AMUSEMENTS

Grey River Argus, 17 January 1940, Page 12

AMUSEMENTS

Opera House NOW SHOWING: “FIVE OF A KIND.” The Dionne Quintuplets reveal themselves as real entertainers , m their third and best 20th Century fox starring picture “Five Of A Kind,’’ to ue shown at the Opera House to-aay. co-night, also to-morrow and Thursday. Although the Quints are >ne j.g highlight of the picture with an amazing portrayal of their newly acquired versatiliy, a well knit and acuonful story, the plot of which sweeps xrom the small Canadian village to tne throbbing turmoil of Metropolitan iNew York, provides a thrilling and entertaining background for the screen antics of these fascinating youngsters. The Quints have developed amazingly since their last picture and their song and dance renditions are .woven into the colourful story via a television broadcast stunt that gives the picture an ultra modern .wist. 20th Century Fox has endowed the picture with a superlative cast, supberb photography and lavish piouuction values. Jean Hersholt excels m his role of the beloved doctor ana gives a convincing and gripping performance. The fast, iireezy action, romance and thrills of the story, however, revolve around the other members of the cast, notably Claire i revor as an ace reporter, and Cesar icomero, romantically inclined towards Claire, but her resourceful ..ad persistent rival in other mattersmim Summerville, Henry Wilcoxen, xiiez Courtney, John Qualen, Jane Harwell and Famine Moore are a>so featured. The action .starts when ivomero causes Claire to lose her job mrough the planning of a phony story. She makes a new bid for success by trying to sign up the Quints ior a ser.es of broadcasts after seeing them in a news reel. Amusing and suspenseful complications develop us she goes to Canada to sign up the Quints and is thrown into jail as an .mposter as the result of a plot by Romero to snare the contract ror nimself. The story speeds through a series of exciting and hilarious situacions with ' Claire finally persuad ng me Quint’s guardian to let them come .o New York for a big broadcast in a Broadway auditorium. The wily Romero, however, in a final effort to .ur n the tables, pulls an ace out ot nis sleeve ” with the staging of an elaborate hoax to publicise the fake o.rth of sexbuplets. Excitement piles on excitement and laugh on augh as Claire tr.es to extricate her□elf from her difficulties. The story ouilds to a surprising and startling climax in which television plays an important part.

REGENT: Now Showing: “THE LEGEND OF PRAGUE” and “THE GIRL AND THE GAMBLER.”

Of considerable topical interest at; the present time is “’]?he"-< Legend uf Prague.” It is a production, but in an English dialogue version, r adapted from ..-“The Golem.' theXfamous stage play. Its theme L the 'persecution of the Jews in Europer persecution which in the eighteenth century was even more barbarous than it had ever been before or has been since. The screen smiy, rather harrowing in its details pernaps, gives a temble picture of the sufferings undergone by the Jews at the hands of a tyrann.cal oppressor. In the hour of their darkest ag.41., the thoughts of the oppressed turn to a legendary statue in Prague, <>.i which was the inscription, “At the roar of the beast, when the hour u. darkest, then shall the secret of tne ‘Golem’ be revealed.” The sta.ue, meanwhile, has been stolen and h flden. but at the crucial moment ;unnecessary invocation is made, ana the statue (a sort of colossal superman) comes to life. The names m the cast are of course quite unfamiliar in this quarter of the globe, but tne performances given quickly show that there are stars on the Continent more than the equal of those who shine in Hollywood’s studios. The photography, too, and the whole presenration of the story, especially the moo scenes, is something remarkable and unusual, the pageantry of medieval Europe lending itself to the spectacular. “The Legend of Prague” will leave an indelible impression on those who see it screened. It was, oi course, produced in Czecnoslovaxia before the recent crisis, but, with its implications, it is quite easy to see why it has been banned, if report is true, by Hitler. ASSOCIATE FEATURE. Telling in gay and exciting fashion a story of the Mexican, border, is RKO Radio’s’ “The Girl and the Gambler,” in which Leo Carillo, Tim Holt and Steffi Duna are featured. Carillo is perfectly cast as the swaggering and conceited bandit, and Miss Duna is equally convincing as the spirited little dancer. Tim Holt as the young American gives a brilliant performance, and an excellent supporting cast includes Donald MacBride, Chris-Pin Martin and Edward Raquello. Lew Landers’ deft direction, Joseph Fields’ screen play from the Willard Mack stage hit, and Producer Cliff Reid’s realistic mountings all combine to make “The Girl and the Gambler” a picturesque and entertaining filim ‘: