ENTERTAINMENTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 June 1937, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAYFAIR THEATRE. “STOLEN HOLIDAY.” For several excellent reasons “Stolen Iloliday,” screening at the Mayfair Theatre to-night is a fine film. It is strong emotional romantic drama, and it presents its 6tar, Kay Francis, with a most impressive series of dresses to wear. Ultra-modern costumes and gowns attract attention continually, but fortunately for the male element, the plot is strong enough to more than retain interest, apart, from any other consideration. Then there is acting which is at times magnificent. Kay Francis frequently achieves the impossible —she forgets her clothes in the emotional intensity of the situation. Film goers regard her as one of the band of Hollywood stars from whom a finished performance may invariably be expected, and she does not disappoint her adinireie in this production. Although the film belongs to Miss brands, she does not monopolise it, and, conveiselv, therein lies much of the charm of “Stolen Holiday.” Two leading men divide male honours—the handsome, quiet, restrained lun Hunter, so qu.ct that lit dodges most of the limelight which Is rightfully his, and Claude Rains, the unforgettable '‘lnvisible Man.” ’J lie romance and drama of the plot is engaging, located, as it is in a Paris uiodiut's shop. Nicole rises to eminence with the financial backing ol Orloff, to whom she is intensely loyal. During a stolon holiday from him, following a delightful interlude on the Riviera, . situ meets and falls thoroughly in love with a British diplomat, Anthony Wayne. She sticks to Orloff. however, despite her. discovery that lie is an audacious crook and that lie is forcing her into a loveless marriage, until his death at the hands of the ]jo!u:e leaves her free’ to pursue her romance with the handsome Englishman, but reduced once more to the status of a mannequin. ■

KOSY THEATRE. » “PENROD AND SAM.” Playing a bank robber with a black stubble of beard on his face was putting, a sail handicap on Craig Reynolds, one of Hollywood's handsomest young men-ubout-town. The night spots were threatened with suffering, too, as a result of Craig's role in “Penrod and Sam.” the Booth Tarkington classic which conies to the Kosy Theatre to-night as a First National production. Time was when a stubble of heard was just a make-up problem. A smear of dark grease paint did the trick. But modern photography make it the one sort of false hair that cannot possibly he duplicated by the make-up man.' It represents a three-day growth, and is kept at one “level” by the application of clippers. Reynolds, who likes fo do the rilzy spots of evenings, got away with it by means of a desperate expedient After consulting his current girl friends he donned a false Van Dyke beard to cover the stubble, and successfully braved his well-known haunts in that guise ! “Penrod and Sam” is. Booth Tarkington's long-famous comedy-drama of a group of adventurous small-town bo3'S —brought right up to the 1937 minute by having their interests what tho boys’ interests of 10-day are. “UIRL OVERBOARD!” Set against the spectacular background of a ship fire at sea, “Girl Overboard!” a fast moving Universal picture, screens at tile Kosy Theatre to-night with Gloria Stuart and Walter Pidgeon in the leading roles. The screen play tells the story of a beautiful New York girl who flees from the sinister influence of the proprietor of an exclusive Manhattan gown shop. Just before she sails, the man is killed and the linger of suspicion is pointed at the girl. By this time, however, she is at sea, aboard a ship on which a disastrous fire breaks out. Consumed, in the blazing inferno of (he ill-fated liner is the only evidence of the 'true killer’s identity. When the accused girl, by a queer twist of fate, is given shelter in the home of the district attorney whose job it is to prosecute her, the picture advances to a swift, smashing climax. Supporting Miss Stuart and Walter Pidgeon are such favourites as Billy Bun Uil, Hobart Cavanaugh, Gerald Oliver Smith, Sidney Blacknier, Jack Smart, David Oliver, Charlotte Wynters, Russell Hicks, R. E. O’Connor and Edward McNamara.