Palmerston Picture Programmes

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 231, 1 October 1935, Page 3

Palmerston Picture Programmes

REGENT THEATRE “ABDUL. THE DAMNED” ■“Abdul the Damned,” -which will open to-morrow at the Regent Theatre, is claimed to be one of the outstanding films which have been screened in Palmerston North. Having selected as material for a film one of the most significant periods of Turkish history, the producers of “Abdul the Damned” have rightly set in the centre of the film the tragic figure of Abdul Hamid 11, That events of supreme importance to the country have been given a dramatic representation on the screen might alono entitle the picture to great commendation, but it deserves even greater credit for the magnificence of the acting of Fritz Kortner as the Sultan. Hamid is in the main a tragic figure. He excites other emotions—fear, disgust, amusement, pity—but it is the tragedy of his life that produces the most powerful effect. An attempt was made on his life at the age of eight, and he walked in fear ever since. Battalions of spies, with other spies to spy on them, surround him. Money is needed to pay these servants, and higher taxes must therefore be raised. Higher taxes mean increased discontent among the people, and more soldiers are needed to keep them trodden down. There is no end to the vicious circle. Assassination, with no explanation offered, is the Sultan’s common method of removing those he considers dangerous. Rebellion raises its head, and active discontent spreads abroad. Soldiers and guards are alike won to the cause) and he who was once the "lord of life and death” becomes at one blow the most defenceless man in the country. Kortner, it is claimed, has never given a better characterisation. He suggests cruelty, an absence of all the finer feelings, a mad quality; but he also makes the watcher feel the tragedy of the Sultans personality and situation. He can raise a laugh from time to time; but he can also evoke sympathy. If others are to bo singled out from an. excellent cast for, special mention tho first might well be Esme Percy, as Ali, tho Sultan’s trusted servant. There is, too, Nils Asther, who plays the part of ICadar Pasha, the duel of police, an ambitious man, who plots for his master’s overthrow, is discovered, and goes to meet his death with a laugh. There are also Adrienne Ames, as Therese, tho Viennese dancer, who enters tho Sultan’s harem to save her lover, and John Stuart, who is thus saved, and from exile plots for Hamid’s overthrow.

KOSY THEATRE LIONEL BARRYMORE HEADS CAS 1 OF M.-G.-M.’s NEW THRILLER

Director Tod Browning shocked the screen world with his hair-raising vracula" and kept audiences on the edges of their seats with tho Lon Chaney thrillers; Guy Endoro stunned lovers of shocking mystery with “Werewolf ol Paris” and "Babouk”; Bela Lugosi has chilled audiences with many shivery scenes, and Lionel Barrymore has gripped the imaginations of millions with his amazing characterisations. They all come together in "Mark of tho Vampire,’ sensatlonal detective mystery which each hopes is to “top” anything else in his . career. The new Metro-Goldwyn-Mnyer picture is now showing at the Kosy Theatre. An original story by Guy Endore and Bernard Schubert, the picture tells the tale of a. ghastly crime, laid in ■the midst of a strange vampire cult. Strange “undead ’ ihings that roam in tho night, a haunted castle that is the centre of the gruesome cult, a detective who pits his wits against supernatural horrors, figure in the hair-raising story. E. J. Mannix, its producer, gave every role a “name” player, even tho briefest flash on the screen. Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi, Jean Hersholt, who scored In "Men in White”; Lionel Atwill, of “Murders in the Wax Museum”; Elizabeth Allan of "David Copperfield”; Jessie, Ralph, who played Feggotty in that production; Henry Stephenson of “The Night t is Young”; Deila Eennett, New Yorki stage star; Ivan Simpson, Donald Meek, Michael Visaroff, and many others are: among its principals. Opposite Lugosi is Carol Boland, the long-hunted “Vampire Woman,” found in the person of a dramatic student at the University of Cali-1 fornla playing her first role in the picture. Tho thrills include the mysterious murder blamed on vampires, the appearance of the vampire horde, tho reincarnation of the heroine’s father as one of the “Un-Dead,” the bat that turns into a woman, Lugosi's weird attacks upon Elizabeth Allan, and the amazing denoue- ■ ment in which the detective in the case brings the weird hidden criminals to the light of day. Replicas of old deserted i pasties, weinl churchyards, the den 01 1

’ the “Witch Woman” are among the ; sinister settings. “SWEENEY” COMEDY OE RIOTOUS LAUGHS—TO-MORROW “Friends of Mr. Sweeney,” the Warner Bros, picture which is based on the hilarious comedy by Elmer Davis, opens at the Kosy Theatre to-morrow. The picture is said to be one of the most riotously funny films to come to the screen in many a day. Certainly tho situation of a meek mouse of a man turning in a night into a ferocious lion, a devil with tho ladies, and tho terror of the town, is unique enough to lead to any number of laughable sequences. The mouse’s miraculous change is inspired to a large extent by love, although liquor and the goadings of an old pal contribute their share. Thrills are supplied in a whirlwind climax in which the mouse now become a lion, rounds up a band of crooks and compels his domineering 'and hypocritical boss to buckle to his will. Charlie Ruggles has the leading role, with Ann Dvorak furnishing the romantic part of the story. Others in the cast include Eugeno Pallette, Dorothy Burgess, Dorothy Tree, Robert Barrat, Berton Churchill, Harry Tyler, Harry Beresford and .William Davidson. Edward Ludwig directed the picture which was dramatised • for the screen by Warren Duff and Sidney Sutherland. Sparkling dialogue was added by F. Hugh Herbert and Erwin Gelsey. I “The 13th Candle,” with Isobel Elsom, is the second attraction. A thrilling murder mystery drama that will keep you guessing. It is an amazing drama of the tangled lives of seven people. The only clues upon which the audience has to work lie in the title and the fact that the chauffeur (the murderer) repaired the wireless set in the dining hall, the method of the murder being dependent upon the candlo flame melting a wire which released a concealed dagger suspended overhead.