ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 110, 9 April 1934, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE

“I WAS A SPY.” Unprecedented scones of enthusiasm greeted tho initial screenings of tho Bri-tish-Gaumont masterpiece, “1 Was a Spy,” which opened at die Stato Theatre on Saturday, hundreds of people being unablo to gain admission. By 7 o’clock the wholo theatre was completely booked out. This is rarely done in a picture theatre those days; it means a great deal. And “I Was a Spy” every bit deserved it; it deserved the packed theatre that greeted it. Tho film is one of the most emotionally vivid dramas that lias ever been shown here. Because of tho direction, action, and production, the result is more than a reproduction, or reflection of tho authentic) historical theme; it is an illumination of it. In its essentials tho story has all the simplicity of greatness. It tells tho true emotional and actual history of tho young Belgian woman, Martho McKenna, who, with her parents, was in tho town of Roulcrs in 1915, after tho Gormans had occupied it, to make it a baso behind tho lines. In a particular _ sceno among Gorman wounded installed in tho market place, tho woman’s slight medical training and her personal instinct show in her demeanour, and she is engaged by the medical authorities to serve in tho hospital. Her untiring work there becomes invaluable. But still sho is a Belgian and lives among her townsfolk; when her aunt in tho intelligence services of tho Allies takes brief refugo in her home, Martho helps her in furtivo missions, and gradually accepts her destiny to become a unit in tho machine —soon a very important unit, although, until near tho end, an unobstrusive one. Her immediate superior in tho hospital is also in tho service.' Tlioy work together, in love with each other, and botli doing their double, incompatiblo duties seriously and _ without question. Martho sends information, for instance, of an outdoor mass religious service of tho troops; sho risks tho fate of tho thousands of soldiers whom sho is among when they aro caught unawares and heavily bombed by Allies ’planes. Then she and the doctor nurso those who wero left wounded. Together they make a fruitless attempt to blow up a dump of poisongas cylinders when they first came into use. by the Germans; then thoy nurse tho Allied wounded after tho horrors of tho first gas attack. Despite her love, Martho lives for a time with the town kommandant to steal information for her Belgium. She is highly thought of by tho Germans; sho is decorated by them, remaining still to nurse. Only by a small accident do they find her guilty of espionage. She is sentenced to death. Her lover confesses his sharo and saves her that penalty to receive it himself. From first to last lino dramatic irony is used in the development of the story. Madeleine Carroll is Martho, Herbert Marshall her lover, Conrad Vo’idt the town konrmandant. There are excellent British supports. Patrons aro earnestly re. quested to book early for to-night and remaining days of the season. Box plans are on view at theatre.

REGENT THEATRE. “THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII.” Tho widespread interest which heralded the screening of ‘‘The Private Life of Henry VIII” was thoroughly justified by the audiences’ comments at last Saturday’s large sessions. Piero undoubtedly is a picture to rave over; one that must appoai to all tastes. Tho career of the merry, marrying monarch is mado into no pompous historical melodrama, but into robust comedy, deftly tinged with pathos. He is no caricature but an illustration of Henry. lie assumes for the part an astonishing and uproarious vitality, modulated to the most delicate changes of mood. As to the story, tho film shows that Henry’s first wife was a good woman; he divorced her. Tho second, Anne Boleyn, was bad; ho had her executed. So that no time would be wasted before liis marriage to Jane Seymour, he had a drum give the signal the instant Anne’s head rolled oft’ the block. Jane Seymour dies furnishing an heir to the throne one day when tho king was out hunting. His courtiers persuaded him to marry again, this time to a clover German princess, who, because she was in love with someone else, contrived to seem so unattractive that the king was willing to spend his wedding night playing cards. And so it goes on. By the time he acquired his last wife, Catherine Parr, his children’s nurse. he was a feeble, broken-hearted old man with barely enough enthusiasm left to go on gnawing a chicken wing when Catherine said that it would give him indigestion. Wo soo him in his old age very near to being henpecked. All this might, obviously, have been turned into a standard historical picture, but instead Alexander Korda, who directed it, made the story move at full speed. The programme also includes news, gazettes, a scenic gem, “Glorious Gloucestershire,” and a coloured Disney cartoon, “A Night Before Christmas,” in which the toys, at the behest of Santa Claus, held high carnival. Also on the stage Lynetto Stewart will give a complete change in novel fashions, demonstrating tho art and beauty of Factor screen make-up. Plans for tno season aro on view at tho Central Booking Office.

