ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 246, 14 September 1935, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

REGENT THEATRE. “DAVID COPPERFIELD.” It has remained for that swift and supple medium,-the sound screen, To bring back the full glories of Charles Dickens From time to time courageous theatrical managements have attempted to adapt his stories to the legitimate stage, but- if one expects “The Cricket on the Hearth,” “Jo” (taken from “Bleak House”) and “The Only Way” (“A Tale of Iwo Cities”), the result has not been notably great. Dickens used a big canvas, and the stage was too circumscribed a medium to do him justice, but now that the sou nil has come to the screen, the possibilities are practically limitless; So we have had during the past few months .screen versions of “Our Mutual Friend, ’ “Great Expectations,” and “The Old Curiosity Shop”; but none of these in point of artistry, in the fidelity of the acting, and the settings, have approached the Mctro-Goldwyn-Mayer production of “David C’opperfieid” which comes to thc_ Regent Theatre to-night. The east is a notable one, and with the continuity supervised by Mr Hugh Walpole, the most ardent Dickensian will find it difficult to pick hoics in the picture, other than lapses necessitated by condensation (as in the case of Micawbor’s summary of the financial difference between happiness and misery). The story commences with the birth of David, and the later infatuation' of his mother for the fiendish Murdstone, and her death. There with distressing detail is shown the travail of little David, his weary tramp from London to Dover, and his succouring at the hands of the temperamental Betsy Trotwood and Mr Dick. Then follow in perfect sequence tho happy days at Mr Wickficld’s and PeggoUy's, and hard upon the latter comes the perfidy cf Steer forth, and the villainy of Uriah Ileop; David’s marriage to Dora, her death, and, following on the exposure of Hecp’s treachery, his marriage to Agnes Wickfield. One cannot pass lightly over David’s encounters with penurious Micawbers; his affectionate contacts with Pegpotty, old Dan’l, and Ham Peggotty at Yarmouth, and the whimsical scenes with Betsy and Mr Dick, without a word for the faithfulness and “heart” with which they arc played. A very beautiful and touching performance is that of Freddie Bartholomew ns young David, while Frank Lawton is ingratiating as the adult David. Betsy is inimitably played by Edna May Oliver, and W. 0.” Fields makes an amusing, if not altogether convincing, Wilkins M'cawber. Lionel Barrymore is very sound as Dan’l Peggotty, and “little Em’l.v” is played with a wealth of feeling by an actress the programme omits to mention. Other capital performances are the Murdslonc of Basil Rathbone, the Agnes of Madge Evans, the Dora of Maureen O Sullivan. tlie Wickfield of Lewis Stone, and the Uriah Deep of Roland Young. Such realism as is depicted in the storm scene, in which Stcorforth and Ham arc drowned. has seldom been seen upon the screen before.

KOSY THEATRE. “JIMMY THE GENT.” James Cagney and Bette Davis head an exceptionally talented cast in the Warner Bros.’ picture, “Jimmy t lie Gent,” which coincri to the Kosy Theatre to-night. This is the first time in which the fiery, red-headed Jimmy and the tall, willowy and blonde Bette have played opposite each other as screen lovers. It is notable that Jimmy, while he is pretty rough with other members of the cast, never once lays his hands on Bette. It is she who does the socking in the picture, Jimmy being on tho receiving end of two smart, blows to the jaw, planted just as hard as Bette’s tiny fist can plant them. Cagney’s more recent pictures include “Lady Killer,” “Footlight Parade” and "The Mayor of Hell.” l3ette at the same time was appearing in “Fashions of 1934” and “ExLady.” Alice White, who appeared with Cagney in “Picture Snatcher,” in which she is the recipient of a knock-out punch, is another membor of the cast of “Jimmy the Gent,” hut this time she escapes any mauling. Together with Allen Jenkins, her sweetheart, she supplies no end ot “mushy” comedy.

“EASY TO LOVE.” "Easy to Love” tlie Warner Bros, picture which also opens at the Kosy Theatre to-night is a revelation in marital mixups with an hilarious vein. There is a quadrangular lovo tangle in which a husband and wife whom their daughter and her sweetheart believe to he an idealistically happy married couple, are mixed up with affinities in tho persons 01 each other’s best friend. The strange and complicated situations that arise when tho wife learns that her husband is maintaining a love nest and lie suspects her of having an affair lead to some of the most laughable scenes imaginable. The picture is portrayed by an exceptionally strong all-star cast headed by Genevieve Tobin in the role of the neglected wife with Adolphe Menjou playing opposite her as the philandering husband. Mary Astor und Edward Everett Horton have the ides of the other woman and the other man, and Patricia Ellis and Paul Kayo are the younger players. Others in the east include Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Greig and Harold Wuldridge. The picture is based on the uproariously funny stage play by Thompson Buchanan which was adapted by David Boehm. Sparkling dialogue and clever situations with unique twists have been given to the piece by Carl Erickson and Manuel Self, authors of the screen play. William Keighley directed.

STATE THEATRE. ■‘THE NITWITS.” A title like “The Nitwits” can only suggest the screen’s nitwitticst stars -Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. I 1 or them, “The Nitwits” is an innovation. I hey have abundant opportunity to exercise their inimitable comic talents while they solve a baffling murder mystery and extortion plot in their latest and greatest comedy hit which commences to-night at the State Theatre The locale is im Pan Alley, New York’s own song-writing “Latin quarter,” which gives a reasonable excuse tor three melodics whose current popularity on the ballroom floor and over the air wavc« is no surprise. The murder plot, which couid logically stand alone as a separate production, .concerns a terrorist campaign by the sinister Black \V ldow. When Wheeler’s fiancee is accused, the police finding in her poedossion the weapon which murdered her boss, the boys take a hand privately in their hilarious manner. The result is a howling success, a credit to any Philo Vance, and they certainly make mystery a laughing matter. Nonsense runs amok in “The Nitwits, but the results are highly entertaining. Woolsey*e rendition of “The Black Widow provides a laugh that lasts. The ridiculousness of their sleuthing is best exemplified with a truth-detecting machine calculated to shock the truth out of the best Munchausen —and it gets results. It boasts a cast which does honour to the roles. J?red Keating, as a suave private detective, makes his activities as mysterious as Ins profession. Betty Grable, lull of vivacity and allure, as Wheeler’s girl friend, sings and dances and pranks with the best of them. Evelyn Brent returns to the screen after a long absence, and Erik Rhodes, the professional co-respondent of Ihe Gay Divorcee,” handles a dramatic part. Comedy and mystery are furthered by the splendid performances of Willie Best, Arthur Aylesworth, Dorothy Granger, Hale Hamilton, and Lew Kelly. Iho film owes its story and comedy treatment to Stuart Palmer, Fred Guiol and A l Boasberg.