Entertainments

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 88, 14 April 1938, Page 9

Entertainments

REGENT THEATRE TO-NIGHT DEANNA DURBIN LOVABLE YOUNG SINGING STAR. “MAD ABOUT MUSIC.” Deanna Durbin’s latest picture is always an event. “Three Smart Girls” was a surprise, bringing- to the screen a fresh, sparkling and lovable little star. “100 Men and a Girl” was a revelation of the tremendous singing abilities of this amazing youngster, and “Mad About Music” is an astounding display of both acting and singing. The producers of “Mad About Music” have boldly thrown Deanna into a story that demands the utmost in acting talent. And 15-year-old Deanno handles the difficult assignment with ease and assurance. As entertainment, “Mad About Music” excels either of her previous pictures, although it departs entirely in theme and structure from “Three Smart Girls” or “100 Men and a Girl.” Her new production is almost entirely comedydrama, but with a story that lends itself to several highly-emotional passages, heart-gripping in their intensity, bringing tears in their wake much as did the finaie of ”100 Men and a Girl.” The tears are immediately followed by comedy sequences, forcing smiles. It is this procession of smiles and tears which makes “Mad About Music” a great picture. It’s a Universal film. Deanna is cast as a fatherless girl, attending a private school in Switzerland. Her mother is an American screen star, famous for her ingenue roles. Her manager has convinced the star that her future on the screen would be ruined if the public knew she was a mother; hence she cannot write to Deanna, nor can the child admit who her mother is. The child keenly feels her plight as the other children boast of their parents, and, to make herself appear equal to them, she has invented a fictitious hunter-adventurer-father from whom she receives letters (written by herself) which she proudly shows to the other students. But finally she is forced to produce a father. She selects Herbert Marshall as her male parent—and then the complications follow thisk and fast. Gail Patrick is cast as the screen-star-mother, with William Frawley as the business manager. Arthur Treacher comes in for his share of the comedy work as the secretaryvalet to Marshall. Christian Rub is Deanna’s confidant, friend and accessory in lier deception. Elizabeth Risdon and Nana Bryant are the sisters who keep the school in Switzerland. Three youngsters have important roles in the production. These are Marcia Mae Jones and Jackie Moran, in the roles of Deanna’s friends, and Helen Parrish, who is her enemy. Deanna sings four songs in the production, three of them, “I Love to Whistle,” “Serenade to the Stars” and “Chapel Bells” by Harold Adamson and Jimmie McHugh. The fourth Is “Avia Maria,” by Gounod. High in the list of credits must come Norman Taurog, the director, and Joe Pasternak, the producer. The story is an original by Frederick Kohner and Marcella Burke, with the screenplay by Bruce Manning and Felix Jackson. MAYFAIR THEATRE TO-DAY. “ BIG CITY.” The stars of “The Good Earth” and “Captains Courageous,” respectively, are united in the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, “Big City,” which opens at the Mayfair Theatre with a special 10.30 p.m. session ■ this evening, with Luise Rainer and Spencer Tracy co-starred for the first time. The new picture, presenting a cross-section of American metropolitan life, with Tracy as a New Y r ork City taxicab driver who becomes involved in a war between rival taxicab companies, and Miss Rainer as his immigrant wife whom he barely saves from deportation, is from the pen of Norman Krasna, the brilliant young playwright whose “Fury” was considered one of the outstanding photoplays of last year. The production was filmed under the direction of Frank Borzage whose directorial successes date back to “Humoresque” and include such memorable hits a-s “Seventh Heaven,” “A Farewell to Arms” and the recent History is Made at Night.” A veteran character actor, Charley Grapewin, heads the supporting cast of “Big City” and other well-known names in prominent roles include Janet Beecher. Eddie Qmllan, Victor Varconi, Oscar O’Shea. Helen Troy, William Demarest, John Arledge, Irving Bacon, Guinn Williams and Regis Toomey. Also of interest is the appearance in the realistic free-for-all street battle sequences of the story are such noted names of the sports world as Jack Dempsey, James J. Jeffries. Jimmy MeLarnin, Maxie Rosenbloom. Jim Thorpe, Frank Wykoff, Jackie Fields. Man Mountain Dean, Bull Montana and other athletes. One of the picture’s scenes is laid in Jack Dempsey’s restaurant, the famous gathering place of sports celebrities having been copied to the last detail. In Big City” Luise Rainer once again demonstrates her brilliant flair for versatility in acting. A far cry from her roles in The Good Earth” and “The Great Ziegfeld and the direct opposite of her recent portrayal of the Countess in “The Emperor s Candlesticks,” her new role places her as a simple Rumanian girl who has left her fatherland to come to America, the .‘land of hope,” where she falls in love with a rough and ready taxicab driver only to be precipitated into a dramatic catastrophe in which police courts, a murder, racketeers and Ellis Island loom up as foreboding aspects of her new civilisation.

