FILM and STAGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 68, 17 February 1939, Page 10

FILM and STAGE

Thrilling Events Depicted. New York in the early days of the century when “Diamond Jim’’ Brady was a familiar figure and Lillian Russell was the toast of the town, lives briefly on the screen in “Manhattan Melodrama,I'’ 1 '’ which co-stars Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy and opens to-day at the Meteor Theatre. As a sort of prologue to the principal action, which is la.id in 1934, the picture re-creates one of the most horrible disasters in the big city’s history-—the lire and beaching of the excursion steamer General Slocum, a tragedy that cost more than 1000 lives. The Denipsey-Firpo fight in 1923 is still another of the big moments of metropolitan history that come to life in “Manhattan Melodrama.’’ forming a background for one of the dramatic scenes. The storydeals with the careers of two hoys, Gable and Powell, reared in the clos-

est friendship and reaching middle life to find themselves on opposite skies of the law. Gable as a gambler, powerful and dramatic figure of the city's night life, and Powell as the district attorney forced to' prosecute him lor murder. Between them, loved hv both, is Myrna Loy.

Interesting Sidelights. "Thu Adevntures of Robin Hood,” which comes soon to the Regent Theatre, is tile third great production in which Errol Flynn and Olivia de Huviliand have shared starring honours. .-Their first was “Captain Blood” and the second “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Moving a company which grew to 400 before it was complete, GUO miles from the studio to the location in Bidwell Park, California, was a tremendous transportation problem. But everything well oiganised, moved witli precision. A special train of 20 carriages and 16 baggage vans transported stars, ieaturod players, technicians and labourers. The number of properties manufactured ill the studio shops for use in “4 lie Adventures of Itobin Hood” totalled more than 20,000, including nearly 10.000 arrows used in the archery tournament and other shooting scenes. Also Included were long bows, cross bows, lances, quarter staves, broadswords, battle, axes, maces, pennant, standards, armour, special trappings for horse's, daggers, household utensils of the twelfth century, waggons, carts, brooms, dead ducks and quail,, and a d»ad deer which doubles for one Robin Hood is supposed to lay low with a goose-feather tipped shaft. , Errol Flynn displayed his. prowess with the bow and arrow by going hunting witli these weapons a.nd bringing down a wildcat from a tree top with • one arrow.

Triple Fun Film. With its triple theme of interrupted romance, wild hilarity and shady financial dealings, “Room Service” comes to the State Theatre next Friday with four sessions, at 2 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m., and 10.30 ji.m., with the Marx Brothers, Groucho, Chico, and Harpo. The mirthful plot deals with the ingenious ruses and stratagems used by a penniless theatrical producer to keep himself, two assistant maniacs and a cast of twenty-two in his new play, in a fashionable hostelry until he'ean procure an “angel” to finance his production. By guiie and promise, lie lives on credit until this temporary paradise is rudely shattered when the auditor of the chain owning the hotel comes on the scene and demands immediate payment. A backer makes his appearance at the same time, and the unhappy producer is forced to play off one against the other, striving to keep the hotel official quiet until lie gets his money from the financial man. The scheme is wrecked hut the hilarious climax presents a stream of explosive antics which wind up the gayest, most delirious Marx show to date. Through all this welter of action and laughter runs a romance between Frank Albertson and Ann Miller. Lucille Ball has the other feminine lead, and Chico and Harps Marx portray the resourceful assistants ol' Groucho, tlie harassed producer.

Fine Acting. A stirring, true-to-life story with wide social implications, “Crime School,” opens to-night at the 10.30 session at the Regent Theatre tor an extended season. if there ever was any belief that their previous success “Dead End” was merely a happy accident, it is certainly dissipated by their work in “Crime School.” Every one of them —Lilly llulop, Lobby Jordan, Hunts: Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Punsley and Gabriel Dell—proves again that he is a fine little character actor, with young Halop in this instance carrying off top honours, not necessarily because he is a better trouper than the others, but because he was lucky enough to have the part with the best opportunities. Equally as memorable as the work of the hoys is the surprising sympathy and understanding extracted by Humphrey Eogart, who

heads the adult members of tlic east, from tlie first hero role he has overbad in motion pictures. The tale which gives them all so fine an opportunity to display their talents adheres, for all the melodramatic excitement and humorous moments along the way, to an important theme—the eventual fate of juvenile delinquents under contrasting systems of gaol punishment. that of tin' old. brutal, malad ministered, graft-ridden reformatory. and that of the modern corrective institution.

