ENTERTAINMENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 26 August 1939, Page 16

ENTERTAINMENTS

CURRENT ATTRACTIONS .'MAJESTIC', RONALD COLMAN, FRANCES DEE, BASIL RATHBONE, CAST OF THOUSANDS IN “IF I WERE KING” “If I Were King” is a picture which everyone should see. Combining, as it does, brilliant acting by a brilliant cast, brilliant scenes, thrills, romance, comedy, and pathos, this is an outstanding picture. Previous bookings necessitate confining the season to the usual three days, and it will screen finally on Monday, no extension being possible. Ronald Colman gives a most fascinating performance as Francois Villon, one of the most picturesque and romantic men ever to strut across the pages of history, and Basil Rathbone is superb as the cackling, sardonic Louis XI The feminine lead is taken by the beautiful Frances Dee. These stars are support- j ed by a large and impressive cast, in- , eluding Ellen Drew, Sidney Toler, I Henry Wilcoxon, Ralph Forbes, and C. j V France. An exceptional first half in- | eludes a Travelogue, “Popeye” cartoon, j and a magnificent Technicolour short ! subject, “Moments of Charm,” showing Spitalny’s all-girl orchestra of twenty- j five pieces in a wonderful repertoire, j On the stage to-night will be presented a demonstration of swordsmanship j by the Nelson Fencing Club. REGENT TO-NTGIIT: “THE MYSTERY OF MR WONG,” “TRAPPED IN THE SKY” The thrilling story of a fatal jewel that is responsible for three murders is Monogram's exciting drama, “The Mystery of Mr Wong ’ Continuing the adventures of James Lee Wong, famous Chinese detective, it is the second in a series of “Wong” pictures which Monogram is making with Boris Karloff in the title role. “The Mystery of Mr Wong” concerns the theft of the fatal “Eye of the Daughter of the Moon” from China by Brandon Edwards, well-known collector At a house party where James Lee Wong is one of the guests, Edwards is murdered, and his death unveils bitterness and hatred enshrouding the household, as a result of Edwards’ cruelty and pettiness. Various motives for murder are uncovered, bul it is not until two others meet violent deaths that Wong finds the missing clue that brings the case to a surprise ending. Outstanding is the performance of Boris Karloff as the Oxford educated “James Lee Wong.” Always an intelligent actor. Karloff plays Wong quietly, giving the detective character an integrity and a quality or kindness not always , possessed 1/ screen sleuths. The associ- .. ate attraction is Jack Holt’s latest and 1 most excitingly dramatic starring vehicle. Columbia’s “Trapped in the , Sky.” The film is based upon a sen- 1 . sational aerial invention of high mili- i i

tary value whose plans are sought by j enemy spies. I.alph Morgan, C. Henry | Gordon and Katherine DeMille are featured members of the supporting case) which includes Sidney Blackmer, Ivan j LcbedcfT, Regis Tootney and Paul Everton. STATE: “PYGMALION” N O W SCREENING. SEASON NOW EXTENDED TILL THURSDAY NEXT Here, from Gaumont-British-Domin-ions, is superb adult entertainment. “Pygmalion,’ screening to-night at the State is a comedy—so much of a comedy in fact that the devastating tea-table scene, in which Wendy Hiller’s newly acquired gentility is tried out on the gentry, is drowned out by continuous laughter. It is outrageously funny, and outrageously clever. But it is also a superb production, both in its acting—and in its bland contempt for the papfed era of the screen. The dialogue is adult, in its brilliant frankness, its wit, and its speed. The characters are adult in their fidelity to life—instead of to films And the story—well, the story .vas written by Bernard Shaw. Leslie Howard, impatient, untidy and ruthless professor of phonetics, makes a bet with a friend, Scott Sunderland, that he can make a lady in three months of that gorgeous Cockney vulgarian Wendy Hiller. He does Wendy goes to the ambassador’s reception in gleaming j still poise, and glides through the evening with perfection. This sequence is ‘ one of the most exciting ; n an exciting j film. That is the end—for Leslie Howard. But he has reckoned without i fiesh-and-blood Wendy. And to his en- j raged stupefaction. Wendv takes charge, j The arrival of Wendy Hiller is as ex- l hilarating as the film. This tall girl, with her odd. broad-cheekd beauty, her j magnificent voice, and her supreme dis- i regard of the film-star mould, is a vital i personality, and. secondly, a haunting I actress. Howard himself has never | been better, and Scott Sunderland as i the friend, with Jean Cadell as the housekeeper, are completely distin- . guished. Another magnificent piece of \ acting, that of Wilfrid Lawson, as Doo- j little, the dustman, does not get what it deserves —for his inclusion in the film i was a mistake. He is a jagged fragment of Shavian argument jutting from the smooth harmony of the laughter—and its modernity.