AMUSEMENTS

Northern Advocate, 7 April 1931, Page 4

AMUSEMENTS

i “THEIR OWN DESIRE.” I Norma Shearer, whose marvellous acting in “The Divorcee” is still re- , raembered by Whangarei theatre-goers, : makes another fine appearance on the screen in “Their Own Desire,” which 9 opened a season at the Regent Theatre i last night. In “The Divorcee” she _ played the part of a disillusioned young wife, and in “Their Own Desire” sho , f is in a different role of a daughter, . U The story deals with the drifting s apart of her father and mother. Her s father falls in love with another woman and almost breaks his first U wife’s heart. There is some fine actt ing when the daughter, entering a . room unexpectedly finds her father ’ with this other woman. The home is 3 broken up and mother and daughter go their own way. At a holiday reSort the daughter meets a young man with whom she falls in love, to discover that he is the son of her father's lover. The j subsequent scenes are portrayed only as Norma Shearer can interpret them, [ and love finally wins. She decides to marry the boy. Crossing a lake in a frail canoe, a storm arises and both ’ are nearly drowned. The father, many miles away, feels a premonition that something is wrong, and his ' daughter being in danger is finally the means of bringing husband and wife together again. The second picture shown is a com- ’ edy, “Why Leave Home?” TOWN HALL TONIGHT. “THE SEA BAT.” ALSO LAUREL AND HARDY. “The Sea Bat,” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s new marine melodrama, which opens at the Town Hall tonight, should rank high with that large group

of people who like their dramas mixed with novelty and interesting. detail. ■ Wesley Buggies, the director, haS produced a picture which is a personification of those words, with excitement added. Those who thought there was no new situation or “menace” in melo-drama are invited to glance over this original story by Dorothy Yost. Sea bats, those giant rays weighing two tons or more, which infect tropic waters, are the monsters who supply the excitement of this tale. When one of them folds Nile Asther in its heavy wings, crushing him to death, it starts a war of reprisal in which the tangled romances of Charles Bickford, Eaquel Torres and John Miljan form a dramatic overtone. Hogwild Laurel and Hardy's first 1931 comedy, which is full of screams, will also be shown, together with Metrotone News and Colourtone Eevue, Box plans at Laurie's.