AMUSEMENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21264, 19 February 1931, Page 14

AMUSEMENTS.

OCTAGON THEATRE. Constance Bennett has the leading role in “ Common Clay,” which is now being screened at the Octagon Theatre. “ Common Clay” is an intensely dramatic story dealing with the more seamy side of life. It does not, however, present its theme in a manner which conld by any means be described as offensive, but, at the same time, the story is told fearlessly and in a straight-forward manner. An unusually good cast has been assembled for the picture, including, as it does, Lewis Ayres, Beryl Mercer, and Tully Marshall. The story is adapted from the Harvard prize play by Cleves Kinkoad, and it concerns a young woman who is obsessed with a desire for continued, gaiety and pleasure. She secures a position as hostess in a night club, which is raided. Forced to find new fields of activity, she takes a position on the domestic staff of a wealthy family. She is pestered with the attentions of the son of the house, and eventually decides that he has a real affection for her. She finds later that she has been deceived. The action becomes more dramatic as the play proceeds, and the climax leads to a well-presented ending. There is a strong programme of supporting pictures. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. PRINCESS THEATRE. Two excellent pictures —“ Wide Open ” and “ The Road to Paradise ” —are being shown this week at the Princess Theatre. The principal role in the former production is taken by Edward Everett Horton, who was seen for the first time in Dunedin in the screen version of Edgar Wallace’s novel, “ The Terror.” Horton is a comedian of the first water, and his work in “ Wide Open ” serves only to add further laurels to his fame. Patsy Ruth Miller and Louise Fazenda are also in the cast. Based on E. B. Morris’s novel, “ The Narrow Street,” the picture is one of the best comedies seen at the Princess Theatre for a long time. “ The Road to Paradise ” is notable for the excellent work of Loretta Young, who plays a difficult dual role with outstanding success. Jack Mulhall is the other featured player in the production, and his work needs no description, being very well known to all theatre-goers. Raymond Hatton has an important role, and his acting is also of a high standard. The supporting programme is an excellent one. The box plans are at the Bristol. “ LIGHTNIN’.” Comedy and drama are effectively mingled in “ Lightin ’,” which will be the feature of the new programme at the Princess Theatre to-morrow. Will Rogers has the leading role, and although he has acquitted himself very well in previous performances in Dunedin, he has done nothing better than his characterisation of “ Lightin’ ” Bill Jones in this production. Rogers is an actor of more than usual ability, and at the same time he is a humorist of great shrewdness and wit. As the habitually idle, whimsical old tippler and dreamer he excels all his performances in the past, making a better impression on hia audience than he did when he drew the amusing and interesting portraits of the principles in “They Had to See Paris ” and “ So This is London.” The film is in the very best taste, and directs a lot of very effective satire at the whole idea and system of divorce by arrangement. Rogers laughs at divorce and its consequences, and the audience has perforce to laugh with him. “Lightin”’ is a film that will undoubtedly prove very popular in the ensuing week. The production of the film has been carried out on the most modern lines, and never for one instant does the story lag. It is in every way excellent entertainment and the photography and recording are alike perfect. A supporting cast headed by Louise Dresser, contributes much to the success of the picture. Louise Dresser appears in the role of “ Lighnin’ ’’ Bill Jones’s wife, and makes a very creditable showing. Others in the cast are Helen Cohan, Joel M'Crae, Jason Robards, Luke Cosgrave, Frank Campeau, Ruth Warren, Sharon Lynn, Joyce Compton and Rex Bell. “ Lightnin’ ”is a film that will appeal to" both young and old. and should not be missed by anyone who enjoys good, wholesome comedy blended with effective and interesting melodrama. Will Rogers is undoubtedly the star of the film, and proves himself to be a comedian of exceptional merit, as he possesses all the characteristics of a good actor. He appears in this instance as the owner of a country hotel that happens to be the rendezvous of divorcees. He eventually finds himself in the divorce courts, and the whole production centres round the manner in which he saves his own affairs, and how he introduces romance and marriage into the life of his daughter. It is an intensely dramatic and absorbing story which Will Rogers and his colleagues tell in “ Lightnin’,” and patrons of the Princess Theatre may rest assured that they will be offered very acceptable entertainment during the week which will commence with the matinee performance to-morrow afternoon. The box plans are at the Bristol. EMPIRE THEATRE. Winnie Lightner, the vivacious star of “The Gold Diggers of Broadway” and “ Hold Everytihng,” is again to the fore in “ The Life of the Party,” which is this week’s offering at the Empire Theatre. She has the very able support of Irene Delroy, Jack Whiting, Charles Butterworth, and John Davidson. Miss Delroy is a very charming young lady whose acting leaves nothing to be desired. The two girls, Flo and Dot, are discharged from the Broadway music store where they work, and they decide to become professional “ gold diggers.” They work themselves into the confidence of Le Maire, a humorous French frock designer, and trick him into lending them a large quantity of fashionable clothes. With these as equipment, they proceed to Havana with the avowed intention of marrying a millionaire. Dot becomes