ screening at the Octagon. DISNEY’S ‘ PINOCCHIO.’ When Walt Disney decided to produce his version of ‘ Pinocchio,’ which u;ill be presented at the Otagon on Friday, the idea of n cricket contained in the original story so appealed to him that he instructed his story department to build up the part of the little insect. As a result, instead of being killed, as in the beginning of the book, the cricket was named Jiminy, dressed in fine clothes, and is in the production from the first scone to the last. Over a period of two years more than 100 small boys were tested for the voice of Pinocchio. The list was finally narrowed down to 15, from which the studio casting department chose an eight-year-old boy who has done considerable motion picture work, ami whose voice combined qualities of charm and mischievousness. MAYFAIR That delightful American family, ihc Hardys, is in ‘ Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever,’ which i.s to finish to-night at the Mayfair. The second film, 1 Undercover Doctor.’ is a thrilling drama of a doctor who throws in his lot with criminals. YOUNG AND ANNABELLA. One of the year’s best comedies will come to the Mayfair to-morrow in ‘ Bridal Suite,’ a comedy of newlyweds, which stars Robert Young and Annabella. Kay Francis and Humphrey, Bogart will be seen .in ‘ King of the Underworld.’ a gripping drama, which will support.