FILM AND STAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 4 June 1937, Page 10

FILM AND STAGE

Romance Of The Sea. Rough-and-ready sailors shivered when Chief Bo’sun’s INI ato Victor McLaglen bellowed at them, but his demure little daughter, Ida Lupino, staunchly defied him when he meddled with her romantic affairs in the rousing drama, “Sea Devils,” playing-on Saturday at the State Theatre. Believing that Preston Foster, who had the reputation in the Coast Guard of being a ‘'ladies’ man,” was not,a very desirable prospective son-in-law. McLaglen made Foster’s duties as, miserable as possible, and several fierce com-

hats between the two resulted. The treacherous duties of . the Coast -Guard in the rescue of persons from sinking ships and the patrolling of steamer lanes for ice hazards are realistically reproduced in this photoplay. Donald

Woods, one of the popular young lead- 1 ing men of the screen, is seen in one of the principal roles. The east includes 1 Gordon Jones, Helen Flint. Pierre Watkin. Murray Alper and Billy Gilbert, i This is the second time McLaglen and 1

Foster have played together, the first having been in “The Informer,” McLaglen having won the Academy Award as the result of his performance in that screen drama.

Actor’s Experience. Walter Pidgeon will always remember “Girl Overboard!” the picture which starts at the Ko'sy Theatre on Saturday. The reason .is ■ that during its production'he had the soul-stirring experience of coining face to face with a man he thought he had seen killed on the battlefields of France. The man was James F. Danielson, a member of the same Canadian regiment in which the actor served during the World War. During a night attack on the German lines, Pidgeon saw Danielson apparently blown to bits by shrapnel. He never heard of him or saw him again. When Danielson, a member of a party of visitors, walked on the “Girl Overboard!” set, Pidgeon thought for a moment that he was seeing a ghost. Danielson explained that he was so severely wounded that he was sent back to Canada, where he remained for the duration of the war. He is now a prosperous business mail in Louisiana. Born in St. John, Canada, September 23,. 1898 and educated at the University of New Brunswick, Walter Pidgeon was among the first to enlist in the Canadian army at the start of the war At the close of hostilities he won himself .a place on the New York stage, only to. give' up the theatre for banking. Fred Astaire persuaded him to return to show business. His recent pictures include “Fatal Lady” and “She’s Dangerous.”

Much interest was aroused by the announcement a few days ago of the wedding of Miss Joy Howarth, known in Hollywood as Constance Worth, and George Brent, well-known ’film star. Miss Howarth, who took leading parts in several recent filin'-productions in Svdney. also won success m Hol ywood, where she will continue her film career At present she is acting opposite George. O’Brien, in “Mindjammer,” the production ol winch is just beginning.

Lively Comedy. “Anna May.” a two-and-a-half ton African elephant who is one of the featured players in “Arizona Mahoney,” the hilarious comedy with Joe Cook, which is showing at the Tvosy

Theatre now, is regarded by her trainere as one of the most temperamental elephants in captivity—and elephants aro noted for their temperaments. After being carted up a mountain in a specially made truck for a sequence in

the film, “Anna May” refused to act. The trainer discovered that this was because the elephant’s stable-mate, “Jenny,” an equally large pachyderm, was not around. The trainer sent to Hollywood to get her and “Anna May”

went through her paces happily. It is on “Anna May’s” back that Cook rides to the rescue of Robert Cummings, June Martel and Larry Crabbe in the madcap climax of one of the funniest western travesties ever filmed.

Spectacular Musicale. No matter how- much you liked “Naughty Marietta,” that musical sensation of 1935, you are sure to like “Rose Marie” even more, according to critics. Again co-starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, this pro- ! duction opens its season on Saturday at the Ilegent Theatre. Like its forerunner, “itose Marie” was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and produced by Hunt Stromberg, who again combined their talents to give this picture one of the finest prouuctions to come out of Hollywood tor a long time, Replete with haunting music, a tender love story, magnificent photography and backgrounds,- it is truly the film sensation of the , year. Miss MacDonald plays the name role, an opera star who travels disguised into the wilds in search of her dissolute brother, a criminal frill justice. Nelson Eddy portrays Sergeant Bruce, as fine a “Mountie” as ever rode a horse. Assigned to bring the criminal to justice, there is the thrust of personal duty when these two meet and fall in love. With all its outdoor scenes made against natural backgrounds of surpassing beauty in the mountain-lake country of the Sierra Nevadas, “Hose Marie” is a pictorial work of art. The musical numbers are brilliantly staged and brilliantly sung. One of them, the Totem Pole sequence, is peopled by more than a thousand dancers. Child Star Returns.