a wealthy widow for the occasion, and Flo takes upon herself the arduous task of managing the campaign. Their experiences in the holiday resort of wealth and fashion are ludicrous in the extreme, and there is never a dull moment from the start of the picture to the finish. The whole production is in technicolour. There is a good supporting programme, and the Empire orchestra, under M. de Rose, offers an excellent musical programme. The box plans are at the Bristol and the theatre. “SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.” Once more Clive Brook, it is said, scores a triumph. His latest picture, “Sweethearts and Wives,” in which he plays opposite beautiful Billie Dove, and which will commence at the Empire Theatre tomorrow, is one of the most entertaining and satisfactory films that has been seen for some time. It represents, it is said, that very difficult combination of mystery and bright, breezy comedy which so many producers have striven to achieve and so rarely with success. Besides the two principal players, there is Sidney Blackmer, who has so rapidly become a premier picture figure. “ Sweethearts and Wives,” it is said, tells an enthralling and amusing story in a manner that can only be described as wholly efficient. Perhaps the most striking feature of the film is its revelation of the versatility of Billie Dove. She keeps the audience guessing! Which is she —a French maid, an English lady of the upper ranks, a chance traveller? The story is about a stolen diamond necklace. There is a little lonely inn in the south of France where the action takes place—and it is the sort of action that keeps one on the edge of one’s chair. Also on the programme will be screened the successful Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone production, “ Courage,” adapted for the talking screen from the successful Tom Barry stage play. It depicts a mother’s brave fight to keep the seven children, despite the outside influences of a material world. Belle Bennett portrays the gay and lovable spendthrift mother, while Marian Nixon is featured in the role of the eldest daughter. A Fox Movietone News reel will complete the picture portion of the entertainment, and the Concest Orchestra, under the batin of M. de Rose, will render an appropriate musical programme, including the overture “ Joy and Sorrow ” (Snoek) and the entr’acte “ The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The box plans are at the Bristol and at the theatre.

STRAND THEATRE. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Jack London, “The Sea Wolf/’ which is now being screened at the Strand Theatre, is an intriguing story of the sea. The British race has always been a nation of mariners, and that is probably the reason for the extraordinary interest which is always shown in a sea story. Milton Sills has the role of “ Wolf ” Larsen, a hard-bitten son of the sea, who takes his disreputable windjammer into the most out-of-the-way corners of the globe. In an American port, he makes the acquaintance of Lorna Marsh, and asks her to came for a trip with him. The girl, who is in love with a young man named Allen, refuses, but “ Wolf ” kidnaps her. On board the Ghost, “ Wolf’s ” ship, she finds Allen who has been “shanghaied.” The story maintains its interest throughout, the many dramatic incidents being presented in _ a very acceptable manner. The short pictures are of an equally high standard. The.box plans are at the Bristol. “UP THE RIPER.” The lighter side of prison life, with never a suggestion of brutal warders or world-weary criminals, is dealt with in “ Up the River,” a comedy which will commence at the Strand Theatre to-mor-row. As far as the audible screen is concerned, the treating of the routine of a gaol from a humorous aspect is a new departure. No effort has been spared in the production to extract only what is laughable and to make light of the sorry side. So delightful are the situations, it is said, that any audience in any part of the world could appreciate them. Law and order, and those who break the law, are always happy subjects for amusement. The story is handled lightly, and there is no attempt to develop it at the expense of the comedy. A youijg man, of well-to-do parents, finds himself in prison owing to his becoming involved in a fight when about to sail for China. He meets a girl who has transgressed in her search for excitement. The man serves his sentence and leaves, promising to wait for the girl. The action of the story lies in the efforts of two incorrigible rogues to see that the two make a new start in life and forget their past. Spencer Tracey as “ St. Louis ” and Warren Hymer as “ Dannemora Dan ” are the two rogues, inseparable comrades, but forever at loggerheads. _ The former has the reputation of a prison-breaker, while his companipn is as dull as the other is wise. REGENT THEATRE. “Whoopee,” the musical comedy production which is now being screened at the Regent Theatre, is undoubtedly one of the best pictures of its type yet seen in Dunedin. Eddie Cantor, the well-know r n comedian, has the pricipal role in the production, and his work is a delight from start to finish. Cantor has the knack of presenting his jokes in an extremely acceptable fashion, and the whole of his acting is on the same plane as hie joking. The picture is based on “ The Nervous Wreck,” the farce by Owen Davis, and the opening scenes show several riders galloping madly across the screen giving voice to the cry which gives the production its name. There is some excellent outdoor _ photography, depicting rugged scenery in the west of America, but a great deal of the picture has been made indoors. It is entirely in technicolour, and the natural colours are faithfully reproduced. Paul Gregory is given opportunity to use his excellent voice to advantage, his singing being one of the