Palmerston Picture Programmes

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 64, 17 March 1936, Page 12

Palmerston Picture Programmes

REGENT THEATRE TO-DAY “MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION’’ “All my life I shall loathe Bobby Merrick,” says Helen Hudson (Irene Dunne) in “Magnificent Obsession,” an outstanding picture now showing in Palmerston North at the Regent Theatre. But little does Helen know that what was formerly an unreasoning hate is later to blossom into love. The story of "Magnificent Obsession” is one of the strangest romances ever written; yet it is a lifelike, poignantly human story, the philosophic note of which is unselfishness. Apart from the serious theme, however, there is comic relief supplied by the inimitable Charles Butterwortli. For instance, imagine Butterwortli, newly married, coming out of his apartment in a Paris hotel in his nigntshirt to put out tho shoes for the boot-boy; along comes Robert Taylor and places his hat on Butterwortli’s head. Taylor goes away and the door slams, so that Butterwortli is locked out, dressed in a nightshirt and a top-hat. He has to call his wife to let him in. Words can’t describe the comedy of this scene, it sounds ordinary on paper, but it creates more laughter than any other scene in the film. Also imagine Butterworth, after a rather convivial evening with Robert Taylor, stepping by accident from his car into an excavation made in the road. Taylor advises him to wait and keep on whistling until he gets help. Taking occasional sips from a ilask of Scotch, Butterworth trills away, but is forgotten. Ho is awakened in the morning by a roadman, and then immediately recommences his trilling. Arthur Treacher, the English comedian, contributes a small amount of comedy, but of a different nature. In this film he is a valet. Ralph Morgan is one of the notablo men playing a supporting role, as Randolph, the sculptor, wno explains the ' secret of true giving to Robert Taylor, and provides him with the first inkling of philosophy. “The secret of life is not to ( build your own personality out of other personalities, but into other personalities. From this you are able to make contact with the Supreme Personality, the source of infinite power.” How many of us think that we are not fulfilling our true destiny and are struggling along life's road in an aimless fashion? This is a story which should appeal to all of us on these grounds; for it shows how a man who was utterly useless came to fulfil a great destiny. That Is the powerful message which “Magnificent Obsession” holds in store for each and every human being. KOSY THEATRE “THREE KIDS AND A QUEEN” The luxurious New York home of the richest woman in the world is the scene of part of the acLion of "Three Kids and a Queen," Universal's lively comedydrama which comes" to the Kosy theatre to-morrow, with May Robson in the starring role. But the greater part of the story takes place in a simply furnished basement in the East Side tenement district, with an Italian barber shop in the "front room and a motley assortment of youngsters in tho rear. It is here that Miss Robson, the wealthy, crabbed old maid of the story, is taken when she is injured in a runaway, and it is here that she determines to stay in spite of the fact that tho temperamental barber prefers her room to her company. The police are making a frenzied search for the irascible old woman, and Barber Henry Armetta has no ambition to be arrested as a kidnapper, in spite of the fact that he is as innocent as a new-born babe, so to speak. Finally the wealthy woman actually is kidnapped, and the scene is transferred to the country hideout of the

gangsters who have perpetrated the crime. Exciting events in this picturesque location lead up to the old woman’s eventual return to her Fifth Avenue mansion-but even this' does not last. . The scene changes again, and the erratic Mary Jane Baxter travels down The Avenue with her entourage, bent on life’s greatest adventure. In addition to Armetta, Miss Robson’s supporting cast in “Three Kids and a Queen” includes Frankie Darro, Charlotte Henry. William Benedict, Billy Burrud, John Miljan, Laurence Grant, Hedda Hooper, Herman Bing, Henry Kolker and many others, and the Picture was produced under the direction of Edward Ludwig.