Entertainments

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 82, 7 April 1938, Page 9

Entertainments

STATE THEATRE—TO-MORROW, “VICTORIA THE GREAT” Interest is at a high pitch for the premiere in this city of “Victoria the Great,” Which comes to the State Theatre tomorrow, proclaimed as ocering the tripie lure of historical accuracy, spectacular power and romantic fervour. The production gorgeously dramatises the life of Great Britain’s famous sovereign, as girl and queen, as wife and widow, and particularly her epic love for her Consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. It is the inside story of Victoria’s romance with Prince Albert, their courtship, marriage and wedded life, that strikes the human interest note resoundingly, by demonstrating that the love which “makes the world go round” is alike to royalty and commoner, to modern as well as Victorian times. Anna Neagle, England’s favourite screen actress, appears as Queen Victoria, co-starred with Anton Walbrook, international screen and stage star. H. B. Warner, as Lord Melbourne, and Waiter Rilla, as Prince Ernest, are featured players. No picture heroine could be more wistfuliy attractive than this young girJ of eighteen, so suddenly burdened with tremendous cares of State and confronting problems of international importance Nor will spectators easily forget such a thrilling episode as the attempted assassination of the Queen, the gallantry of the courageous Prince, vividly portrayed by Anton Walbrook, in shielding her with his body against the would-be murderer’s bullets. It is the first time that the regaJ figure of Victoria has been dramatised by permission of the British Government. Long age it was decreed that no stage representation of the Queen would be legalised, until four generations after her death. When the movies arrived, the ban, of course, was then extended to include them. The ban was lifted on June 21, 1937. In anticipation of such action, work on “Victoria the Great” had been proceeding for several months, so that it was just a few days after the official announcement that the picture was finished.‘Timely co-operation by the British Government supplied an infinite amount of data and unique “props” for the film, which throws a revealing light on the leading historical events of the Victorian Age, its habits, costumes and people. The facilities thus granted made it possible to show, running under its own steam, the Identical locomotive and train in which the Queen and her husband started off on their honeymoon; also the State carriage in which the Queen rode to her Diamond Jubilee. These are but two of many instances of accurate detail which furnishes a solid background of facts for "Victoria the Great.” The last thousand feet of the film, visualising the Diamond Jubilee, is in Technicolor. The picture was produced by Herbert Wilcox in England for RKO Radio. Besides the principals, the cast includes forty-two prominent players, and 500 extras were employed in the film METEOR THEATRE “LLOYDS OF LONDON” Darryl F. Zanuck, Twentieth CenturyFox production chief, in assigning to Tyrone Power the leading male role in "Lloyds of London," screen triumph coming to-morrow to the Meteor Theatre, gave that young man one of the most coveted characterisations of the year. The opportunity of overnight stardom was granted the young player as a result of his outstanding performances in two previous Twentieth Century-Fox pictures. Previous to his movie experience Tyrone received the indispensable training of acting before the footlights in theatres throughout the country. A romantically good-looking young man, just over six feet tall and weighing 155 pounds, he has dark brown eyes, brown hair, an infectious smile and a vital, boyish personality that insure his popularity as a romantic favourite. "Lloyds of London” finds Tyrone in the role of Jonathan Blake, who carves a brilliant career for himself in the great international insurance firm whose fortunes he brings to its greatest peak. At the height of his meteoric career Jonathan falls in love with Madeleine Carroll, who,. with Freddie Bartholomew as the very young Jonathan, is starred in the production. The romance, however, is ill-starred from the beginning, and it is not until a thrilling climax culminating in Admiral Lord Nelson’s thrilling victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, that the couple find the path to happness. Set against the turbulent canvas of the beginnings of British supremacy of the seas, the romance serves to focus into a single stirring kaleidoscope the birth of the Empire and the growth of the world’s most extraordinary and exciting business organisation. An integral part of the fortunes of Great Britain, Lloyds of London found her early struggles closely bound up with marine policies, and Jonathan Blake innovoted the now famous procedure of insuring everything and anything. The impressive cast also features Sir Guy Standing, C. Aubrey Smith and Virginia Field. Directed by Henry King, with Kenneth Macgowan as associate producer, the screen play by Ernest Pascal and Walter Ferris was adapted from the original story by Curtis Kenyon.

