FILM and STAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 27 May 1938, Page 10

FILM and STAGE

Underworld Drama. An underworld characters who robs women of their Jewels and so fascinates them with his manner and strange, code of honour that they - refuse to assist the Paris police in his prosecution comes to the Mayfair Theatre screen to-morrow, in “The Rat.” “The Rati/ has a .headlining team of. Ruth Cliatterton and Anton Walbrook, and is taken from ; the popular, stage play by Ivor Novello and Constance Collier. A prowler of 1 the night who climbs the sides of tali apartments, a man of physical power

in his dealings with liis underworld confederates, a match for the police who forever shadow him, the Rat is notorious throughout Paris. When a woman of wealth and culture becomes fascinated with this lawless creature she to .'reform- him, but the Rat has ideas, too, and he starts -to investigate her past. Outdoor Action Drama. Gene Autry, the singing cowboy sensation, and the most popular star on ; the screen to-day in“ America and England, is the leading player in “Red River Valley,” a stirring drama of the West, which opens at the Kosy Theatre to-day. The story’ deals with the long fight of the Arizona and California ranchers to harness the Colorado River by, the Boulder

Dam project, and of .the treachery of strong financial interests in endeavouring. to make the dam a failure. Filmed against the background of the mighty dam during construction and after completion*, the picture abounds in fast action and tense excitement whilst ’ introducing several new song hits and -the ever popular “Red River Valley.” Supporting Gene Autry are Smiley Burnetts, Frances Grant ahd Jack Kennedy.

Thrills and Chills. Boris Karloff, the ace bogey-man of Hollywood, brings a new type of fiend to the screen in “The Black Room,” which commences to-day at the Kosy Theatre. Appearing without extensive make-up, Karloff does some fine acting as the murderous Baron de Berghman. Ruling in his castle with a tyrannical hand, the Baron is hated by the peasants. The disappearance of lovely peasant girls arouses their suspicions, and when they rise in righteous rebellion the disappearances and consequent mur-

Rers are traceable to the baron’s black room, which is an inspired chamber of horrors, if there over was one. His demise, however, is finally brought about by young Robert Allen, who portrays excellently a dashing lieutenant. Child Favourite. All the hit-songs that Shirley Temple has sung during her nearlyfour year career in pictures, from “The Good Ship 'Lollipop” tft “Goodnight, My Love,” will be. sung again by the curly-topped star in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,’ her new picture. Shirley Temple will sing several other songs, including “An Old Straw Hat,” by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel; “Cracklv Grain Flakes,” by Lew Pollack and Sidney Mitchell, and

“Toy Trumpet,V by Pollack, Mitchell, and Raymond Scott, whose sensational modern quintet will be featured in the film. Opening next Friday at the State Theatre, “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” stain Shirley Temple, with Randolph Scott heading .the stellar cast including Jack Haley, Gloria Stuart, Phyllis Brooks, Helen AVestley, Slim Sumnierville, Bill Robinson, The Raymond Scott Quintet, Alan Dineliart and J. Edward Bromberg.

A Lively Film. Millions have read of the hilarious exploits of Alexander Botts, the whimsical and egotistical tractor salesman and comedy hero of the famous series' of stories, “Earthworm Tractors.” Now Alexander Botts has been brought to life on the screen in the comedy, “Earthworm Tractors,” which commences to-day at the Meteor Theatre. Botts, on the" screen, is no other than the famous wide mouthed comedian Joe E. Brown. He lias two leading ladies, June Travis and Carol Hughes, and such talented players as Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran, Gene Lockhart, Olin Howland, Joseph Crehan, Sara Edwards, Charles Wilson, William Davidson, Irving Bacon and Stuart Holmes. As Botts Joe Ji. Brown is in love with a small town girl, but she and her family frown on liis suit because he is merely selling gadgets. Disheartened, he finally picks out the biggest thing he can think of to sell, tractors. He writes the Earthworm Company asking for a job and stating that lie knows the machine so well he could build it himself. Music and Comedy.