NEW PALACE THEATRE

PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF SIR HUBERT WILKINS. All threo sessions at the Palace Theatre on Saturday met with the greatest approval. The personal appearance of a noted Polar exporer lecturing on his own unique film of Arctic and - Antarctic exploration proved a great draw. Sir Hubert has had adventuros aplenty in the frozen wastes which prove an irresistible lure to the explorer, and he recounts some of these, modestly yet vividly. . Strange conditions of human and animal life come to pictorial life again amid surroundings surpassingly grand and supremely lonely. The presentation of tho film, or rather the assembly of films, is preceded by chatty remarks from tiio explorer, who explains how lie camo to bo drawm into polar exploration and important features associated with this realm of dangerous adventure Then follows . a sories of “shots” of tho recent ill-fated Ellsworth expedition, of which tho lecturer was a member. Tho southward journey of tho ship is shown, the trial flight of tho great monoplane of which Ellsworth expected so much, is finely visualised, and tho disastrous ice-crack which ruined those hopes is brought homo to the audience. In the series of Arctic films, one moots tho famous Southern Cross in her original rolo, and sees her meet with early, though not irreparable, disaster. Eskimo life, Arctic settlements, where the white man keeps his farthest north trading posts, the grandeur of the end of tho mighty Rockies as they pass below, alt of these are magnificent pieces of film work, and all havo their talo of risk, of disaster or of achievement, woven by the voice of the lecturer, so that one cannot but admire tho indomitable spirit which refused to accept crash after crash as failures, and thus eventually went across from Alaska to Spitzbergen. Then comes tho third section of the talo—the initial submarine venture under tho ice. Foolhardy it was termed, but Sir Hubert soon disillusioned this idea, and shows how such an effort, was but a. pioneer of what is to come. The voyage of tho Nautilus, dogged by ill-luck as were the first aeroplane efforts in tho north, is shown in all its stages, showing that such an achievement _is not merely a Jules Verne fantasy. It is ideal entertainment for father and son, _ this Wilkins film, and the supports with it are in keeping. An excellent supporting programme includes a Rathe Gazette, British Nows, “Let’s Talk Turkey,” and “Golden Fleece.” Rians arc at tho Central Booking Office, ’phono 7178. Thero will be the usual matinee at 2 p.in. to-day. KOSY THEATRE. “COUNSELLOR AT LAW.” With the screen play specially prepared by the author of the stage play, with lavish settings, and with a cast headed by the incomparable J ohn Barrymore, Universal has extended itself to the utmost to make “Counsellor at Law,” which is now showing at the Kosy Theatre, one of the finest motion picture productions of tho year. The stage play, “Counsellor At Law,” was presented successfully on Broadway for two seasons, and was presented in every largo city in the United States, to be greeted enthusiastically. Hoping to preserve the perfection of the production, Universal executives summoned, personally, Elmer Rice, the author and producer, and prevailed upon him to write a scenario for the picture. Rice, one of the foremost playwrights in America today, is credited largely with tho success of the production. In the cast, in addition to Barrymore, are Bcbe Daniels, Doris Kenyon, Onslow Stevens, Isabel Jewell, Melvyn Douglas, Mayo Mothot, and ten members of the original cast of the stage production. Carl Laemmlo, junr., in charge of ail Universal productions, personally supervised “Counsellor At Law,” which is hailed by dramatic and motion picture critics as one of the outstanding dramatic pictures of tho year • worthy of rank among tho “ten best.” A good selection of short subjects includes a musical revue, “Vaudeville on Parade”; an item of tho “Strange As It Seems” series; and episode seven of the Buck .Tones serial, “Gordon of Ghost City,” entitled “Entombed in tho Tunnel.”