AMUSEMENTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 80, 16 March 1934, Page 9

AMUSEMENTS

COMEDY AT THE COSY “BY CANDLELIGHT’* Sophisticated comedy at its best is presented in “By Candlelight,” Universal’s gay tale of Vienna and Monte Carlo, screening at the Cosy finally to-night. This sparkling screen play features Elissa Landi, Paul Lukas, Nils Asther and Esther Ralston in leading roles, and tells of the complications which ensue when a maid and a butler, servants of a nobility, pretend to each other that they themselves are of royal blood. The philandering habits of Count Von Romnier, employer of the butler, bring about a series of ludicrous situations which keep the servant in continual hot water, though this very fact serves to make matters easier for the trifling master. James Whale directed “By Candlelight” immediately following his completion of “The Invisible Man,” which screened in Hastings last week. Whale, a native Englishman with his knowledge of Continental manners and customs, is ideally fitted to transfer this Siegfried Geyer romance, which played for months at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, to the screen. There are many scenes aboard a train travelling from Vienna to Monte Carlo, with the quaint short cars and distinctive equipment which is part of European railroads. It is on this train that the butler and maid masquerading as members of the nobility strike up an acquaintance which brings about hilarious complications when the two carry on their romance in the apartment of the butler’s titled master. Much of the action of the story takes place in the Prince’s luxurious apartments in Vienna and Monte Carlo, and there are scenes at the famous gambling casino of the latter city, where jealous husbands increase the intensity of decidedly awkward situations. As a distinct change from the atmosphere of royality, there are sequences at an Austrian country fair where the romance of the masquerading servants proceeds apace under the influence of sparkling wine. TWO FEATURES AT ARCADIA “MIDSHIPMAN JACK’’ AND “GIRL MISSING.” Two features will be screened at the Arcadia this evening, each being a firstclass production. Marriage may be a lottery, but when it threatens to become a tragedy within twenty-four hours after the honeymoon has begun as it does in “Girl Missing,” the level of mystery tales can be certain of exciting entertainment before the finale is reached. Palm Beach, the playground of wealth and beauty, and the hunting-ground for opportunists of both sexes, iei the locals of the story,

and for the central figure, the authors, Carl Erickson and Don Mullaly employ a quick-witted chorus-girl, whose nimble mind solves a murder mystery that is still baffling the police of the Florida winter resort. Ben Lyon has the leading masculine role and Mary Brian the ingenue part. A lively, intriguing picture, with an entertaining tale of love, youth and adventure is “Midshipman Jack,” a story of romance and dramatic action against the background of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis where it was filmed. It presents an able, talented array of youthful players in Bruce Cabot, Betty Furness, Frank Albertson, John Darrow and Arthur and Florence Lake. Cabot is outstanding in the title role of ‘ ‘ Midshipman Jack.” He cannot quite bend to the discipline of the Academy and gets into trouble sneaking out after Taps to propose to the commandant’s daughter. Rigid probation is his punishment, under which a single violation will mean both dismissal and the loss of his girl. When a mate inadvertently causes the spectacularly thrilling crash of a seaplane and ship during training practice, Cabot assumes the blame and tosses regulation to the high heavens, exposing himself to discharge. Cabot is best known for having taken the leading role in “King Kong.” “THE ORIENT EXPRESS.” Commencing to-morrow at the 10.43 a.nj- session, the Arcadia management will present “Orient Express,” based on Graham Green’s best selling novel. “Orient Express” is a story of seven people who meet on board a train headed from Ostend to Constantinople. Each one has his own am bition and goal in life, but by a trick of fate they meet and, at the end of their journey, they find their lives completely changed. A wealthy young merchant falls in love with a dancer; a woman reporter gets her big story from a Communist leader; a thief fleeing from justice, meets with death; a retiring Englishman begins to assert himself before his domineering wife; and a beautiful girl finds the love she has always sought. The film reaches an exciting climax when the Communist gives the dancer an incriminating letter. This leads to her arrest along with the thief and the radical himself at the Jugo-Slavian border. How each manages .to disentangle himself from the web of fate, and reach his destiny, brings the film to a truly stirring conclusion. Heather Angel, who was last seen in “Berkeley Square.” and Norman Foster head the cast the romantic leads There will be four sessions on Saturday—lo.4s a.m., 2.15 p.m., 4.40 p.m. and S p.in. NO PICTURES AT MUNICIPAL TWO FEATURES TO-MORROW Owing to the Municipal Theatre being engaged. no pictures will be

shown there to-night. The next screening will be to-morrow, when two features will be shown. In the first Randolph Scott, Harry Carey, Noah Beery, Verna Hillie and Buster Crabbe play the leading roles in Zane Grey’s Paramount picture, “Man of the Forest." Henry Hathaway, who has directed the past, six picturisationg of Zane Grey’s novels, also had charge of the megaphone on this production. There is action from start to finish in “Man of the Forest"—twofisted, red-blooded action of the type that Zane Grey fans have come to accept as a matter of course in his stories Scott, the “Man of the Forest," is the central figure in the action. The picture was filmed in the country in »hich Grey originally set his story. The cast, all favourites of previous Westerns, spent many weeks on the location. Edmund Lowe and Nancy Carroll are co-featured in “1 Love that Man," which is the main attraction on the programme. Robert Armstrong, Lew Cody, Warren Hymer and Dorothy Burgess are prominently cast in supporting roles. The story of the picture centres around Lowe, a confidence man who gets his greatest pleasure i parting the unwary fj-om their money, and Miss Carroll, a girl of good background, who knows all about Lowe, but loves him nevertheless. She goes with him on his profit-making tours of the country and, though they vary from wealth to poverty in a few hours time, she sticks with him. Untiinately, he stumbles into legitimate business, and Nancy heaves a sigh of relief and delight. But it is too soon. A couple of gangsters, with whom he

was foiuneriv associated, appear on the scene, and at the point of guns, force the two to participate in a hazardous bank robberv. The film reaches a stirring cliinas in the events that follow