AMUSEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19762, 13 April 1926, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

EMPIRE THEATRE. Fortified by a newly-acquired knowledge of the ‘Help Wanted” (male and female) actuation, plus a fair idea of how things stand in the ‘Business Opportunities” and “Auction Sales” lines, Corinne Griffith worked New York or. ‘Classified,” her First National screen version of Edna Ferber’s fascinating story woven around the adventures and romances of a girl in the classified ad. department of a metropolitan newspaper. Before starting work on the production Miss Griffith and A 1 Santell, her director, visited the classified ad. department of several leading newspapers and got a lot of firet-hand information to aid them in obtaining the correct atmosphere of the photoplay. Jack Mulhall is appearing opposite Miss Griffith as her leading man, and important parts are taken bv Yard Crane. Carroll Nye, and Charles iMurray. This fascinatin' picture is now showing at the Empire Theatre, and, in addition to strong supports, the Empire Orchestra, under tne baton of Mr C. Parnell, renders an excellent programme of music. OCTAGON THEATRE. Douglas Fairbanks, Junior, proves in “Wild Horse Mesa,” the new Paramount Western melodrama, which is now being screened at the Octagon Theatre, that he is a chip off the old block! In this picturisation of Zane Grey’s widely read novel of the same name, young Fairbanks is given an opportunity to rival his famous father’s athletic ability. He portrays the very important role of “Chess Weymer, a part that calls for genuine acting and some horsemanship feats for which he trained long and faithfully. Jack Holt, Billie Dove, and Noah Beery share featured honours with Fairbanks in the production. The story has to do_ with the capturing of wild horses, and is a swift succession of thrills, capped by a stupendous climax, in which several thousand wild steeds are stampeded into a vicious barbed wire trap. The Octagon Orchestra, directed by Mr A. Neate, renders a select programme of incidental music. QUEEN’S THEATRE. This week’s leading attraction at the Queen’s Theatre is “The Fighting Sap, featuring Fred Thomson and his famous horse Silver Ring. As Craig Richmond, tho studious son of a weaiwiy mine owner, he gives a splendid interpretation of the mild youth who, when put to it. can fight his own battles, despite his father s doubts about his ability to lock after himself. Tne story, of course, ends happily by young Richmond’s finding the girl of his choice, and making a complete reconciliation with his father. Excellent supports are also provided. EVERYBODY’S THEATRE. “Three Keys,” which is this week’s premier feature at Everybody’s Theatre, is a thrilling, mystery melodrama. It has been produced with a cast of screen celebrities beaded bv Edith Roberts, Jack Mulhall .and the dainty little Dresden china film star, Virginia Lee Corbin. Gaston Glass Stuart Holmes, Charles Clary. Miss Xhi Pont, and Joseph W Girard are some of the other principals. The second attraction is the Paramount picture, “In the Name of Love,” in which Ricardo Cortez, Greta Nissen, Wallace Beery, and Raymond Hatton head an exceptionally fine cast of player*. “CALIFORNIA STRAIGHT AHEAD.” An elaborately built bungalow on wheels, and an entire caravan of typical tourists were part of the cast of “California Straight Ahead,” tho Universal-Jewel picture starring Reginald Denny, which comes to the Empire Theatre on Friday. Most of the picture takes place out on the open road, with Denny in the role of a disconsolate suitor trying to forget the fact that his fiancee had changed her mind. He tours the country in the palatial honeymoon trailer he had built with which to take his bride to California. The picture follows the trail of the auto camper from east to west coast, through all manner of trials and tribulations, including speed traps, public camp grounds, blow-outs, and engine trouble, with a thrilling finish in Los Angeles when Denny gets back in the good graces of his fiancee by driving her father’s racing car in the Ascot Track Handicap. Denny in “California Straight Ahead’’ is reported to have found an ideal role to fit his ability as a light comedian. He is supported by a strong cast, including Gertrude Olmsted Tom Wilson, Charles Gerrard, Lucille Ward. John Steppling, Fred Esmelton, and others.