Romantic as the Chinese moon, teeming with danger, excitement, thrills, war-lord bandits, and Shirley Temple as a little waif who talks and sings Chinese, “Stowaway” comes soon to the State Theatre. As Cliing-Cliing, the adopted daughter of a missionary couple killed in a rebel raid, Shirley is picked up by Robert Young, a carefree young millionaire who is touring the world in a vain attempt to get away from himself. Shirley, accidentally stowing away in Young’s ear on a cruise ship, is instrumental in his meeting Alice Faye, pretty fiancee of stuffy young Allan Lane. Allan appears to claim his bride-to-be, but part in a fierce quarrel. Meanwhile Young is told by Cfdnc.se authorities that lie cannot adopt Shirley, being unmarried, and must put her in a local orphanage. Determined not to part from her, he proposes to Alice that she become his wife in name only, then proceed to Reno for a divorce. This she docs, but Young, realising he is really in love with her, follows her to Reno and, with Shirley’s artful aid, wins her consent to stay married. Shirley’s strong supporting cast includes, in addition to Robert Young and Alice Faye, Eugene Pnllette, Helen Westleye, Arthur Treacher, J. Edward Bromberg and Astrid Allwyn.

Touring Violinist. In the course of a tour of the Dominion as part of a world-wide journey to study music, Mr George Pistorius, an American violinist of considerable . skill, is at present visiting the city. Mr Pistorius has had the opportunity of unusual musical experience, and his skill with the instrument is indicative of the wealth of culture he has embraced.

The visitor has recalled that before the War he was assistant concert master of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and after the Armistice he toured the United States and Canada over the Chatauqua and Orpheum circuit. Later lie founded and played first violin in the New York String Quartet and was also professor of the violin at the High School of Music in St. Louis and chief musician for a chain of hotels. “1 never realised the real order of things, or knew the pleasure of playing the violin until tlie financial crash of 1929, which left me penniless and toreed me into has been a revelation in my life. Until then I always dreamed of doing tilings and instead of knowing the reaction o) people as a whole all 1 could do was to wonder,” Mr Pistorius said. Mr Pistorius is making a study of the different types of music in the world. He has made careful research into Polynesian harmony, having spent a year and a-half in Hawaii, a year in Tahiti and the South Seas. After collecting all the data possible on Maori music in New Zealand lie intends to go to Australia and particularly the Northern Territory. Eventually” he expects to spend some years in the Orient and later London, Paris, Budapest, Vienna, Petrograd, and Berlin.

Gay Scenes. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the word “pixilated,” which you have been hearing so often lately, is a new word. It’s an old and highly respected member of the English language which has been used for centuries and still is in many isolated communities, to denote a person who is somewhat balmy. The word gets a new lease on life and is coming in for new and greater popularity through the “Pixilated Sisters,” Margaret Seddon and Margaret McWade, both of whom appear in “Lot’s Make a Million,” the gay comedy with Edward Everett Horton, which is showing at the Kosy Theatre.

The Otago University Dramatic Society recently staged three one-act plays. “Twentieth Century Lullaby,” “The Charlady and the Angel,” and “Not What They Seem.”

