PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23803, 6 February 1941, Page 6

PICTURE THEATRES

j OCTAGON New drawing (o llic c'ore of a successful season at Hie Octagon. ‘ Tbc Blue Bird’ has ai I .'lined a popularity which has juftifieri the great expert aliens with 'which this lilm was awaileil. Presenting Shirley 'l'l’inplr; in the role of the little girl who with her brother sets out into fairyland to discover the Bine Bird which is the symbol of happiness, the film is most, lavishly and imaginatively produced in lechnieolonr. ■ LUCKY PARTNERS.’ A gay Greenwich Village lass and a handsome stranger win 6,000d0l on a joint’.yowned sweepstake ticket in ‘ Lucky Partners,’ which will have its first local screening at the Octagon to-morrow. (linger Rogers, as the impetuous girl, is pleasantly wished good luck by an artist, played by Ronald Oilman She persuades the genial lo join her on a sweepstakes ticket. He makes one stipulation—that, if (hey win, she must accompany him on a platonic honeymoon I rip before she marries her staid fiance and settles down to tranquil domesticity. The situation, with hilarious adventures and romantic complications, stamps ‘Lucky Partners’ as one of (ho season’s best, comedies. The couple win, ami they embark for Niagara .Falls, posing as brother and sister. From (heir delightful experiences arises a tender romance in the picturesque lovers’ paradise. The arrival of the jealous fiance and a courtroom trial disclosing the artist’s past lead to a hilarious climax. Spring Byington, Jack Carson, and many other noted players have important roles. STRAND Joe E. Frown and Martha Rave fall in love with each other in the riotous comedy, ‘ Champion Chumps,’ which heads the programme at the Strand, Brown turns football coach to join forces with Martha, in running a “ broken-down ” college. How (hey manage to make tilings turn out successfully is thoroughly amusing fare. The supporting film is ‘ Blondio on a Budget.’ ‘ RANCHO GRANDE.’ ‘ Rancho Grande,’ Gene Autrey’s latest, will be shown at the Strand to-morrow. It is an engaging talc about a ranch foreman who saves Dodge holdings from foreclosure and is told in a spritely manner with hiring songs and gay dialogue. Gene Autry plays the young foreman of the Rancho Grande, ■who is guardian of the madcap Dodge heirs —Kay Dodge, her brother and boon companion, Tom, and their kid sister, Fatrieia. Because of Ihe harum scarura antics of the Dodges. Gene has a hard time counteracting (.he treachery of Benson, the family lawyer, who is secretly striving to gain control of the Rancho Grande. Benson is constantly stirring the Dodges into revolt against what they consider Gene’s iron-band tactics. Also on the bill will be the latest Aldrich Family film, starring Jackie Cooper, and entitled ‘ Life With Henry,’ who plays the same rolo he had in the first of the scries, ‘ What a Life.’ REGENT Clark Gable and Joan Crawford make a brilliant, team in ‘ Strange Cargo,’ which heads the programme at the Regent, and they are supported by a great all-name cast. ‘ Strange Cargo ’ is (bo story of a group of nine desperadoes wbo escape from a .South American island penal colony. Two are killed at tbc outset, but six, joined by a dancing g.rl, light their way through the jungle and reach a sloop which is to carry them to safety. ‘ THE WAY OF ALL FLESH.’ Heralded as a most unusual and absorbing screen drama.,' the Paramount picture, ‘ The Way of All .Flesh,’ featuring Akira Tamiroff, Gladys George, William Henry, and Muriel Angelas, will open at (lie Regent to-morrow. The story visualises the downfall of a happy husband and father, a bank casbicr in a small town, wbo is duped by a band of criminals and the allure of an adventuress, and thereby loses a fortune in securities which has been entrusted lo him for delivery to a client in Now York. The rclc of (ho casbicr is said to be one of (lie most exacting ever undertaken by Akira TamivotT. EMPIRE 4 When the Daltons Rode ’ is a popular film at the Empire. The Daltons were the most famous of all the mid-Western American outlaws, and in tbc film they are created by Brian Donlcvy, Broderick Crawford, Stuart Erwin, and Frank Albertson. Tracing thoir careers from their ranching days, the film carries them through a series of daring exploits brought to a climax by the celebrated raid on Coffeyvillc, when the gang was destroyed. •THE GHOST BREAKERS.’ In creating a mystery story—whclber it is lo bo read, or seen in picture formtin prime essential is lo provide clues and yet be able to baffle everyone as to the solution until the actual denouement. Advance reports indicate that Paramount has achieved this far too infrequent feat in ‘ The Ghost Breakers,’ to-morrow’s attraction for the Empire. The stars of ‘The Cat and the Canary,’ Boh Hope and Paulette Goddard, are again the featured players, supported by a cast which features Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas, Anthony Quinn, and Willie Best. In the story Paulette inherits an eerie castle on ail island off Cuba. Mysterious people, seemingly unrelated, warn her not to visit her estaje and its house of horror, as death awaits her. Desperate efforts are made to persuade her to- sell, but—aided and abetted by Bob Hope—she spends a nervewracking night in the castle, peopled with ghosts and riddled with sliding panels and hidden dungeons. ST. JAMES The main attraction at the St. James, 1 Remember the Night,’ combines the right amount of romance, comedy, and drama lo give it a wide appeal. Barbara Stanwyck gives another outstanding role as a girl who has had no chance in life, and who is driven, in the end, to crime. The associate lilm, ‘Nancy Drew, Trouble Shooter,’ is a fast-moving comedv, with Bonita. Granville as a youngster with a flare for criminology. ‘THE GHOST COMES HOME.’ ‘The Ghost Contes Home,’ featuring Frank Morgan in one of (lie most hilaiTons roles of his career, is the attraction coming to-morrow to the St. James, with Morgan as a small-town storekeeper tangling with night chib high life and the problem of spending a million on his home town amid tribulations galore. The slow deals with a timid pel-shop keeper who', after being supposedly dead in a sldpwreck. returns homo to find his family gleefully spending his insurance money, and (rial’s ami complications keep up the hilariousliess until ho exposes I Sic local banker and becomes the town’s No. 1 bero. Bilbo Burke plays (lie wife and Ann Rutherford Hie daughter. Stuart Erwin, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, and .lean Muir head an excellent, east, that will be seen in ‘ Dance, Charlie, Dance,’ the supporting feature. Two girls who arc newcomers to the screen, although they have won considerable renown on the musical comedy si age, make (heir first appearance in the picture—Collette Lyons and Olivo Olson. Bulb have been Broadway stars, and great tilings are expected of them.