“London Melody,” a new production co-starring Anna Neagle and Tullio Carminati, provides lovely Anna Neagle with the greatest role of her colourful screen career, and it is one of the most delightful romances to come to the Regent Theatre, commencing next Wednesday. Tullio Carminati is seen as a 'debonair diplomat and self-appointed sponsor of a Soho orphan girl, Anna Neagle, who later, through his help, becomes a famous cabaret star. Robert Douglas, popular, handsome young stage star, appearing in his first important screen role, enacts the third party in this true-to-life story, while Horace Hodges, who 'played with Anna Neagle and Tullio Carminati in “The Three Maxims,” appears as a kindly old priest who befriends Anna Neagle. In addition to the strong story and dramatic acting of the co-stars," there are many gay. scenes with a luxurious night club as their background, and it is amid a spectacular night club . setting that Anna Neagle sings and dances, in her own inimitable way, to two haunting new melodies, “The Eyes of the W orld Are On You” and “The Jingle of the Jungle.” Mark Twain Classic. /

Errol Flynn, viirle young actoi, who has risen to stardom in the last year by outstanding performances in such pictures as “Captain Blood.” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Green Light,’ has a chameleonlike quality which permits him to take oil the chief characteristics of the character he is portraying in a film. He is now co-starring with the -Maueh twins. Billy and- Bobby, in “The Prince and the Pauper;” which comes soon to the Meteor Theatre. In “Tho Prince and the Pauper,” in which Flynn enacts the role of Miles Hendon, dashing young soldier of fortune, he carried a lot of his charaeteristics away from the studio lot with him. He devoted hours to fencing, much more time than was actually necessary for the duelling he does in the picture. “The Prince and the Pauper” is. Mark Twain s immortal classic about the heir to the thioue and the thief’s son who were born at the same moment in the 16tli Century, and whose lives became entangled because qf a close resemblance The Maueh (Mowlt) twins, Billy and Bobby, play the boys. Others m the cast ■ besides Flynn are Claude Rains, Barton MncLane. Henry Stephen son. Alan Hale, Phyllis Barry and Helen Valkis. Thrills'and Comedy. Thrill scenes in motion pictures frequently call for technical tricks to produce a desired effect, but in ‘‘Tarzan’s Revenge,” which comes to tho btate Theatre next Tuesday, the exciting exploits of Tarzan (Glenn Morris) and his mate (Eleanor Holm) defied reproduction by anything but real risks to those involved. When' Eleanor Holm swam to safety among a pool full of crocodiles, there was no one who could swim faster or more capably under those conditions than Eleanor Holm herself. When Glenn Morris acclaimed as America’s greatest athlete in the 1936 Olympics, had to swing Eleanor Holm under his arm and leap out of danger in the perfect Tarzan manner, Morris was the only one able to do it. A will depriving the hero of a fortune if he marries before he is thirty, a girl’s determination to avoid marriage in favour of a career, a “Cinderella” pursuit of the heroine with a heel-less slipper as the only clue, and the conflicting aims of the mothers of the respective lovers are all combined with uproarious effect in “The Life of the Party,” a new comedy with music, which i.s the second feature on the programme. These ingredients play an important part in the romantic basis of the story. a sparkling tale set in the Santa Barbara “millionaires’ playground.” Joe Penner, Gene Raymond, Parkyakarkus Victor Moore, Harriet Hilliard, Helen Broderick, Billy Gilbert, Ann Miller and Franklin Pangborn are cast in this tuneful picture. Western Romance. “The three godfathers,” based on Peter B. Kyne's widely-read novel, will be the feature attraction at the Kosy Theatre commencing next Tuesday. The picture tells tiie story of three bad men of the American desert. Bob, young and reckless adventurer ; Doc, the elderly, educated “lunger' 1 ; and Gus, illiterate and happy-go-lucky, who descend upon New Jerusalem to rob the bank a lew days before Christmas. In their escape across the desert, the three men find a dying mother, an infant clutched in her arms. The untold sacrifices they make to . save the baby’s- life and get it back safely to civilisation provide the theme of the human story. * _ In the principal roles are Chester Morris as'young Bob ; Lewis Stone as the philosophical Doc; and, Walter Brennan, remembered as the patcheyed rousabout in “Barbary'' Coast,” as Gus. Packed with thrills, laughs and action, “Absolute Quiet” is the, second picture on the programme. Featuring a cast of ,notables, including Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, Raymond Walburn, Stuart Erwin, Ann Coring, Louis Hayward Wallace Ford, Bernadene Hayes, Robert Glecker. Harvey Stephens and others, the picture concerns the adventures of a financier who goes to - his Montana ranch for absolute quiet, after a hectic business career in which lie lias ruthlessly ruined people, socially and financially. His moments of peace are short-lived for two escaped killers make his ranch their headquarters.

Virginia Bruce and Dennis O’Keefe ’will be . teamed in “She of; the Triple Chevron.” v , , British producers’ plans include a B. G.-Wodehpuse , comedy for Robert Montgomery and “National Velvet,” with the - part of Mi Taylor built up for Spencer Tracy. ; ■ .■ .. _ Andrea Leeds has the feminine lead in “Letter.✓•of Introduction,” and other members of the cast include Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Adolphe Men j ou, Gail Patrick and Henry Fonda.

