ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 10, 10 December 1936, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

STATE THEATRE. “TWO’S COMPANY.” A new and incut interesting comedy partnership is introduced to tho screen in “Two’s Company,” screening at the State Theatre to-night. Ned Sparks, one of Hollywood's leading comedians, is costarred " with that inimitable Cockney humorist, (Jordon Harker, and the result is one of tho funniest comedies turned out of Elstree for a long, long time. Tho story opens" in New York. 15. G. Madison, a wealthy business man, is reluctantly persuaded by his wife and daughter, and his law3'er, Al (Ned Sparks), to take a health trip to England. On board the liner they meet Muggridgo (Gordon Harker), valet, to the Earl of Warke. Muggridgo is travelling back to England in charge of his master’s champion dog. Of poursc tho Americans mistake Muggridgc for tho Earl. Madison’s daughter, Julia (Mary Brian), makes a hit with tho Earl’s son, Jerry (Patric Knowles), and fun begins when the Earl (an ardent butterfly collector) gets into holts with tho fiery Madison. Muggridgc and the ' lawyer, Al, take up the cudgels, and it isn’t until tho lovers, Jerry and Julia, are in need of support, that tho two get together and smooth matters out to an uproarious climax. Written by the famous J. B. Morton, the dialogue is snappy and full of humour. Tho action is fast, and mirthful in tho extreme, scenes especially between Gordon Harker and Ned Sparks being uproarious. Tho principal honours are taken by Sparks and Harker, and sterling support is given by Patric Knowles,- -Mary Brian, Henry. Holman, Gibb McLaughlin and a fine cast of players. Bouquets should be handed to the producer, Paul Soskin, and the director, Tim Whelan, for giving us a comedy that is a riot. REGENT THEATRE. “SAN FRANCISCO.” Combining tremendous human appeal with gorgeous spectacle, this story of “rian Francisco,” screening at the Regent Theatre to-day, in tho gaudy days before tho earthquake, sweeps up among the record-break-ers. Its entertainment value is superb. Romance, drama and music are present in tho persons of Clark Gable, Jcunelte MacDonald, Jack Holt and Spencer Tracy. This quartette, backed by the powerful humour-slashed direction of W. S. Van j Dyne, turns in its most brilliant work, j All the world becomes strangely still. The: very air is oppressive. Animals cower from! some invisible Fear. (July Man, absorbed in the tasks which civilisation has laid! upon him, is unaware. And then the! floor slides away beneath his feet. Ceilings] fall. Walls crack and crumble. In a j devil’s pandemonium the world goes crazy. I Ancient Earth has become tired of support i ing its gigantic burden of ocean. Its broad shoulders have sagged ever so slightly. | And a thousand miles away that shrug] becomes a shudder, and thousands die as’ a great city is shattered. That is how an. earthquake strikes. But the picture is no] crazy parade of destruction; Jeanette MacDonald's arias arc an unforgettable delight. The audience is swept along by a screen play which is so cleverly contrived that almost always it is convincing. It allows Miss MacDonald to sing’ a galaxy of songs, ranging from music- j hall ditties to hymns, irom “’iho Battle; Hymn of the Republic” to the Jewel Song from “Faust”: and never do you feci that a song has been injected into the play, just for the sake of allowing the MacDonald to sing. Gable’s study of the dive owner, in love with the beautiful songstress without quite realising it, is thrown into stronger relief by a magnificent piece of character acting by Spencer; Tracy. He is Father Mullin, the parish] priest, who joyfully knocks down in the I gymnasium his boyhood pal, . Blackie, but I who can’t in the least impress upon linn, tho tremendous gulf that lies betw-ccn tilings spirituous and tilings .spiritual. Iho stpry progresses until there comeis the night of the Chickens Ball, great annual event of tho combined music halls of the Coast. At this stage of tho. story all the romantic ■wires are crossed. It is difficult to guess what is going to happen next. Thou the first shock of the earthquake strikes. Now follow scenes which arc awesome in their stark realism, horror is piled on horror in scenes as vivid as the screen has yet given us, as a city topples in a mighty upheaval, then to be swept by flame. And so magnificently is this picture directed that it is in the scenes which depict tho refugees clustered together in the open park lands, that the story reaches its peak in dramatic intensity, with the sense of courage and of hope powerfully conveyed.