Cargo of Laughs. Paul Kelly and Arlinc Judge, an engine-room Romeo and his cuticlecutting cutie, are the top names in the cast of “Hero Comes Trouble,” which opens on Tuesday at the Kosy Theatre, with a ship load of laughs and dramatic thrills in a story of life aboard a luxury liner. Spanish senoritas get this breezy sailor into all sorts of trouble ashore, -and jewel thieves keep him in mischief aboard ship. And through it all, Kelly and Miss Judge are wildly in love, even if they persist in taking it out of each other with biting comedy and sarcasm. Mona Barrie, a lovely lady with “taking ways,” beguiles Kelly into becoming an unwitting accomplice in a jewel robbery, and thus leads up to the climax of the picture. In the end, Miss Judge gets her man, although she lias to lead a platoon of police and Sammy Cohen to his rescue. “Here Comes Trouble” features (Iregory Ratoff, the Russian comedian; Edward Bropliy, llalliwell Hobbes and Andrew Tombos in the leading featured roles.

Dramatic Portrayal. Adventure and romance, drama and comedy, are deftly blended in “Whipsaw,” which comes on Tuesday to the Meteor Theatre, and brings Myrna Loy to the screen in a new hit with Spencer Tracy as her co-star. Miss Loy’s characterisation gives her an opportunity for the whimsical lightness she first displayed so fetchingly in “The Thin Man” and which marked her as a vivid screen personality. “Whipsaw” is a story of “angles.” Not only does the locale shift with lightning rapidity from London to New York and thence throughout many mid-western cities, but the mood and the direction of the story shifts almost as rapidly. Tlie plot concerns itself with smuggled jewels, which Miss Loy, as a member of an international ring of jewel thieves, is presumed to have in her possession. Tracy is a secret service man, who attempts to trap her through romance and intrigue. He manoeuvres her into a situation in which the story moves swiftly through a chain of events which keeps excitement and suspense at lever height.

Barbara Stanwyck's off-stage accent is very Irish -these days. She is keping in practice- for the Irish brogue she has to use in talking to Joel McCrea for scenes in “Union Pacific.” Claude Rains and Fay Bainter have leading roles in “Concentration Camp,” in which . John Garfield, of “Four Daughters” fame, and Humphrey Bogart will also appear.

Famous “Horror-Man.” Starring Boris Karioff, “Mr Wong, Detective,” commences screening ai tile Kosy Theatre to-day. it took Karloff almost a month to find the proper make-up for the role. Alter spending weeks in research, he cabled his brother, Sir John Pratt, then British Consul in Shanghai, and recently in Australia for the British Commonwealth Conference, to send him a series of pictures of the Chinese secret poiice employed in Shanghai. Karloff received the photographs several days before the picture started, and discovered one of the men to be exactly what he thought “James Lee Wong” should look like. So, actually, the Mr Wong in “Mr Wong, Detective,” is really a Mr Li Tsing. who has since been killed in the current war in China, according to Karloff’s brother. “Mr Wong, Detective,” is the first in a series of four mystery pictures. It is story of a rare poison gas, and tells how four men were mysteriously murdered trying to steal its formula. Also in the cast are Evelyn Brent. Grant Withers. Maxine Jennings. John St. Poll's. William Gould, George Llovd, and Hooper Atehloy. The hectic problem ol a mystery writer who has run out of story ideas is brought to the screen in the hew

comedy-mystery. “She Asked for It,” which opens to-day at the Kosy Theatre. 'Phis Fastj-movilig picture stars William Gargan and Orion Heyward, and includes Vivienne Osborne. Richard Cii.rle, Roland Drew and 'fully Marshall in the supporting cast. Men in the Making. Thrills, heart throbs, boyish loyalties, and regeneration are the dramatic elements in “The Boy from Barliardo’s,” which comes verv soon to the Theatre. Freddie U-nd.,d„-

mew and Mickey Rooney arc tlie stars. The new picture definitely marks an advance in tlie careers of these boys, who enact touching rales as juvenile seamen who face the difficulties of maturity with courage. The story ol training of boys tor the British Merchant Marine is placed in the llussellCotes Nautical School in England. Freddie Bartholomew portrays a boy who, as tool of gangsters, poses as a young nobleman, is sent to the school, and finds regneration and a new destiny there. Mickey ltoonoy plays a student petty officer, first Freddie’s Nemesis, then liis friend. Deft human touches mingle with the thrills of mast climbing, boat racing, and other maritime pursuits of the sailors of to-morrow in the story, expertly directed by the director, who directed “Navy, Blue and Gold.” Several hundred boys appear in sets authentically reproducing the famous British school, founded by Lord Jellicoe.