Parisian Drama. Although, not unnaturally, no mention of the fact is made, the plot of “Stolen Holiday,” which will start on Saturday at the Mayfair Theatre, is an almost exact parallel to the story of the Stavisky scandal, which caused such a sensation in France and indeed throughout Europe some years back. The plot is dressed up with a wonderful background of Paris fashion salons, Kay Francis playing the part of a mannequin who becomes an innocent tool in the hands of the adventurer whose gigantic swindle rocks France. Claude Rains, who stole' the acting honours in “Anthony Adverse,” gives another polished performance as the

swindler, while lan Hunter, a rising young star who was seen in “The White Angel” recently, is also featured. As would be expected in a film about fashionable Paris, “Stolen Holiday” is a superbly dressed production, while a vivid contrast is afforded by the adventures of Claude Rains and the excitement of Paris street riots. Family Entertainment. Fun and thrills for the whole family . is promised by “Penrod and Sam,” the comedy drama which is being 1

screened from the famous novel by Booth Tarkington, and which opens on Saturday as the feature attraction at the Kosy Theatre. Those two adventurous youngsters, who are of the Huckleberry Finn-Torn Sawyer type, have long been favourites in literature, and their exploits on the screen are expected to win them millions of new admirers. They are regular American small town boys, heads of a “gang” about which they are very mysterious. But it isn’t a “gang” in the evil sense of the word ; as a matter of fact they arc the “Junior G-Meen of America,” and they right wrongs and capture

some bad hank-robbers in real G-Man manner. Though most of the players are youngsters, this isn’t by any means a picture intended solely for juvenile audiences. There’s plenty of real drama in it, enough to satisfy all the elders, and no end of hearty laughs. Penrod is played by 12-year-old Billy Mauch, the youngster who won such approval when lie portrayed the little boy “Anthony Adverse” in the epic picture of that name. Immediately after that he won further acclaim as the brave drummer hoy in “The White Angel,” Kay Francis’s picture based on the Criipean War. His pal, Sam, is enacted by Harry Watson, a sturdy lad who, likewise 12, lias been in pictures for 11 years. Penrod’s parents are the noted stage favourites. Frank Craven and Spring Byington. Craig Reynolds, popular leading man, turns villain for the first time in his film career.

Rhythm On Ice. The problems of making a musical picture wherein dances, music and costumes had to be keyed to the rhythm of ice skating, specifically the incomparable skating of champion Sonja Henie. who makes her screen debut in “Girl in a Million,” the spectacular musical starting on Friday, June 11, at the State Theatre, were varied and many during the filming of the picture. Song writers, dance directors, and designers used to pursuing and adapting their inspirations within the sanctums of their own offices found that procedure of no avail, and only solved the technicalities by accompanying Sonja to her practice rink to become

familiar with the intricate rhythms of her art. Director Sidney Lanfield and Jack Haskell, who staged the dances, scanned each graceful movement, seeking harmonious dance steps to be taught an ice ballet of eighty skating dancers, who will support the Queen of the Silvery Skates. In addition to Sonja Henie, Adolphe Menjou. Jean Hersholt, Ned Sparks, Don Ameclic, the Ritz Brothers, Arline Judge, Borrah Minevitch and his gang. Dixie Dunbar, Leah Ray and Shirley Deane are also featured in “Girl in a Million.”

A committee, headed by Lady Gordon, has been appointed to draw up a constitution for or, Australian branch of the British Drama League. If Jeanette MacDonald has her way, she will sing during the wedding ceremony uniting her to Gene Raymond oil June 17.

Ann Harding is to leave the cast of “Candida,” at the Globe Theatre, London, and Diana Wynyard, who is a personal friend, will take up the role on the following night. The next production by the Well lington Thespians, to be presented early in June, is J. Jefferson Farjeoil’s

thrill, “No 17.” A strong cast is in rehearsal, under Evan Harrowell, who is producing the play with Victor S. Lloyd as advisory director. Ralph Forbes and Alice Moore are playing leads in “Woman Against the World.” Spencer Tracy is to repeat his priestimpersonation of “San Francisco” in a biographical film shortly to be produced, but as yet untitled. The Australian actress, Merle Oberon, has bought her Academy picture, by Gerald Brockliurst, for nearly £2OO. Robert Montgomery has been borrowed for the lead opposite Marion Davies in “Ever Since Eve.” Patsy Kelly is also ill the cast. Merrie England” is proving a great Coronation attraction in Melbourne, with Strella Wilson and Leo Darnton in the singing leads.