STATE THEATRE—SATURDAY. “NOTHING SACRED.” David O. Selznick, outstanding producer of successful pictures, has achieved another big hit with “Nothing Sacred,” which commences a season at the State Theatre on Saturday. Hailed by the critics of America as the year’s best com- ) edy, “Nothing Sacred” is an hilarious dramatisation of life in New York city, just as Selznick’s previous film. “A Star is Born,” dramatised, life in Hollywood so successfully. The film is a devastating satirte oh New York ‘journalism and ballyhoo. It is a riotous job of “spoofing,” with every episode and every shot made to tell in piling up laughs. The script was written by Ben Ilecht, who knows more about the sunject of New York and its foibles than any man in Manhattan. The original story was written by James H. Street. Carol Lombard, who has a notable flair for comedy roles, is said to give the finest performance of her career, surpassing her achievement in “My Man Godfrey.” Fredric Maich is aiso starred, and provides much of the cemedy as the Cosmopolitan journalist who unwittingly perpetrates a costly hoax on the publisher and editor of his newspaper. Tne comedy starts in the small town of Warsaw, Vermont, where Miss Lombard is seen as a small town girl, with a yearning for New York; the picture quickiy switches locale to the big city. March, as the ace reporter of the -New York Morning Star, of which Walter Connelly is managing editor, brings the girl to Gotham. Charles Winnlnger, small town medico, in the picture, comes along. To disclose the actual nature of the hoax which turns New York upside down and inside out, would rob picture-lovers of future pleasure when the film is released. Let it be sufficient to say that Hazel Flagg (Miss Lombard) and Wallace Cook (March), aided and abbetted by Charles Winninger and Walter Connolly, are the principal artists in a business of bunk that fools the gullible public of New York. The story is told with rollicking spontaneity, and the entire film is done in technicolour. There are many beautiful shots with New York city backgrounds that show. the infinite potentialities of the colour camera and its capacity to screen the mood and speed up action, and also to give vivid impressions of third dimensional. The picture is released by United Artists. KOSY THEATRE. “WAGON WHEELS.” Randolph Scott, tall and handsome Paramount adventure star, plays the leading role in the filmisation of Zane Grey’s “Wagon Wheels,” the dramatic account of the adventures of the first wagon train to cross the country to Oregon in 1844, which is now showing at the Kosy Theatre. With Gail Patrick. Monte Blue and Raymond Hatton in the chief supporting roles, the film also presents the newest discovery among child actors, little four-year-old Billy Lee, who plays an important role as Gail Patrick’s son. “Wagon Wheels” was adapted from the Zane Grey novel, “Fighting Caravans,” and depicts the hardships, perils and romantic lives of the sturdy, adventuring pioneers who helped to forge an empire by their conquest of the West. The action opens at Independence, Missouri, U.S.A., where pioneers from all over the East are gathering for the start of their new adventure. Under the guidance of Scott and Hatton, as frontier scouts, they set fori ward. Among the members of the train are a young widow, Gail Patrick, and her son, fleeing from her husband’s parents who want to get possession of the boy. In the train, also, is a half-breed Indian, played by Monte Blue, who has vowed to prevent the settlers from crossing into Oregon. Gail Patrick is befriended by Blue and responds to his seeming kindness. But all along the trail they are beset by Indians, and it is only when they have crossed the Western Slope ana are almost within sight of Oregon, that the Indians attack with the intention of slaughtering the members of the caravan. Blue’s true nature becomes evident when he appears with the Indians. The valiant defence by the pioneers is about to crumble when Scott saves the day and routs the Indians by a clever ruse. Safe at last, the pioneers cross over into Oregon, and Scott and Miss Patrick announce to little Billy that Scott will be his new . father. _ .. „ “ All of Me.” With his last appearance in Paramount’s “All of Me,” now showing at the Kosy Theatre, George Raft moves forward another rung on the ladder to screen fame. The “find” of “Scarface, a featured player in a number of Paramount pictures, he plays his first starring par under his new contract in "All of Me, in i which he shares top billing with 1< redri*. March and Miriam Hopkins. Raft s rise to prominence has been spectacular, having taken place in the span of little more than one vear. METEOR THEATRE—TO-DAY. “GOD’S COUNTRY AND THE WOMAN” With virgin forests of the North-west as its background and a feud between rival lumber companies as its theme, “God’s Country and the Woman,” Warner Bros.’ j picturisaticm in natural colours of the James Oliver Curwood novel of the same i name, comes to the Meteor Theatre today, with George Brent and Beverly Roberts in the stellar roles. Brent is at his vigorous and ingratiating best as Steve Russett— a rich idler who achieves power in the big woods through conflict with his ruthless brother—and the influence of a courageous girl of the forest, Joe Barton, a role portrayed by Beverly Roberts. Brent and Miss Roberts are supported by Barton Mac Lane, Robert Barrat, Alan Hale, El Brendel, Belly Bevan, Joseph King and many other screen favourites, j Several real lumberjacks take part in the | picturesque sequences. The thrilling drama and romance of the film is said to be tempered by robust comedy hi the mood of the story. “God s Country and the Woman,” which was screened almost wholly in the big woods district, is said to be the last word in natural colour photography. The story revolves about the fact that Brent has a brother, Robert Barrat, who heads a lumber company and whose hatred is aimed against Beverly Roberts, who | owns a rival company. He is engineering j a crooked deal which will make the girl pay unreasonable royalties for transporting supplies across his territory—when the younger brother arrives on the scene—and upsets his plans. Brent denounces his brother and starts back to the city. Barrat has him shanghaied and brought back to the woods—with the idea of forcing him to become a lumberman. Then begins the terrific conflict between the brothers—and the strange romance with the beautiful girl of the timberlands. The film presents many spectacular scenes—among which is the flight of a runaway log train plunging into a gorge and forming a gigantic log jam—and the dynamiting of the jam to set free the timber that must be at a tidewaiter by a certain date. It is said that more than a hundred movie technicians journeyed twelve hundred miles from Hollywood to a point near Longview, Washington, to build a railroad of their own for the runaway scene. One of those who saw a Hollywood preview of “God’s Country and the Woman” made the remark that the colour is as natural as the talk, and that the gorgeous forest scenes are the nearest approach possible to a trip to the Great North-west. Snowcapped mountains, blue or cloud-heaped sky—tumbling water-falls—giant trees in their glory or falling by the woodsmen’s axes—tones of flesh and and of costumes —of fire and the debris hurled by dyna- i mite—all appear in the subdued but satis- j fying beauty as though seen by the natural eye with no other medium.