Palmerston Picture Programmes

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 239, 9 October 1936, Page 12

Palmerston Picture Programmes

REGENT THEATRE—TO-DAY "THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL” Spectacular period romantic drama of adventures, brilliantly adapted from Rareness Orczy's widely-read story, the outstanding ieature ot which is the magnificent acting of Leslie Howard. Ho invests the spiendid entertainment with quality witnouc aiminisning general appeal, and is aided ill his taste by Merie uueron, who lias never dune oetter wont, as wed as by imaginative direction, mvery ucpariment ot tno picture measures up to Luo mgii stanuaru expected or Luiiuon min pruuucuons; it nas a iittio 01 every tiling, including an attracLive title ana immense lennnine appeal. Lesne no Ward surpassed, lumsclf as oil’ Percy uiditeucy, ms penonnanee—a suntlo eomoinauon ot tne roiuanue, tno idtuous, aim tiio auventurous —is a supreme ueiignt. menu Uoeron is a revelation as nauy oianeiley; sue Has enarm and Unootinueu taieiu, wnno ftaymond rviassey is excellent as Uiiauveini. ft is liupossicie to name tile many supporting piayers individually, out it win sumco to say mat peneet types arc represented thruughodt. mis mm denioiisirates ueyoucl a snatiow ot aouot that tne success of "neury Via was no liuiie, for -uexanucr noma, me prouuetion supervisor, nas Known once again by ms artistic, graceful, yet showmamiho handling of uaroncss (proxy's .story, and ms appreciation of neslie Howard's great acting ability, how to effect a cunning compromise between tho high and uio low brow. Tile dramatic situations are neatiy turned by clever eoiueuy, the spirit of adventure and romance are smouuuy preserved, tno staging is superb. The script is well lugn peneet, tor there is comnienuabie economy ot dialogue without injury to story continuity. The him in its entirely unquestionably represents entertainment of character and quality, weaded to universal appeal. •‘Till We ivieex Again.”

For sheer melodramatic entertainment a weil-eonsiructeu spy story capaoiy and skiltuily directed is nard to improve upon and the .Paramount production "Till \Ve -Meet Again," wmch is to commence a season at tne Regent Theatre on Saturday, has all the ingredients necessary lor complete success, une disunguisned Englisn actor, Herbert marsnaii, nas tile leaning roie, wane playing opposite aim is tne charming uercrudo Micnael. -Marshall takes the part of an English matinee idol in the year it 1 It who is m love with ms leading lady, a lovely Austrian actress played by miss Michael. Just when the two have almost completed tneir marriage plans, the war breads out and the Austrian girl disappears. How the young man becomes a uritish intelligence oliicer and eventually discovers that his former sweetheart is a Uerman spy is convincingly portrayed. An element of exciting drama is introduced when the Englishman becomes suspected by tho German secret, service auuiorities and Lionel Atwill’s characterisation if .Ludwig, the official who nearly brings about ins capture, is of equally high standard to tne performance of the two leading players.

KOSY THEATRE—TO-MORROW. "TRAPPED BY TELEVISION.” Crackling with excitement; over its own timeliness, “Trapped by Television,” first of tho television, pictures to reach the screen, is at tiie kosy Theatre to-morrow. There is nothing static about this Him; it moves along at a zippy pace, taking the entire audience along with it. With such worthies as Mary As tor, Lyle Talbot, Nat Pendleton, Joyce Compton, Thurston Hall, Henry Mollisou and Wyrley Birch in the cast, tilings don’t have a chance to get dull. The climax will delight fans who like moving pictures to move. The story deals with Fred Dennis, a struggling young inventor of a television set. Unable to complete tho apparatus because of lack of funds, he is in a pretty bad way when Rocky O'Neill, hill collector sent to find out why Fred hasn’t paid for the instruments he purchased, shows up. Instead of making it ditlicult for Fred, Rooky, intrigued by the invention, decides to try and help him. He gets Fred a job as a bill collector. Fred is sent to hound Bobby Blake, a shrewd young miss, pretty too, who lives with a girl friend, May Collins. Bobby learns of Fred’s invention, and decides to do something about it—for herself. She manages to get Xs(l from Curtis, president of the Paragon Broadcasting Company, planning to keep it herself. But Fred’s sincerity, and a sinking feeling that she is falling in love with him, changes ner mind and she decides to play along with him. Curtis arranges a test for tiie completed television set, hut Standish, Curtis's general manager, interested in another device, and attempting by trickery to sell it to Paragon at an exorbitant price, sabotages Fred’s, instruments and the resultant demonstration. Though the future looks dark for Fred and Bobby, fa to gives them another chance when their own television set unmasks Standish in his true colours. Lyle Talbot offers an exceptionally good performance as the young inventor. Mary Astor, too, as the determined Bobby, scores an outstanding portrayal, ably assisted ill supporting roles by Jovce Compton, as May Collins, and Nat Pendleton as the two-fisted bill collector. "Trapped by Television” was directed with an exciting tempo by Del Lord. Excitement Abounds in “Straightaway." Roaring around tho motor ovals at flashing speed, Tim McCoy puts plenty of thrills and excitement into his latest Columbia action drama, "Straightaway," on tho double bill at the Kosy to-morrow. When Tim gets orders to throw a race, lie resigns his job and goes to work for a rival manufacturer builder of speedy cars, who is bringing out what promises to be the fastest car on the tracks. As captain of the racing team, Tim insists that his young brother drive the car. Tim’s ex-employer, seeing in tho new car a menace to his continued prosperity,

