PICTURE THEATRES

Evening Star, Issue 23865, 21 April 1941, Page 5

PICTURE THEATRES

OCTAGON

Charlie Chaplin plays his greatest role in ‘ The Great Dictator ’ at the Octagon. This film, which satirises Hitler and his underlings, also creates amusement at the expense of Mussolini. There is a capable cast, including Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell, and Billy Gilbert. The story concerns the adventures of Chaplin, Who finds himself in the shoes of a great dictator. His subsequent misadventures make delightful entertainment, replete with the famous Chaplin brand of comedy, and the audience is kept in throes of laughter.

GRAND

' The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady,’ which is the main attraction at the Grand, appears to be a definite improvement on its predecessors. Warren William again creates the dashing, debonair character, but this time the film does not have to depend for its success entirely on his performance. Such proven players *as Jean Muir, Eric Blore, Roger Pryor, and Victor Jory lend him admirable support. The story, too, is clever, and the manner in which the Lone Wolf repeatedly outwits the police, rescues a damsel in distress, and solves a most interesting mystery makes grand entertainment. A delightful film, ‘ Five Little Peppers in Trouble,’ is in support.

EMPIRE

Errol Flynn brings one ai fiction’* taost glamorous figures, Sabatini** Sea Hawlfc, to the screen in the magnificent adaptation of the novel now showing at the Empire. Flynn’s role as the Sea Hawk is film adventure at its greatest heights. In order to swell the Treasury of their country and satisfy their own lust for adventure, Thorpe and other sea hawks of the day would sail the seas, hunting for enemy ships to loot and plunder. Thorpe is secretly favoured by the Queen, but he has an unrelenting enemy in the Chancellor of the courc, who is m league with the Queen’s foreign enemies. Henry Daniell portrays this character. The final duel between the two provides one of the most thrilling sequences ever filmed.

REGENT

‘ Susan and God,’ at the Regent, is a picture that is likely to cause considerable interest; it. introduces an original theme. The basic story tells of a wealthy matron, living apart from her husband and adolescent daughter, who returns from Europe, imbued with a movement and announces to her Long Island associates that she has found a new approach to God. She sets out to persuade each of them .to confess publicly to the others their various extra-marital interests, continuing to resist her husband and daughter’s pleas to re-establish her own domestic scene until he makes a bargain with most interesting possibilities. Joan Crawford plays the role that Gertrude Lawrence enacted on the stage with rare polish, while Fredric March gives a fine performance as Barrie.

‘ Incendiary Bomb ’ is the title of an unusual and instructive short feature. It tells a story with a grim purpose, and commands national attention.

ST. JAMES

' On Your Toes,’ at the St. James, stars the beautiful Zorina. Comedy is the main goal of the production, even the talents of the great Zorina being directed toward that end. Therefore the supporting cast is made up wholly of comedians, including Eddie Albert and Alan Hale, who sometimes -plays serious roles, but this time essays a dialect role, with side-splitting results. ‘ The Midas Touch ’ supplies strong support for the main feature. It tells the story of a Welshman who outgrows the superstitions of his native country and escapes the, monotony of his mountain village to become one of London’s most powerful financiers and business gamblers.

STATE

Portraying Pierre Badisson, Paul Muni is responsible for some excellent acting in ‘ Hudson’s Bay,’ the feature at the State. Pierre Radisson is a reckless Canadian, and in Hudson’s Bay he is the main character in a story of the frozen north. ‘ Hudson’s Bay’ opens in England with the banishment of Lord Crewe, ably portrayed by John Sutton, for his drunken pranks. King Charles 11., played by Vincent Price, exiles the nobleman to savage Canada. There he meets Paul Muni and Laird Cregar. A tremendous figure of a man, Cregar portrays Badisson’s fur-trapper companion, Lord Gooseberry.

STRAND

Combining thrills, action, and comedy, Universal’s drama, * The Leather Pushers ' is being screened at the Strand. Co-star-ring Richard Arlen and Andy Devine, with Astrid Allwyn in the leading feminine role, the film traces the exciting career of- a boxer, played by Arlen, from his accidental discovery to his sensational bout for the championship. Horace MacMahon, Shemp Howard, Douglas Powlley, Eddie Gribbon, and Charles D. Brown have the chief supporting roles. ‘ I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby,’ which is the associate feature, stars Warren Hymer, Broderick Crawford, Peggy Moran, and Johnny Downs.

MAYFAIR

The popular trio of the Dr Kildare series. Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, and Laraine Day, lead the cast in ‘ Dr Kildare’s Strange Case,’ which is the main attraction on the programme at the Mayfair. This is the story of a girl whose case puzzles psychologists and doctors alike. Leslie Charteris’s hero, the suave, elegant Saint, is successfully portrayed by George Sanders in the support, ‘ The Saint Takes Over.’ Wendy Barrie appears in the leading feminine role.

HIS MAJESTY'S

A musical film and a sophisticated comedy are presented at His Majesty’s. Jack Benny provides bright wisecracks, both direct and implied, in ‘ Man About Town,’ his sense of timing and satire making this type of comedy extremely effective. Sophisticated to a degree, abounding in bright, sparkling humour and presented by an allstar cast, ‘ Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife,’ the associate attraction, is unquestionably one of the best films of its type. Gary Cooper is the hero.

PORT CHALMERS THEATRE

1 Florlan,’ which will finish its season tonight at Port Chalmers is a superbly acted film that is most unusual in its theme. The stars of the picture are Robert Young, Helen Gilbert, and Irina Baronc-va, the last-named being the leading lady of the Russian Ballet, which was in New Zealand some time ago.