AMUSEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21199, 3 December 1930, Page 6

AMUSEMENTS.

REGENT THEATRE. The Regent Revuette is the chief attracts! at the Regent Theatre this week. The Revuette is presented by Mr Alec Regan and a capable company of Dunedin performers. Several items are given by Miss Tui Northey, Miss Anita Winkel, and Mis Rita Holmes, and Miss Winkel takes part in the very amusing sketch, “ The Square Triangle.” Messrs J. Macfarlane and Stan Lawson also appear frequently, and Mr Reg. Richards’s pleasing voice is heard to advantage in several vocal numbers. The “Regent Rockets." a ballet of eight attractive young ladies, give a fine account of themselves. The picture programme is just as entertaining as the stage_ presentation. The principal production is “ In Gay Madrid,” in which Ramon Noyarro has the leading role. He plays the part of the selfish, conceited lover of high life to perfection. The scene of the picture is the gay city of Madrid, centre of the High-life of modern Spain. _ Ricardo, leader of the younger set, is in one of his favourite haunts, a night club of not very good reputation. Goyita, the vamp, sings, and Ricardo goes to meet her ■ afterwards. Rivas, a famous bull-fighter, appears, and there is a quarrel over the girl. Ricardo tries to conceal the escapade from his father, but the newspapers have the story and his father is not to be denied. He decides that a quieter atmosphere would be more suited to one so high spirited, and he informs Ricardo that he will go to college in Santiago. The boy is appalled at the idea of living in such a place, but he takes heart when he is introduced to his school fellows. There are then some very unexpected happenings. “ THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD.” “ The Richest Man in the World,” an intimate story of family life, will open at the Regent Theatre on Friday, with a cast which includes Louis Mann, Elliott Nugent, Leila Hyams, Robert Montgomery, Francis X. Bushman, jun., Mary Doran, Robert M'Wade, Henry Arraetta, Jeane Wood, Lee Kohlman, and a number of child actors. Nugent is not only acting in the picture but collaborated on the story with his father. J. C. Nugent. The story deals with an old lovable German, who settles down in an American town. Three generations of the old German’s family are shown in the picture. Mann, who is probably one of the world’s best actors, was induced to play the featured role of the old German barber, tvhile in Hollywood for the purpose of appearing in the old-timers’ section of a forthcoming extravaganza of the past, present, and future, temporarily titled “ March of Time.” As the old German who sacrifices everything for his children only to see them drift away from him, the veteran has a part for which he is eminently qualified. Cedric Gibbons, who directed construction of sets for the production, left, all thoughts of modernistic interiors behind, and concentrated on getting atmosphere for a simple town of 10 or 15 years ago. Old-fashioned horsehair couches take the place of modernistic lounges, and oil lamps with their haudpamted globes supplant indirect lighting. Taken as a whole, “ The Richest Man in the World ' presents a change in the movie diet. Life’s finer values find expression in very many ways, which is a great relief after the recent rush of jazz-age stories. STRAND THEATRE. A production of an extremely melodramatic character, entitled “ The Furies," is the current attraction at the Strand Theatre. In the story John Sands is a wealthy man. A dinner is given by Harvey Smith in honour of Sands’s wife, and things materialise at that dinner. Sands's son pushes into the presence of the guests with the news that his father has been murdered. Sands’s lawyer, Bedlow, tries indirectly to accuse Owen M Donald, Mrs Sands’s lover, of the murder. Mrs Sands tells the district attorney the truth about her relations with McDonald. The woman feels that in _ the mind of her son she is being tried for complicity in the murder of her husband. She realises that the only way she can clear herself in the eyes of her son is to ask Bedlow (the lawyer) to take over the case and prove that McDonald is innocent. In addition to “ The Furies,” an excellent array of short talking and silent films is screened. “IS EVERYBODY HAPPY?" Ann Pennington, who has a leading role in “ Is Everybody Happy? ” which will be commenced at the Strand Theatre on Friday, takes the part of a member of the “ Follies,” and sings and dances before a great chorus entirely filling the stage of a theatre. It is said to be the most complete theatre ever constructed in a motion picture studio. This structure ' entirely fills one of the great sound stages at the Warner Bros.’ studio, and is complete in every detail from the street entrance to the back wall of the stage. Ted Lewis, the famous musical entertainer, is the star of “Is Everybody Happy?" which was directed by Archie L. Mayo. OCTAGON THEATRE. “ Temple Tower,” Sapper’s newest story of the adventures of his favourite character, "Bulldog” Drummond, is the principal picture on the current programme