STATE THEATRE “LOVE BEFORE BREAKFAST.” To-day is tho final screening of Carole Lombard in ‘‘Love Before Breakfast.” For tho convenience of patrons not able to attend till after nine o’clock tho evening session is so arranged that they may see the full programme, finishing about 11.30. “Under Two Flags” To-morrow. If the two right sides of Claudette Colbert’s face were put together, she would look something like the pre-clepression Fc.a Negri; assemble the left side features of the star and she reminds one of Corrino Griffith. As a consequence, Miss Colbert—like virtually every other Hollywood star —finds that she has to choose a side, be sure it is her favourite one, ana siioic to it. All this will serve to remind those who have lorgotten that the two sides of tho human lace are almost invariably dissimilar, a widely-known scientific fact which the movies discovered only when Theda Bara startled tho film colony by insisting that her right side was twice as good as her left. Miss Colbert, who currently appears with Ronald Column, Victor AlcLaglen and Rosalind Russell in 30th Century’s “Under Two Flags,” which commences to-morrow, makes no bones of tho fact that she is nicer to look at from the left. Colman, on tho other hand, favours tho right, and this added to the many other reasons, makes them an ideal screen couple for close love scenes. This matter of sides has its problems at times. Miss Colbert recalls the difficulties which attended her joint screen appearance with Maurice Chevalier. Maurice, like Claudette, pliotograpned best from the left. To tho uninitiated this would mean nothing, but when two stars, supposedly in the act of kissing, both strive to present their best left sides, something goes screwy unless one or the other gives up. At that time Claudetto was the less important of the two players, and by a trick known only to the most experienced of players, Chevalier managed to favour himself at all times. With tho advent of modern makeup practice, tho game of sides became less serious, because man v of the slight imperfections of star profiles could be erased. But stars still like the cameras to show their bettor side. Loretta Young, for instance, photographs best straight on. But Rosalind Russell, who is also featured in “Under Two Flags,” doesn’t care much which side she is photographed from, although she knows her right profile is better. “Under Two Flags” is the spectacular desert drama, adapted from Ouida's famous novel, and brought to the screen with a vast supporting cast of ten thousand. Patrons are advised tthat owing to record bookings all ’phone reservations not claimed by noon on Saturday will be sold.

MAYFAIR THEATRE, TO-NIGHT, DOUBLE FEATURE BILL. “Soak the Rich,” a lively comedy satire featuring Walter Connolly and "ThO-Pre-view Murder Mystery” comprise the double bill which will be shown finally tonight at the Mayfair Theatre. •'Bullets or Ballots” Coming To-morrow.” Edward G. Robinson returns in his newest, and most dynamic role in "Bullets or Ballots,” coming to the Mayfair Theatre to-morrow. Robinson's new role affords him all the opportunities for characterisation that “Little Caesar,” the picture that made him famous, gave him, but in this picture he is not a gangster. lie is a lull'd boiled detective determined to put the boldest and best organised band of criminals known to history out of business. To do this he renounces both love and honour, at least temporarily for he breaks with the police and ostensibly becomes a criminal himself, in order to gather the evidence to break up a. band of crooks so powerful that no one had ever been able to put the linger on them. The picture is the story of racketeers who are supjDosed to be respectable society leaders, business men of wealth, politicians of high position and bankers, men so well known that no one suspects them. They are never seen with any of the crooks who carry out their orders, but contact just one man in the working organisation, who carries out their orders and delivers the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains. The story is by Martin Mooney, the New York newspaperman who exposed racketeering in the newspapers, and was sent to gaol for thirty days for contempt of court because he refused to divulge the source of his information. He claimed it was his moral right not to divulge the names of persons who gave him confidential information. Seton I. Miller collaborated with Mooney on the story and also wrote the screen play. There is an unusually talented cast in the picture, with Joan Blondeli playing the feminine lead opposite Robinson. Barton Mac Lane has the role of the chief of the gangsters, the only contact with the “higher-ups,” but who still has a terrific strugglo in keeping his gang of killers in line. In the end one of them double-crosses him and shoots him down in cold blood. The latter part, the toughest of all the tough men, is played by Humphrey Bogart, the killer of “The Petrified Forest.” Frank McHugh furnishes the comedy element as the personal agent of Miss Bior.dell, who runs a Harlem Numbers racket. Joseph King is the commissioner who breaks Robinson.

bribes his own driver to “get” Tim, and to put the new car "through the fence.” Their attempt on Tim fails, and when they try to wreck his brother’s ear, he interposes his own between and takes the crash himself. Tho balance of tho cast includes Francis McDonald, William Bakewell, Samuel S. Hinds. Lafo McKee and Ward Bond. Tho direction is by Otto Brower, from an original story by Lambert Hillyer. Several well-known American racing drivers havo roles in tho picture, /