REGENT THEATRE “TOPPER” The astounding adventures of Mr. Cosmo Topper, sedate Wall Street bank president, who was destined to take part in hilarious escapades with madcap gentry of another world, Is transcribed from Thorne Smith’s sensational novel to the screen in the new Hal Roach featurelength comedy, “Topper,” which is the attraction showing at the Regent Theatre. Constance Bennett and Cary Grant are co-starred as the young married couple who, upon meeting a Violent death,, find themselves imprisoned in spiritual space and who can only advance to a higher plane (presumably heaven) by achieving one good deed. Their idea of a good deed is reconstructing the staidly moral life of Cosmo Topper. Roland Young as “Topper” finds the ethereal couple a source of constant embarrassment in their materia! and invisible efforts on his behalf. They upset his henpecked life with his domineering wife, played by Billie Burke. How they flit in and about astounded natives, how they pursue an incredible series of adventures across a bewildered countryside, lifts "Topper” from the rut of his smug existence and makes of him a disreputable out liappv human being. Thomas Smith, the author, dedicated. one of his "Topper” books. lopper Takes a Trip,” to Roland Young, which corroborates Uie studio’s idea of casting young for the role in the new picture. A supporting ca*t of well known players is headed by Alan Mowbray and Eugene Pallette, - and also includes Arthur i-ake, Hedda Hopper. Virginia Sale, Theovo“ Alte, J. Karrell. McDonald, Siii lne khepard, Doodles, SI Jinks and the tH h v ee i H , ltS all u a The gamut of Photography is run in the. producesll of Topper. Roy Seawright, special the Hal K °ach studios, “S.®™- p ,‘ I fil e< ?.T th ® oa>ne ra masio j n collaboman Wlth Norbert Brodine. tho caiueraMAYFAIK THEATRE TO-DAY “EASY DIVING." The current “smart comedy” cycle in Hollywood is a direct contradiction of that old maxim of the movie business, "the customex-s were bom young and they have Hmfr° tte u ° ver ‘K’ ln ,aot ' insists Ar- " T ? n.biow, producer of Paramoun t’s vffi,HnL ns ', the comedy coming to the Md.yia.il iheatre on Wednesday, it’s proof that the much-maligned picture public is actually becoining sophisticated! For evidence, the young Paramount executive hov ) iasband . Myrna Loy, points at the box office ratings of such films as "Mr Z e .f d *J? oe! L l 9 T °wn," "My Man Godfrey" and The Princess Comes Across.” "All comedies of the smart, semi-sophisticated type live years ago would have flopped everywhere but in the big cities. And today they re packing 'em in—even ln the whistle-stops,” he says. "The success of It Happened One Night,’ which astonished the whole industry, started the cycle,” Hornblow says. "Now the studios just can t get enough comedies to go round, if. , s good,, they coin money, because S ey jast what the People want.” Hornblow has several to his credit, among ;.,f m ,* The Princess Comes Across," Ruggles of Red Gap" aud "Swing High, Swing Low.” "Easy Living," with Jean , Ray Milland and Edward Arnold is his latest. And he says he’ll keep on making them just as often as he can get the scripts. The "smart comedy” cycle, incidentally, has been a boom to writers with a flair for dialogue among them Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, PrestonP Sturges, who wrote "Easy Living," Frank Butler and Don Hartman, Gene Fowler and the great Robert Riskin. “Three on the Trail.”

Thundering along with the surging sweep of a cattle stampede, punctuated with the bark of six-guns. Paramount’s "Three on the Trail,” fifth in the series of "Hopalong Cassidy” adventures to reach the screen, opens to-morrow as the second attraction. Based on the popular Clarence E. Mulford stories, "Three on the Trail” brings William Boyd back in the role of "Hopalong Cassidy,” and Jimmy Ellison as his faithful side-kick, Johnny Nelson. The story shows "Hoppy’s” efforts to free himself and Johnny from a false charge of robbery and murder fastened on them by Pecos Kane, crooked gambler, and their thrilling adventures in ridding the country of Kane and his desperadoes. "Three on the Trail” is an action-filled thriller, with deft comedy touches and a tender romance woven expertly into the story by the capable direction of Howard Bretherton. The beautiful country of the West forms a background of scenic splendour that will linger in the minds of the audience. Every member of the cast handles his assignment perfectly—Muriel Evans is lovely and demure as the schoolma’am for Whom both Johnny and Kane have fallen; George Hayes brings sympathy and understanding to his role of "Windy,” the misanthropic old-timer who "hates wimmin like pizen”; and Onslow Stevens deserves special mention for his masterful portrayal of the difficult rote of Pecos Kane, suave, cultred killer and gang leader.

KOSY THEATRE—SATURDAY "THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND” Boris Karloff stars in "The Man Who Changed His Mind," with Anna Lee and John Loder. A Gaumont-British Dominions release. Boris Karloff, master of the sinister, here has a part in which he has an opportunity of being much more human than usual. Though his experiments, and some of his less normal moments, are nicely calculated to chill the spine, we have her a big character, deserving of sympathy and pity, a character which on occasion simply exudes human feeling and goodness in spite of the nature of the experiments he indulges in. The story is directed with great skill and force by Robert Stevenson, and it is acted by a cast which is brilliant without exception. Karloff naturally stands out. He Is strange, pathetic, and dynamic in turn, each mood being perfectly assumed. Anna Lee, as his assistant, does some of her finest screen work. She can be dramatic with a quiet realism that is most effective, and in the romantic scenes with John Loder she is ideal. Mr. Loder certainly marks himself as one of the best British screen heroes.

“Under Suspicion.” “Under Suspicion,” Columbia’s newest “whodunit” starring Jack Holt and adapted to the screen from Philip Wylie’s widely read magazine story, screens at the Kosy Theatre on Saturday. The cast supporting Holt includes Katherine DeMille, Rosalind Keith, Luis Alberni, Esther Muir, Purnell Pratt and Granville Bates. Lewis D. Collins directed from a screen adaptation by Joseph Hoffman and Jefferson Parker of Philip Wylie’s original tale. The story of “Under Suspicion” tells of a millionaire auto magnate, played by Holt, who decides to retire arid turn over his plant to his employees. The move makes enemies of many of his friends, several of whom he believes would like to see him dead. To forestall any assassination he invites all the would-be culprits to his mountain lodge, and through a series of cleverly planned manoeuvres, traps the lurking killer.