Entertainments

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 127, 30 May 1941, Page 9

Entertainments

REGENT THEATRE—TO-DAY “NICE GIRL?” America's nice girl has grown up into a glamorous young woman. Deanna Durbin is no longer Amerira's favourite "little girl” of motion pictures. Instead, Deanna is an even more potentially popular young lady who steps out in all her glamour in “Nice Girl?” showing to day to the Regent Theatre. The story presents Deanna as a typical small-town “nice girl" who tires of being one—so she escapes through a romantic escapade with a young New Yorker, played by ( Tone. Deanna thereby becomes, subject of a town scandal which is quelled only j after her “engagement” to Tone is an- 1 nounced. Then Tone reappears, to complicate a situation which provides much hilarity before the story reaches its sur-1 prise finish. Benchley appears as Deanna’s, father, a Connecticut high school principal, and the Misses Gillis and Gwynne are Deanna’s sisters. Brennan and Miss Broderick form a new team as town postman and housekeeper, for the Benchley . family. Deanna sings five numbers, in-I eluding Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home" and four new songs: “Perhaps,” ! “Love At Last,” “Beneath the Lights of Home” and “Thank You, America,” the latter a stirring patriotic number. The I screen play of “Nice Girl?” was based on , an original story by Phyllis Duganne. Joe Valentine was the photographer. MAYFAIR THEATRE—TO-DAY NEW DOUBLE-FEATURE PROGRAMME Flaming six-guns, thundering hooves, red-blooded action and a well-worked out plot characterise the latest screen adventure of “Hopalong” Cassidy in “Three Men From Texas,” which shows at the Mayfair Theatre to-night. The action takes place in the California of the turn , of the century, when land grabbing by eastern speculators was at its height. Cassidy, played as usual by William Boyd, i is asked by a citizens’ committee in the harassed region, to bring law and order to the place and, unable to go, he sends his saddlemate “Lucky.” “Lucky,” played by Russell Hayden, gets himself into plenty of trouble and it is when Cassidy goes to California to extricate him, that the action begins. Cassidy gets him out all right, and also succeeds in bringing law and order to the community—but not before he gets into some of the most exciting scrapes of his cax’eer. The third “man from Texas” in the cast is played by Andy Clyde, veteran screen comedian, with his usual ability, while the rest of the cast, which includes Esther Estrella, a beautiful newcomer to the screen, Morris Ankrum, Morgan Wallace, Thornton Edwards, Davison Clark, Dick Curtis and George Lollier, all turn in equally creditable performances. "Three Men From Texas” was prepared for the screen by Norton S. Parker from characters created by Clarence E. Mulford. Associate Feature. Gordon Harker, popular British comedian, is to be seen in “Saloon Bar,” a delightful comedy offering. Also screen--1 ing is a further chapter of the popular serial, “Junior G-Men.”

STATE THEATRE—TO-DAY “THE GREAT DICTATOR” The great and inimitable Charlie Chap* lin, who for a generation has maintained pre-eminence as the leading comedian of tlie screen, returns to the screen in “The Great Dictator,” the master work upon which he has bent his tireless energies these past two years and the picture which is causing international repercussions. The theme Charlie chooses springs from the dreams of millions—the lighthearted ridiculing ; of the forces that ! oppress the average man of the workaday world. In order to achieve this, Chaplin selects as his central character the one personality alive in the world to-day who, more than any other human, guides those forces of oppression against the innocent peoples of the world. He chooses Hitler. Perhaps it was one of the whims of Providence that gave Chaplin the truncated moustache years ago whleh Hitler adopted much later. Whatever the reason, most people are ready to agree that Chaplin made the moustache famous, and Adolph made it infamous. Chaplin portrays “The Great Dictator” in the spirit of the satire, comedy and denunciation. He dons the robes and gestures of Hitler but uses them with the buffoonery and genius of Chaplin. He rants and preens himself with all the false bravura of the world's worst enemy. Chaplin’s burlesque of the overlord of Middle Europe is excruciatingly funny. No person who sees it can fail to be rocked with laughter. METEOR THEATRE—TO-DAY “THE INVISIBLE WOMAN” Practically every principal in Universal’s “The Invisible Woman,” now showing at the Meteor Theatre, has a role in the film which represents a surprising departure from conventional film characterisations. Virginia Bruce has the title role, a comedy part far different from her many romantic roles. John Barrymore steps into a "straight character” after a series of madcap comedy delineations. John Howard has the curious assignment of carrying on a romance with “The Invisible Woman.”