Sparkling Ccmedy-Romance. Gary Cooper, a cowboy before lie came to Hollywood, is a splendid choice lor “Stretch” Willoughby, tho rodeo star who falls in love with the unconventional society debutante (Merle Uheron) in the new film, “The Cowboy and the Lady,” which opens to-day at tho State Theatre. Merle Oberon is Mary Smith, daughter of a Senator with presidential aspirations (Henry Ivolker). She goes to Florida with her cook and maid (Patsy Kelly and Mabel Todd) to escape boredom in the city, and falls in love with the handsome cowboy, who is appearing in the rodeo show.‘When “Stretch” proposes, Mary (who is masquerading as a servant; puts him off with gay chatter, but she follows him to Galveston and they are married eventually by the ship s captain. Unfortunately the lady does not like the heat and shabbiness of the H est, and her husband sends her back to Florida with tho understanding that she shall join him later at his Montana ranch. They have not reckoned with the Senator, who was relying on Mary to influence the powerful Mr Henderson (Berton Churchill), Maker of Presidents. How tho Senator is eventually

appeased through the medium of Alary's cheery uncle, Hannibal Smith (Harry- Davenport), and how the cowboy and the lady rescue their shattered romance provides an amusing finalo to tiio story. Romance and Suspense. “Strange Boarders,” starring Tom Walls, comes oil Wednesday to the Statu Theatre. The strange boarders are a motley crew irom whom Tom Walls, in his role of Secret Service agent, hopes to discover the identity of an international spy who lias been clever enough to obtain copies of new aeronautical plans from tlie stronghold of a Government office. The Palace Crescent (the locale of the boardinghouse in this picture) is one of those thoroughly re yectable thoroughfares just off Bayswater Road where old ladies, retired colonels, and dull business men spend their days in bored contemplation of each other. One scene in “Strange Boarders” shows the star hopping nimbly from kerb to kerb of the cresent. Seven taxis, three vans, two horse-drawn vehicles, and four private- cars, including Tom Walls’s own Rolls Royce were used in this scene. After the first shot, when lie wa? nearly run over by his own car. he ordered it off the set. Supporting Tom Walls in this picture is Renee Saint-Cyr. who appears as his wife; Googie Withers, as a vampish maid-of-all-work; Ronald Adam as a blind man : and Leon M. Lion in the role of a Cockney laundry manager.

A Star’s Biography—No. 4. j Hunger, revolution, and tragedy [Stalked through the early boyhood of Misoha Auer, screen comedian, who made, a big. hit in “The ltage of Paris.” Mischa Auer was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. His father, a member of the aristocracy, died on a battlefield of the Russo-Japanese war. W hen the Red wave swept across Russia, in 1917, lie was 12. His family was of the hated aristocrats. In the flight from the Bolsheviks, Mischa and his mother became seperated. They were not to meet again for years. Mischa Auer was sent to Siberia. He proved so much annoyance to the soldiery that they were glad to see him escape. He joined his mother, and together they again fled tlie breadth of Russia, finding refuge with a British expeditionary force. Ho enlisted and fought against the Red forces. As a result of exposure and hardships, his mother died. Mischa Auer, then fifteen, with money provided by friends of the family, went to New York, to stay with his famed grandfather, Leopold Auer, noted virtuoso and teacher of the violin, who later adopted him. Young Auer showed a propensity for stage work. He applied to Dudley Diggs, who roared with laughter when he saw the amateur photographs Mischa had made of himself in what he thought were theatrical poses. He was given a chance. On the. stage, as lie did later on the screen, Mischa played dramatic and heavy roles. It was not until director Gregory LaCava suspected his comedy genius that Auer found himself. His instant and sensational success in “My Man Godfrey” stamped him as one of the great screen comedians. Since that memorable picture, Auer has appeared in “Three Smart Girls,” ‘‘The Gay Desperado,” “Merry-Go-Round of 1938,” ‘TOO Men and a Girl,” and in several other pictures.