Epic of Pirate Days. A thrilling and stirring picture' of the struggle between America and England during the war of 1812 is. presented ,in the latest historical epkq “The. Buccaneer;’’ whichiopen-! to-day' at the Regent Theatre with Frederic, March' in the title, - role. It:/is a panorama of a crucial period in history, showing the burning of Washington, the Louisiana of the picturesque Creo.le days, and the defence of New'. Orleans by General Jackson. March is seen as a pirate who turns out to be a hero when he realises that his adapted country, the United States, is in danger of His sweet-' heart, Margot ( Grahame, a New Orleans belle, stimulates his patriotism by insisting that lie become respectable; before their marriage. Although he

helps Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans, lie loses both his respectability, and his sweetheart when the secret •gets out that ,his men destroyed the American merchant; ship “Corinthian,” on which . Margot)s sister and many other prominent citizens .were passengers. - - ‘ Drama of the West. ' One of the years outstanding spectacles will be shown aL the Mayfair Theatre with the coming of “The Bad Man of Brimstone,” starring Wallace Beery in an epic s v;a of the'lawless west. Staged against the grim background of the West’s most rugged panoramas, “The Bad Man of Brimstone” presents a saga of tho un-

regenerate town of Brimstone, ruled with a ruthless six-gun by Wallace Berry. Bringing to the screen all I,he talents which have endeared him/to the hearts of picture-going millions Beery is assited by Dennis O’Keefe a recent screen discovery and by Virginia Bruce. O’Keefe,, as a young Eastern prize champion who arrives in the old Western town of Brimstone and straightway begins to clean up the lawless .element, stands . out as the greatest acting discovery since the advent of Clark Gable,' Miss Bruce, in her role as the daughter of Brimstone’s Justice of the Peace, provides an exciting incentive to O’Keefe in his clean-up efforts. A distinguished

cast of supporting .players includes Joseph Calleia, Lewis Stone. Guy Kibhee, Bruce Cabot, Cliff Edwards, Guinn Willinms, Arthur Hohl, Robert Gleckler, Noah Beery, and • {-Scotty Beckett. . . , ' As a result of having depicted leading roles' in various crime-mystery pictures which emphasised the fact that “crime does not pay,” Preston Foster has been elected an honorarymember of the New Jersey Association of Police Chiefs.

Good Combination. Tyrone. Power and Loretta Young are teamed together, iii the romantic comedy, “Second Honeymoon,” opening to-day at the" State. Theatre. All .the world loves a lover, and all the world lias followed these two lovers as they shinv new ways to romance. When Tyrone Power and Loretta Young meet under the Miami moon for an impulsive kiss, their love is news once more, but this time they mean it with all their hearts. “Second Honeymoon” • is their perfect picture together as their honeymoon, .is renewed in the merriest romance of ■•lie year. Stuart Erwin, Claire’Trevor, Marjorie Weaver, Lyle Talbot and J. Edward Bromberg are included in the cast of the film. Of interest to

■ many Palmerston North residents. .is a special film of the. New Zealand .returned soldiers, at the Sidney Anzac Uhy, parade, which Will be shown on the programme/ / Dramatic Spectacle. , Storming in epic sweep over half the world, as the last slaver sails on its last desperate ~ voyage, , ‘Slave £hip’’ opens' next .Tuesdayat the Meteor Theatre, giving the screen. a heiv .claimant _fpr.. the .-.title/of mightiest of all the sea sagas. “Slave Ship” co-stars Warner- Baxter and ..Wallace Beery in a tale of .the slave-trading era, with Elizabeth- Allan and. Mickey Rooney among those on the boat ms, with -- decks reddened .by mutiny, it

roams the seas on its final fury-rack-ed voyage. In the most colourful role of his career, Warner Baxter .plays Captain Jim Lovett, romantic scourge of two seas, who defies the navies of the world, is betrayed by a shipmate, and fights at last for love in tho greatest sea adventure of them all. Wallace Beery, whose long list of shipboard roles reads like a veritable history of the salt-water cinema, sinks, his teeth into a meaty role that presents „him ns the villainous mate of the slaver, big-fisted, bull-headed,, genial, gnd treacherous to his dying breath, one minute a roaring beast, the next, a gentle child; friend and

foe alike .to the captain he serves, and betrays. - Gladys George has delivered an ultimatum. Unless assigned a picture soon, she will go to London to do “Personal Appearance,” tho play which; brought her into -pictures, on the stage": William Powell '-and Carole Lombard are to be co-starred again 'in farce. The title is “American Beauty.” Powell is taking a holiday : in" South America first. ' \ .