‘ SO YOU WON’T TALK * JOE E. BROWN AT GRAND ’ Su Vou Won't 1 . Talk? * which ©pencil vc?(onlay at. Dio Grarnl, pro.-cnts Jon K. Brown in one of liis most delightful roles. As a nin id book critic who hides his inferior com* I pinx behind a beard, Brown again proves himself a major exponent of (ho school of philosophy whose members inevitably get ihemseivcs into eliilk.-ult situations and hilariously contrive to get themselves out again. As a tight-lipped gangster newly released from prison Brown proves himself as brilliant a dramatic actor as he is a comedy star. Brown is called upon, at times, to appear as Die killer masquerading as the critic, and as Die critic masquerading as the killer. Blasting Die ‘ Bscort Bureau ’ racket, wide open, Columbia Pictures has turned the spotlight on the city's most vicious blackmail gang —the mobsters who prey on pretty escorts and their unsuspecting boy friends in ‘ Glamour For Sale,* which is in support. The film dramatises Dio sensational story behind the scenes whore lovely escort ladies act as the front for their blackmailing bosses. As revealed by Columbia, most of these bureaus operate in Die same way. liOneiy business men, in town for a few days, arc steered to those crooked agencies where their references arc promptly cheeked. Ff the client proves rich enough for a shakedown, a meeting is arranged with one of the girls. Co-operating with the bureau’s photographer, the girl does the rest, paving the way for her blackmailing employers. STATE • Tba Lady in Question ’ has been proving popular entertainment at the State. Heading the cast are Brian Aherno and Rita Hayworth. Aherno appears -as a middle-aged cycle merchant, who through a promise to befriend a young woman find.-, himself involved in an hilarious and often uncomfortable series of incidents, not the least of which is a murder trial. • BAND WAGON.’ The featured film at the State to-mor-row will be ‘ Band Wagon,’ starring the inimitable Arthur Askey, Britain’s newest and most popular vaudeville, radio star. Arthur Askey was born in Liverpool. When a small child he used to escort his mother to various pantomimes, and from seeing those performances lie actually gained a leaning towards the stage. At the Liverpool Institute, young Askey became the centre of all amateur shows., He was also the leading light of the church choir of SI. Michael-in-thc-ITamlct, Liverpool. When the 1914 war clouds hovered over Europe, Askey was only 15—not old enough to join the forces, and so to “ do his bit ” he went the rounds of the various Liverpool hospitals singing to the wounded soldiers. When reaching the age of necessity of working for his living Askey took the post of clerk in the Liverpool Municipal Council. He never advanced, and by the year 1924 lie was still just a “ pin-striped clerk.” When performing at a private party, a producer noted his talent and offered him the job of principal comedian at the Olympic Gardens, Bockferry, at £6 10s a week, and that started him on the road to success. MAYFAIR At the Mayfair. ‘Henry Goes to Arizona ’ is a charming picture filled with humour, and concerns a man who sets off for the cattle lands full of high hopes, only to have his ideas of prosperity soon shattered in a train of amusing sequences. Frank Morgan heads the distinguished cast. An insight into the United States preparations for aerial defence is presented in ’ 20,000 Men a Year,’ which is in support. HIS MAJESTY'S The main attraction at His Majesty’s, • Mad About Music,’ is another Deanna Durbin triumph. Herbert Marshall gives a fine performance as a composer who, much to his surprise, is adopted by Deanna as a father. The second attraction is ‘Loiter of Introduction,’ the film which made Charlie M'Carthy so famous. ‘GOOD-BYE, MR CHIPS.’ Robert Donat, who gave the screen one of its finest performances as the idealistic doctor of ‘The Citadel,’ once again reveals his consummate artistry and acting skill in ‘ Good-bye, Mr Chips,’ the film version of the celebrated James Hillcu novel, which will commence a return season at His Majesty’s to-morrow. The story of ‘ Mr Chips ’ is the story of the education of youth the world over. Donat plays the kindly schoolmaster who comes to a largo English school as a young man and passes his entire life there. He becomes the ideal of the boys in his care, and when these boys grew up they send their sons back to Mr Chips. He meets and falls in love with a young and beautiful girl, and when she ultimately dies the tragedy leaves Chip? with a groat human understanding and compassion.