DE LUXE THEATRE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 May 1930, Page 5

DE LUXE THEATRE.

GRAND DOUBTS TT.ATimE PROGRAMME TO-NIGHT.

There can be no further doubt about the,star who has become definitely the most romantic personality, unrm tin screenr—for Joseph Schildkraut in "The Mississ'-oni Gambler," the Universal nroducfion which opens at the De Luxe Theatre Inst niorht, unequivocally .establishes his right to the title. In a picture the Tory essence of which is romance and romantic drama, Schildkraut carries- . a glamouV both of personality and of portrayal which marks that particular type of nart a« pre-eminently belonErin? to himself alone. As the Mississippi packet gambler of a few decades ago, he is at the same time the villain and the hero, and equally beloved as both. After the gambler inveigles his victim into the poker game, unknowing that it is the father of the girl with whom he has fallen in love that lu. lms fleeced, the unique "kick" of th<? plot unfolds with intense. dramatic sude.nness. It all hinges upon the girl herself, a ravishingly beautiful Southern belle played by Joan Bennett, whose performance is in a class with Schildkraut's own. Their love scenes together are marvellously beautiful, both in the action of the scenes themselves and in tho romance of the period with which they have been surrounded. It is moonlight on the Mississippi-—with the <gently swishing waters, and all the rest of it, superbly photographed by Gil Warrc-" 4 -" T \.

The '^''ijv l -feature. Kncos," lvi a real all-star es l -': Firrt h: w-i.< the lipstick—then i:rr %n bobbed aair next, the <?*ior* f'\W and now m<'irally we display "Bare Knees" which happens to be the title of the latest Gotham Production.

Just, as its title implies, "Bare Knee?." is a s story hf the girl of today but—and here is tho difference--the author, Adele Buffington, is in sympathy with her subject and instead oi' ranting and raving about how the g ; rls of to-day are headed for destruction, <>te., she has presented a photoplay which proves that, girls are today just what they have always boon —girls. "Bare Knees" specifically d-eals with advent of tho last word in modern flappers into a smal\, jnarrow town. Naturally, at first, the natives are scandalized as her actions. Sh'; does the "black bottom," to pep up a sleepy party, she smokes cigarettes in public, she "necks" in an open roadster on :tho main highway—but whatever she does, she docs in public, her private life being beyond reproach morally. Just about the time, that her own sister and relatives are calling her down, something happens which entirely changes the situation. The ffanper is not only exonerated but extol'ed and the era of "bara knees" stnrts in this town.

Virginia Leo Corbin is the flapper ami her impersonation is 'said to be the snappiest pereen conceit this season. She m backed up by such sterlirt? pbotopluyers as Donald Keith, Johnnie Walk/es, Jaino iWinton, Forrest Stanley and Mauf?3 Fulton.