SCREEN GOSSIP

Hutt News, Volume 13, Issue 22, 8 November 1939, Page 7

SCREEN GOSSIP

deluxe; Now Showing: "The Storm." (Preston Foster), and "Boy Trouble" (Charlie Ruggles). Commencing Staturday: "The Gracie Allen Murder Case" (Grade Allen), and "So This Is London?' (Robertson Hare). Coming Attractions: "I Stole a Million, 'V (George Raft-Claire Trevor), "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man" (Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen), "The Terror" (Wilfrid Lawson, Doolittle of "Pygmalion" fame) KING GEORGE Now Showing: "Tailspin" Constance Bennett, Alice Faye, Nancy Kelly). Coming Friday: "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (Edward G. Robinson). Coming Attraction: "The Lambeth Walk" (Lupino Lane), "Beg Borrow 0* Steal" (Frank Morgan), "Union Pacific" (Joel McCrea). PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE: Now Showing: Shirley Temple, "Just Around the Corner"; Franchot Tone, Madge Evans, "The Exclusive Story." Thursday and Friday: Warren William, Ida Lupino, "The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt"; Joe E. Brown, "The Gladiator." Saturday and Monday: Deanna Durbin, "3 Smart Girls Grow Up"; Frieda Inescort "Woman Doctor." "BLONDIE" . . Blondie Dagwood and Baby Rumpling will step out of Chic Young's popular comic strip onto the screen of the De tiuxe Theatre on Saturday in Columbia's "Blondie," This is the initial picturisation of the foibles and misadventures of the Bumstead clan in a pro jected series based on the Chic Young newspaper comic strip. Penny Singleton, vivacious young musical comedy star, will be seen in the title role with Arthur Lake, a perfect "Dagwood Bumstead," as her irrepressible young husband. In the role of Baby Dumpling is four-year-old Larry Simms, a chubby little performer who bears a remarkable resemblance to his mischievous comic strip counterpart. The story of "Blondie" starts on a note that is characteristic with Dagwod's woes begin to pile up. It mad dash for the office. At work Dagwood's woes begin io> pie up. It appears that a collector is hounding him for several hundred dollars that had been loaned to Elsie, the office gold-digger, on a nate which Dagwood had foolishly endorsed. The boss, Dithers, irate because he can't close the Haslip deal, apoplectically turns down Dagwood's request for a raise. At home, Bondie purchases some new furniture as a fifth wedding anniversary surprise for Dagi wood, not knowing the old furniture is security for the Elsie note. Dithers finally offers to let Dagwood try to close the Hazlip deal. It's a straw and Dagwood, drowning in his ocean of financial folly, clutches at it. The complications mount .in a hilarious crescendo, involving Blondie's suspicions of 'another woman' and a night in gaol for Dagwood.

Baby Dumpling's antics lend a familiar and character touch to the picture, while Daisy, the dog, has a distinctly major role. Four-year old Danny Mummert portrays Alvin. Dumpling's playmate, with Gene Lockhart, Ann Doran, Richard Fiske, Gordon Oliver and Jonathan ,Hale in other important roles. "THE STOMAL" The most colourful of all adventurous professions was born when Marconi radioed the first message through space without benefit of connecting wires! That opinion was emphasized by Don Mair, pioneer wireless operator, who acted as technical advisor during filming of "The Storm," Universal's heroic drama of marine radio men, which starts to-day at the De Luxe Theatre, with Charles Bickford, Barton McLane, 'Preston Foster, Tom Brown and Nan Grey in featured roles. "From the moment a ship leaveß port, the men at radio keys hold the fate of human lives and costly properties at their finger-tops," Mair said. "The Storm" reveals the untold adventure of the wireless men on merchant ships. Its drama revolves about Birkford's attempt to prevent his young brother, Tom Brown, from going to sea. Impressive, big scale scenes show an ovean liner crashing into an iceberg, the explosion of a gasoline tanker as it leaves the harbour and an operation aboard a storm-tossed freighter while a doctor on shore directs the surgery by radio telephone. Directed by Harold Young and produced by Ken Goldsmith, the caßt includes Andy "Devine, Florence Roberts and Samuel S. Hinds. "CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY" "Confessions. of a Nazi Spy" the sensational Warner Bros, picture coming to the King George Theatre, represents a complete reversal of Hollywood precedent in more ways than one. In the first place, the motion picture producers in the past have