at the Octagon Theatre. In the picture “Bulldog” Drummond is introduced fighting to save the woman with whom he has fallen in love. The girl is > seen inside the tower, prisoner of a criminal and a half-mad jewel thief, with the intrepid Drummond outside, baffled by the spiked walls and barred windows. Neither Drummond nor the girl knows if the other is still alive or not. And behind them both lurks the sinister figure of the masked stranger, with murder in his heart. The cast includes Kenneth M'Kenna, Henry B. Walthall, and Marceline Day. “WOMEN EVERYWHERE.”, “Women Everywhere,” the Fox Movietone talking and singing romance of Morocco and the Foreign Legion, which will open at the Octagon Theatre to-mor-row, is a colourful and tuneful story of love and adventure in _ French North Africa. A capable cast is beaded by J. Harold Murray and Fifi Dorsay. Dealing as it does with events of comparatively recent history, when France was struggling to subdue rebellious natives of its Moroccan colony, this Movietone musical romance depicts the adventures of Murray as a Yankee sea captain, who is captured by the French while attempting to run a cargo of guns to the rebels. He is saved from death by Miss Dorsay, who is seen as an entertainer in a Moroccan cafe. Murray sings four of Kernell’s songs during the telling of the story, and Miss Dorsay is heard in three musical numbers. George Grossmith also sings a very engaging song, while the 'non-singing members of the cast are Clyde Cook, who plays a featured role, and Rose Dione and Ralph Kellard. The story is an original one, written by George Grossmith and Zolton Korda. Romantic films have a firm hold on the movie-going public, and “A Royal Romance,” the Columbia all-talking comedy of love and intrigue coming as the supporting feature, is said to be just that type of film. The character of the hero is likable and appealing. He is the type of creative genius who follows the will-o’-wisp of fancy blindly, and lias no practical side whatever. One accompanies him on his adventures into a- fictitious foreign land. The elements of comedy so necessary in a picture of this type have not been neglected. In every situation of the film there is a contrast between the fanciful and the actual. Great care was taken in casting the picture so that none of the delicate humour should be lost. Every name is a familiar one to movie patrons, William Collier, jun., plays the fanciful hero—Pauline Starke enacts the part of the countess. Others in the cast are Walter P. Lewis, Ullrich Haunt, Ann Brody Betty Boyd, and Eugenie Besserer. Erie C. Kenton directed. PRINCESS THEATRE. “Hold Everything,” with the popular Winnie Lightner in the principal role, [mads the current bill at the Princess Theatre. It is a typical modern American comedy, enhanced by several spectacular scenes made doubly attractive by the brilliance of the colouring. Technicolour may not reach the perfection that producers have been seeking for so long, but it has a peculiar attractiveness which is well brought out in such films as “Hold Everything.” The picture, however, has other claims to the attention of theatregoers, among which are the inclusion in

the cast of such noted comedy players as Winnie Lightner, of " Gold Diggers of Broadway ” fame, and Joe E. Brown, one of the most familiar figures of silent film days. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that Georges Carpentier, the once-famous boxer, U included in the cast. Carpentier is one of the most interesting figures whom modern boxing has brought to. light, and it was not long after his retirement that he became an actor. Sally O’Neill also has an important role. , “ SECOND CHOICE.” A capable cast interprets “Second Choice, which heads the new programme coming to the Princess Theatre on Friday. f ) ° lores Costello in the stellar lole. Miss Costello, one of the screen’s most beautiful and popular stars, has, through the medium of the talking photo play, supplemented her beauty by a voice of great charm. In “ Second Choice ” she sings the lovely theme song, “ Life Can be so Lonesome.” The supporting cast includes Chester Morris, Jack Mulhall, Edna Murphy, Charlotte Merian, Ethlyne Clair, Jimmy Clemons, Harry Stockbridge, Anna Chance, and Edward Martindel, all of whom have attained enviable reputations c™ier, on stage or screen. “ Second Choice is a drama of modern marriage and morals. EMPIRE THEATRE. ' f‘P osc -End ß " and “ Not So Quiet on the Western Front,” two all-British pictures, comprise the present programme at the Empire Theatre. “Loose Ends" is the story of a man who, after serving a lengthy term of penal servitude for what would appear to be a perfectly justifiable homicide, finds himself suddenly brought into the whirl of presentday London society. His history unknown, he falls in love with, and marries, one of the ultra-smart set, only to find that their ways do not lie along the same il 168 * a that in 15 years a startling change lias come over the world he used to know. He is appalled at what he considers to be the loose ways of hie wife’s friends, and still more upset to find that