Palmerston Picture Programmes

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 66, 20 March 1935, Page 10

Palmerston Picture Programmes

KOSY THEATRE “BIG HEARTED HERBERT”A new stellar team of gay comedians in Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee will sweep audiences with gales of laughter at the Kosy Theatre to-day when Warner Bros.’ novel and hilarious fun him will be shown on the screen for the first time locally. Warner Bros, have the knack of finding the most unusual themes for comedy material. Certainly the play by Sophie Kerr and Anna Steese Richardson, upon which this picture Is based, provides a plot so different from the ordinary as to be outstanding, as well as being one of the most mirth provoking screen vehicles' of the year. No happier choice of players could have been selected than Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee for the principal comedy roles, heading an all star cast.' As a team they are Invincible, while individually they are excruciatingly funriyi In the picture they are middle-aged persons, warm and human, who have battled life together and are still very much in love even though their children are nearly grown up. The wife keeps abreast of the times, but the husband, while a man of warm nature, loving his family, is a bit chesty about having risen to affluence from poverty and loves to boast about the family being plain peoplo.who never put on airs. He carries this "idiosyncracy to such an extreme that it leads to many highly humorous situations and family rows. When it appears that tne man’s peculiarities will estrange his children, the wife decides on a scheme to bring her husband to a realisation of his absurd fancies, knowing that underneath be loves the children as much as she. When her husband telephones he Is bringing his best customer and his wife home to dinner, she appears in her kitchen clothes, serves a cheap stew and has her once-a-week maid sit down to the meal with her arms covered with suds. She boasts of poverty and derides “stuck-up” people until the uncomfortable guests leave in dismay. .. But she makes her crotchety spouse see the error of his ways, and having gained the whip hand she proceeds to rub it in on her obstreperous lord and master until he gives In to every demand. While the picture is a lively comedy for the most part, there also is a delightful romance in which the fascinating Patricia Ellis and the handsome Phillip Reed are the lovers, who, after a stormy courtship beset by paternal wrath, are made happy by the Ingenious plot of the mother. The supports are of a high standard and comprise comprise the latest news reel, “Sea Legs" (musical comedy), a cartoon, a radio novelty and comedy, entitled “Dizzy and Dagy.” REGENT THEATRE “BARRETTS OP WIMPOLE STREET” Three Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award winners head the cast of “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” which shows again to-day at the Regent Theatre. Norma Shearer, in the role of the poet Elizabeth, is starred opposite Fredrick March, as the ardent Robert Browning—til© same team which broke all records in “Smilin’ Through,” Charles Laughton, most recent Academy Award winner, appears In the grim and powerful role of the elder Barrett, his first American picture since the international hit, “Henry the Eighth.” Sidney Franklin, director of many of Miss Shearer's greatest successes. Including “Smilin’ Through,” was the genius behind the megaphone in filming the famous stage Play. The performance of each is so finished, so smooth and rich that comparison is impossible. Never was there a more tender Elizabeth, a more poetic Browning, or a more demoniac elder Barrett than these three, present. Miss

STATE THEATRE “THE BATTLE,” FAMOUS NOVEL BROUGHT TO THE SCREEN Occasionally the screen gives us "something different”—the outstanding picture that leaves a deep impression on the mind and the desire to see it again. Such a picture is the tense drama and magnificent spectacle, “The Battle,” a Gau-mont-British picture Avhich opens at the State Theatre to-day. The- production has been given a strong cast of Avellknown players, all of Avhom shine in their finest screen performance to date. John Loder is excellently cast as a British naval attache with the Japanese Fleet; delightful Merle Oberon, the clever Tasmanian girl Avho made such a hit in “The Private Life of Henry VIII,” gives a perfect characterisation of the dear little Marquise Yorisaka puzzled and unhappy: Miles Mander proves his versatility in the role of an artist; Betty Stockfield is charming as the Avealthy oAvner of a pleasure yacht; and then avo have that great artist, Chai*les Boyer, who gives one of the screen’s strongest and most sympathetic portrayals as the Marquis Yorisaka, a captain in the Japanese naA-y, Avho tramples on his honour as a liusband and an officer in his desire to discoA'er the secret of British naval success. One scene lingers long in the mind for its restrained emotion. It is AVhero Captain Yorisaka admits to his ■weeping* wife that he has deliberately encouraged her friendship with the British naval officer in the, hope that he Avould learn the officer’s report to the British Admiralty on the recent Japanese naval encounter. The knowledge that he has lost her love proves the more bitter because in serving his country he has sacrificed his honour. “The Battle” is emphatically not a purely naA’al subject. It possesses a particularly strong triangular theme and is a subtle essay in Eastern psychology. The realism of the furious battle scenes and the prominence given to them might easily, in less skilful hands, have been permitted to dwarf the development of the emotional tenseness of the story. But Farkas has not lost his sense of values for one instant. The war between love and duty, the conflict of national armaments, the clash of temperaments and struggle of racial prejudices—all are Woven with care and masterly skill into this brilliant piece of screen-craft. “The Battle” is emphatically a great picture.

Shearer, as the star, naturally carries the brunt of the film—and carries it Avith all i the grace and charm and polish that made “Riptide’* and “Smilin' Through" uie successes they were. As the invalided Elizabeth, she brings a poignant wistful* ness to her characterisation that reaches deep down into the hearts of the auditor. The film, as a production, deserves unrestricted. praise. The thought, staging arid nicety of detail characteristic of all Metro-Gold wyn-Mayer productions are ; even more in evidence than usual. Llrector bidney Franklin shows the touch of | the expert craftsman, seen before in I “The Guardsman” and "Smilin’.Through,” In the compelling tempo maintained throughout the performance and the masterly way in Avhich the characters are handled. Besides such titans of the dramatic arts, there is also a long string of excellent supporting players, each adding his able touch to the glittering Avhole. They are Maureen O'Sullivan, who plays spirited Henriette; Ralph Forbes as Captain Cook; Una O’Connor as the obsequious "Wilson; Katharine Alexander portraying the reverent Arabel; Marlon Clayton as Bella, the flirt; Leo Carroll and Ferdinand Munier as Drs. FordWaterlow and Clayton; and lan Wolfe in the part he created on the stage, BeA’an, the elegant English geiyCleman. If you see "The Barretts of "Wimpolo Street,” you will see a famous ulay made into a .brilliant picture. "