THE MAYFAIR THEATRE

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXI, Issue 43, 5 June 1941, Page 2

THE MAYFAIR THEATRE

“ 40,000 HORSEMEN.” The Film Weekly says: Generally and rightfully acclaimed the best film yet made in Australia. It contains action, romance, national sentiment —all the best elements of box office success. Measured even from the standards of overseas production, it is a wonderful piece of entertainment, and will be screened at the Mayfair Theatre on Friday and Saturday. The film, which tenses the nerves to the utmost is a magnificent tribute to the memory of the grand men of the first Light Horse, who made that charge of deathless memory, the famous Beersheba Charge, said not to be surpassed by any such charge in history. It was made for the film by members of the present Light Horse, who ride as their fathers rode with all the dash and deviltry of inspired courage. Done in the sandhills of Cronulla, it is evident a few falls in the soft sand were neither here nor there to the trained animals. As usual, with Australian outdoor screen photography, this department carries absolute perfection. The plot, generally speaking, conserves the adventures of our men in Palestine 20 years ago, and the splendid part they and their confreres, the New Zealanders, played in rescuing that country from cruel oppression. There is a very natural <ind charming love romance between Betty Bryant (newcomer to the screen) and Grant Taylor, seen before in “Dad Rudd, M.P.” Pat Twohill and Eric Reimer are two of the leading cast. Chips Rafferty is the chief comedian and gets his laughs in every scene. The picture should he seen more than once both for its entertainment and for its historical value. ‘ ‘ CAVALCADE OF ACADEMY AWARDS.” Frank Capra, who won 11 best direction ” in the years 1934, 1936, and 1938, directed “Cavalcade of Academy Awards,” for Warner Bros. The film will be shown at tli£ Mayfair Theatre on Friday and Saturday. Capra is a former President of the far-famed Hollywood organisation. He retired from the office this year in favour of Walter Wagner.

Clips from winning productions of the past were made available to Warner Bros, by that company’s contemporaries, so you will find the memory flashing back to many pictures of evergreen memory.

Among the stars who speak are: Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy, Fay Baintcr, Mickey Rooney, Hattie McDaniels (of “Gone with the Wind”), Walter Wagner, Doug. Fairbanks, Judy Garland (who also sings “Over the Rainbow”), Vivien Leigh. Other stars you’ll see are Emil .Tannings, Janet Gaynor, Warner Baxter, Mary Pickford, George Arliss, Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressier, Fredric March, Helen Hayes, Charles Laughton, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, ‘Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Luise Rainer and Robert Donat.