she takes them quite in the natural course of events. Then comes the exposure of lus crime of 15 years ago, and he finds "’j l ? ■ al ’ e hie true friends, a discovery which leads to a somewhat surprising, but altogether satisfactory climax. “ Not So Quiet on the Western Front ” forms the supporting feature, and it also as comedies go. indicates the high pitch of perfection to which the Elstree studios have' brought their list. “RAISE THE ROOF.” Reproducing with distinct success the actual London performance of the same title, “ Raise The. Roof,” a picture dealing with the adventures of the members of a London revue company, will commence its Dunedin season at the Empire Theatre at the matinee on Friday. As a result of the talkies’ advent the revue company mentioned found itself compelled to leave the metropolis and present the show, under rather irresponsible management, and with its finances seriously affected, in the smaller provincial towns. Nor was its success in these places notable, and had it not been for. the fortunate advent of a young man from Oxford, imbued with an ambition to achieve fame behind the footlights, a young man with a big income, the company would have found itself really “ on_ the rocks.” With his aid, however, new life is given the show. Then this young man’s father comes to hear of what lijs son i» doing and, determined to cure him at once and for all of his fascination, he bribes the " villain " to cause the wardrobe basket containing all the stage dresses to go astray on the railway, and the company finds itself at the town of Belton, while its stage impedimenta have gone on to another town. Not till the last moment is it realised that it ■would be impossbile to present the show minus the_ wardrobe equipment, and—even more serious—minus most of the song “hits” and dance music. A timely discovery of the part the “ villain ” has played, however, produces the “ dare ” spirit of the leading lady. Miss Betty Balfour, and‘the whole company is quickly infected. Some ingenious and amusing dressing schemes are evolved, and new “acts" practised, and when the curtain goes up, it does so on practically a new show. It is a sweeping success, and deservedly so, and with the conclusion of the evening’s performance comes that also of an appealing love story. ROXY THEATRE. A British picture entitled “Atlantic ” is now being shown at the Roxy Theatre, The picture shows the decks of an Atlantic, liner, with all the life and gaiety which characterise such a place on such a voyage. But disaster looms _ out of the night ,in the shape of a mighty iceberg, and in the shortest of spaces death stares the passengers in the face. The scenes depicting the launching of the life boats with their burden of excited women and helpless children have been extremely well handled, and the story works up to an excellent climax. There is a strong supporting programme. “UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE.” In the all-dialogue version of Thomas Hardy’s novel, “Under the Greenwood Tree,” which will be shown at the Roxy Theatre on Friday, Harry Lachman showed wisdom in selecting his cast for the picture, which was the first all-British “ all-talkie " to be shown in Australia. The featured roles are played by actors whose ability has already been proved, and whose voices underwent rigid tests. Among, them is Marguerite Allan, John Batten, a clever young New Zealander, Nigel Barrie, and Wilfrid Shine. The singing and harmonising of the famous Gotham Quartet is said to be something that will never be forgotten. KING EDWARD THEATRE. “Atlantic,” a stirring drama of a great sea catastrophe, will be commenced at the King _ Edward Theatre to-day. It is an all-taiking production, and was made in England, the cast betpg entirely composed of English actors. SKATING. KING’S RINK. A first-class bitumen floor and generally satisfactory appointments make conditions at the King’s Skating Rink all that can be desired, and despite counter attractions, the rink continues to be well patronised. The management is in capable hands, and beginners have the advantage of expert tuition under capable instructors. REGAL RINK. The popularity of roller skating in Dunedin is indicated by the manner in which the attendances at the Regal Rink have been maintained during the months which have passed since it was opened. The floor has stood up well to the wear, and the high-class skates provided give every satisfaction ‘to patrons. When added to this the members of the staff do all in their power to render courteous and efficient service to those who spend an hour or so on the rollers, it is not to be wondered at that the rink has maintained its favour with the public. MINIATURE GOLF. PUTT PUTT GOLF LINKS. Those who prefer a game of miniature golf in the open air are provided with an excellent course at the Putt Putt Links in King street. The hazards increase in interest as the game goes on, and the fact that the links cover such a, large area makes it all the more attractive. The resemblance to a real course is striking, and patrons are assured of a game under ideal conditions.