AMUSEMENTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 92, 30 March 1936, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

STATE THEATRE* “CHARLIE CHAN’S SECRET." When a man long believed to be dead turns up in his family home only to be struck down by an assailant's knife, Charlie Chan (played by Warner (Hand) i s called in to solve the mystery. How he tracks down trie murderer through a fascinating maze of clues and at the risk of his own life is revealed in the Eox thriller “Charlie Chan’s Secret,” now at the State Theatre. San Francisco is the scene ol Charlie Chan’s activities in the new picture. Hurrying from Honolulu, where he had expected to find the body of an heir to a large fortune in a shipwreck, he arrives to join the family of the man in a spiritual seance. From then on the complications follow thickly. Oland is supported by an excellent cast. REGENT THEATRE “I LIVE MY LIFE." Joan Crawford has handsome Brian Aherne, the noted English actor, as her partner in her latest starring vehicle, "1 Live Aly Life,” now at the Regent Theatre, blank Morgan and Aline McAlahon are two other notable additions to the cast. The story is that of a sophisticated debutante and a hornyhanded archaeologist who Tall in love in the Greek islands but find things very difficult on their return to New York. Things are eventually smoothed out under the benign influence of a butler, played by Eric Blore. Ered Keating and Sterling Holloway have small parts. The supports include a particularly fine subject entitled “A Great King Passes. ' Included in one of the newsreels are extensive shots from the test match between England and the All Blacks, showing Obolensky scoring tile two tries which assured England ot victory. COSY THEATRE “O’SHAUGHNESSY’S BOY." You could travel the world over and never see a tiger riding on an elephant's back through a hoop ot fire. However, you will see it in the Wallace Berry-Jackie Cooper picture “O’Shaughnessy’s Roy,” now at the Cosy. As “Windy,” famous animal trainer, Beery has been given one of the greatest roles of his career, and, together with Jackie Cooper, who plays his son, scores a new triumph in this thrilling story of circus life. The pals of the screen' take you under the Big Top and into the heart of the circus. And woven through the exciting incidents is a story of a father’s regeneration through the love of his sou. MUNICIPAL THEATRE TWO-FEATURE PROGRAMME A double-feature bill will be screened to-night at the Municipal Theatre — “Stolen Harmony” (George Raft, Ben Bernie and Grace Bradley) and “The Alan of the E’orest” (Randolph Scott, Harry Carey, Noah Beery). The former picture is the enthralling story of a gangster who reforms, joins a strolling dance band and eventually saves his fiiend from the gangsters with whom the player had previously been associated with. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN General satisfaction is expressed at the decision of the J. C. Williamson management to send the popular Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company back to Hastings next Saturday to give two performances at the Municipal Theatre. The operas to be presented will be “The Pirates of Penzance,’’ preceded by “Trial by Jury,’’ at the matinee, and “The Mikado’’ in the evening. It is at least fifteen years since “The Pirates’’ has been played in Hastings, and Gilbert and Sullivan devotees will welcome the opportunity to renew acquaintance with Major-General Stanley, “the very pattern of a modern major-general,” the fearsome Pirate King, the .Sergeant and the chorus of policemen, whose “lot. is not a happy one.” “Trial by Jury” was the first really successful product of the colla boration of Gilbert and Sullivan, and its hilarious humour specially endears it to children. These two operas form an ideal matinee programme. The Hastings season will conclude with Saturday night’s performante of “The Mikado,” certainly the wittiest, and in many ways the greatest, of the Savoy series. Plans will be opened this morning at Fail’s. WAIROA AND WAIPUKURAU. Fortunately for the people of the Wairoa district, the company has been able to arrange an appearance at Wairoa on Friday evening, at the Gaiety Theatre. The ever-popular “Gondoliers” will be played, in which Ivan Menzies plays thb part of the Duke of Plazo-Toro.

Waipukurau will also bo visited, when the “Gondoliers” will be given at the Municipal Theatre next Monday evening.