ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 198, 23 July 1931, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

KOSY THEATRE. BIG DOUBLE-STAR ATTRACTION. “The Lone Defender,’’ which was shown locally at the Ivosy Theatre for the first time yesterday, is Rin-tin-tin’s. latest picture, and that is about all a reviewer has to say about it to let one know it is well worth seeing. Rin-tin-tin is the most dependable of all screen stars. Ho never fails, Each new picture with this great dog seems better than any of his previous ones. He is tho one animal in the annals of motion pictures who really deserved stardom. Rin-tin-tin’s career as a film star is proof positive that “you can teach an old dog new tricks.” In every picture in which tho wonder dog has played ho has learned now tricks. And an actor prides himself on his ability to create a new character for each rolo he plays. Rin-tin-tin has no ( “bag of tricks,” for he actually docs whatever he is told, the same as a human actor. Of course, he must bo rehearsed, but it requires no more instruction for him to perforin his feats than it does for a human member of his supporting casts. Anyone who doubts this is referred to Richard Thorpe, who directed tho dog for the first time in his latest film play, “The Lone Denfcndcr.” Thorpe was just as astonished at.the ease in performing as the film fans will be who watch his acting on tho screen. “Tho Lone Defender” proved a strenuous test for. Rin-tin-tin, for the story is replete with quick action and strong melodrama. Appearing in tho human cast are June Marlowe, Walter Miller, Josef Swickard, Buzz Barton, Lee Shumway, Frank Lanning and many other popular players. Tho second feature is “The Rampant Age.” PALACE THEATRE, DE MILLE SPECTACLES WITH MUSICAL FEATURES. “Madam Satan,” which opened last night at the Palaco Theatre, most certainly upholds Cecil B. ' do Millo’s long-sustained reputation of being a master in' the realm of the exotic and unusual. The M.G.M. director’s new comedy with music, his initial tuneful photoplay touches upon about every conceivable phaso of entertainment. It treats of domestic discord. It has clever scones in milady’s boudoir. It takes one to a gorgeous masked ball aboard a Zeppelin, and finally brings patrons to tho edge of their seats as the airship tears loose from its mobring mast and the guests jump for safety in parachutes. And all of this excitement is coated ovor by eight musical numbers and three special ballets, making “Madam Satan” a well-rounded eye and ear attraction. Reginald Denny and Kay Johnson are tho two principals, and they do splendidly. Both have delightful voices, and it is certain that there will be disputes as to which of the two had the best song— Denny’s “All I Know Is that You Arc in My Arms,” or' Miss Johnson’s “Meet Madam” and “Live and Love* To-day.” Roland Young is delightful as the comic Jimmy, and Lillian Roth does a fine piece of work as “the other woman.” : AT THE REGENT. “VIENNESE NIGHTS” AN ELABORATE PICTURE. “Viennese Nights,” the Warner Bros, and Vitaphono romance which is now at the Regent Theatre, proves that Keats was right in saying that a thing of beauty is a joy for ever. In “Viennese Nights” it takes three generations to completes a symphony and to unite in marriage tho grandchildren of tho boy and girl whoso romance shared tho fate of tho music. This is a theme that Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein had long contemplated before Vv«.rner Bros, asked them to write the original story directly for the talking screen. With this thought in mind, that true beauty is indestructible and knows no age, no death, no end, the story and tho music for “Viennese Nights” grew almost overnight into something of which Romberg and Hammerstein are justly proud. Tho cast includes Walter Pidgeon, Jean Horsliolt, Louise Fazenda, Alice Day, Bert Roach, June Purcell, Milton Douglas, Vivienne Segal and Alexander Gray, who play the hoy and girl whose love was so great that it carried through three generations while the symphony was begun, lost, and found again. The production, which is one of the inost elaborate ever attempted on the screen, is photographed in full natural colour. Plans may be inspected at the. Central Booking Office, Broadway, ’phone No. 7178.