1; . * avoided controversial subjects like the pjague. But Warners could hardly have chosen a subject packed With more potential dynamite than jthe spy picture. Then, contrary to all precedent, they literally filmed the picture behind locked doors. No one not directly concerned with the produc- | tion was / allowed on the set. | This rule was rigidly adhered to, I with no exceptions made for execu- | tlves of the company of members of the Press. Ordinarily, studios are anxious to announce the casts of their pictures ' That's showmanship and good advertising, for every name added to a cast means additional fans at the box office. After the first ten principals had been chosen for "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" however, Warners clamped down on all casting news and announced that the rest of the players would be known by number instead of name. "Simply a precautionary measure" the studio announced. Still another unusual behind-the-scenes feature of the production involved the script. Invariably a studio is anxious—some even demand—that all players know their lines from the beginning to end before a picture starts. Only ten instead of the usual 150 scripts for "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" were mimeographed, however. These were given to six of the principals, the director, supervisor and two trusted departmental heads. The rest of the players got only one day's lines at a time. Thus they didn't know the complete story until the picture was completed. "THE LAMBETH WALK." A seventeenth century bed which once belonged to James I, and later to Charles II became a film "prop" at Pinewood studios when it was used in a scene for "The Lambeth" Walk," starring Lupino Lane-, which is coming to the King George Theatre. According to the records, the Le-1, a large four-poster, together with other furnishings, was originally acquired by James I in 1604. Jamps, it appears, had a particular reason for wanting it. He was making preparations to entertain Juan Fernandez de Ve'asco, Constable of Castile and Am. bassador of Spain, and ne was? dej termined to make that gentleman 3 ! visit a memorable one. Nothing was spared for the comfort of his guest, so James ordered, amongst other things, that the ambassador's suite should be fitted throughout with "only new and -egal furnishings." These included the bed, which was specially made for the occasion. In 1660 the bed became the property of Charles 11, who later made a present of it to the Earl of Carlisle, a Scottish noble, after the latter had expressed an admira tion for it. Eventually it fell into the hands of another Scottish family, to whom it belonged for several generations. " A few years ago, when the family sold their estate, the bed was purchased by a London art dealer, in whose possession it has since remained, and from whom it was borrowed; -by the producers of "The Lambeth Walk." In the film it Is usedi as a baronial mansion bedroom scene. "ESPIONAGE." There's one train engineer who must be the envy of all the other engineers in the world. He has the shortest run known, and all his passengers are world famous celebrities. He's Delph Young, who handles the engine on the back-lot of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio where scenes were filmed for "Espionage" which comes to the Prince Edward Theatre. In the recent picture his train carried three cars and was called "The oriental Express" His passenger list include. Edmund Lowe, Madge Evans, Paul Lukas, Ketti Gallian, Skeets Gallagher and a host of character actors. "RACKKET BUSTEKS" Every motion picture is produced primarily for entertainment, and "Racket Busters" coming to the Prince Edward Theatre, is no exception, but the Warner Studio has demonstrated again and again that it knows the trick of combining entertainment and vivid exposition of a live topic. The most important of those tricks of course, is providing a good cast and a good director. Heading the cast of "Racket Busters" are such players as Humphrey Bogart in the role of a big time racketeer, George Brent, as an independent truckman who helps stamp out the evils, Gloria Dickson, as his wife, Allen Jenkins, as Brent's pal, and Walter Abel, as the Special Prosecutor, while the producuon was directed by that sure-fire moulder of successes, Lloyd Bacon. "THE BOY FROM BARNARDOS" The sun never sets on English soil, nor on British ships. Accordingly, to outfit a British Merchant Marine vessel • is as simple in San Pedro as in Liverpool. This was discovered by the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer property department" when British nautical instruments,- ship's wheels, lamps, signal and sounding devices and other accessories of navigation were needed to reproduce the classroom for

"The Boy From Barnardos," drama of Merchant Marine training, coming to the Prince Edward. Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney play the principal juvenile roles in the picture, which deals with the training of young Britishers at the school, a division of the Barnardo Homes, famous institution for the care and education of orphaned boys in England. . There are 121 of the homes, teaching various trades amd callings, rhey were founded in the seventies by Dr. Thomas John Barnardo, and today are operated by an association of which the King and Queen ire heads. Boys on graduation are placed in positions on ships in England, Canada, Australia and other dominions. "THE LAW WEST OF TOMBSTONE" What happens when a blustering, boasting old Westerner with an unerring eye and a trained triggerlinger takes over the destinies of a frontier town is the unusual theme of "The Law West of Tombstone," a'Western picture which is refreshingly at variance with the usual pattern, Harry Carey tops the cast of the picture in the role of the self-ap-pointed Judge and jury of Western Arizona, a man who has told tall stories for so long that he comes to believe them ' himself, and who dispenses justice in a rough-and-ready fashion of his own. Disappointed when he goes East to seek capital for a mining scheme, Carey returns, to Texas, gets into trouble over a horse, and finally heads on Westerward to the little Arizona town, where he establishes his headquarters. There he carries on a long-range feud with a group of bandit 'brothers, promotes a romance between his daughter and a young gun-fighter protege, and talks and shoots his way to a happy ending, after one of the most exciting gun-battle sequences ever filmed. Tim Holt and Jean Rouverol have the romantic roles in the offering, and Clarence Kofb, Evelyn Brent, Esther Muir, Bradley Page, Allan Lane and other well known players have important parts. Glenn Tryon directed the R.K.O. Radio production. COMPETITION: Winners of last week's competition were:— Mr. Ivan Gaskin, 10 Kiwi Street. E. E."Peterson, 43 Totara Crescent. N. Whiteman, 7 Moana Avenue. Barry Leydon, 11 Colin Street. Joan Smith, 48 St. Ronan's Road. Ronnie Crilly, 28 Oxford Terrace. The solution was:— THE STOKM. THIS WEEK'S COMPETITION: "S Fill in the blanks and complete the title of an outstanding attraction coming shortly to the King George Theatre. Remember, ■ all entries to be 'iddressed to "COMPETITION EDITOR" "Hutt News."