many outstanding features. The cast includes Dorothy Knapp and Eleanor Hunt as well as many other notable players. There is an excellent supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. "QUEEN HIGH.” Charles Ruggles and Frank Morgan have the leading roles in “ Queen High,” which will be presented at the Regent Theatre to-morrow. This production was originally a Schwab and Mandel musical comedy hit in New York. In its audible celluloid form it retains all the humorous craftsmanship of the producers (who are billed as the makers and stagers of the film), and all the original wit of the basic piece, “A Pair of Sixes,” tiie farce comedy by Edward H. Peples, which started it. Ruggles and Morgan are the partners in a business, which they know how to support, but do not know how to support each other’s opinions with any degree of pacifism. After many fights their lawyer suggests that they each draw a hand of poker to determine who will be the other’s butler. Ruggles loses, and thereafter is the manservant in the home of Morgan. Laugh follows laugh, but the luckless Ruggles learns of a way • to end all of Morgan’s lordly ordering about. He makes up to his “ master’s wife.” That annoys the indignant Morgan. Stanley Smith and Ginger Rogers are excellent as the romantic juveniles of the piece. Fine character comedy is provided by Betty Garde, Helen Carrington, Nina Olivette, and Tom Brown. There are several catchy melodies in the production. “ It Seems to Me ” and “ I’m Afraid of You,” sung by Stanley Smith and Ginger Rogers, are the outstanding love songs. Because the players on the talking screen are “ larger,” and thus seem nearer to the eyes of the audience, the acting tempo is much faster than the acting tempo of the stage. Frank Mandel, of Schwab and Mandel, Broadway’s successful producers, discovered this when preparing the original stage production of “Queen High ” for the screen. Mandel had been told that much of the original would have to be eliminated to fit into the time, about an hour and 15 minutes, of an average length feature picture. He did not tbink so. Accordingly, he set a stop-watch and enacted every part of the original show at motion picture tempo. He found that this process took him an hour and 15 minutes. This was found to be true when the screen version was finished at Paramount’s New York studio. Action and dialogue were maintained at a pace so fast that they would have been meaningless on the stage. Thus the finished production contains all the hilarity of lines and action of the original three-hour show, compressed into an hour and 15 minutes. KING EDWARD THEATRE. Joseph Schildkraut has the principal role in “ The Night Rider,” which is the main feature on the new programme at the King Edward Theatre. The other members of the cast are Barbara Kent, whoce charming personality is well known to followers of _ the screen in Dunedin, Edward G. Robinson, De Witt Jennings, Ralph Wells and Hal Price. The story is a very dramatic one of crime in a large city. The scene is set first of all in Chicago, where there has been a series of especially repellent crimes. Two young newspaper men go on the track if the criminal, and the audience is taken quickly to see a hold-up, a double murder and a wedding. As the story continues the situation becomes more and more thrilling, and eventually the two young men are captured by the man they have been trying to bring to justice. The latter part of the picture is played in a motor boat at sea, and the climax is extremely thrilling. There is a good selection of short pictures in support. ROXY THEATRE. The haunting strains of the “March of the Grenadiers,” sung by Jeanette Macdonald are heard in “ The Love Parade,” which heads the current bill at the Roxy Theatre. Maurice Chevalier has the leading male role in this picture, and he is again his usual cheery self in a part which fits him perfectly. Chevalier is seen as Count Alfred of Sylvania, who returns to his own country bearing a reputation of a not very savom-y nature which he has acquired in Paris. The queen of the country is interested in him, and he, as is his wont with any pretty woman, is more than interested in her. They marry, but Alfred is not prepared to settle down to play second fiddle t his wife. Divorce seeihs imminent, but, at the most critical moment, events take a turn and a happy ending is reached. There is an interesting programme of supporting pictures. “ THE PARADE OF THE WEST." The title of the picture which will receive its initial screening at the Roxy Theatre to-morrow is “ The Parade of the West.” The picture revives two rapidlyfading institutions that are fast becoming a memory, with all the glamour that made them so picturesquely American—the old-time medicine show and the original wild west show. The picture, thrilling and entertaining in itself, is lifted, it is said, far out of the class of the

ordinary by the songs played and sung by Maynard and members of the cast, old-time western favourites like “ The Chisholm Trail,” “ Down in Union County,” and “ Sal’s Got a Wooden Leg.” Maynard, it is claimed, surpasses all past performances in this, his latest all-talk-ing picture, and is given strong support by the beautiful Gladys M’Connell and Otis Harlan, of “ Show Boat" and “ Broadway ” fame, who has the role of the old-time medicine show “ professor ” peddling a marvellus cure-all. Appearing in the picture is “Rex,” the £2OOO “king of wild horses.” Maynard was the first “ western ” star to make an all-talking pietui’e. He was quick to realise that “ westerns ” with their fast-moving stories, their rapid-fire dialogue, their songs, and music and their natural sound “ effects,” were more suited to sound than the ordinary motion picture, and he took full advantage of it. On Saturday there will be a special matinee for the children, when free comic papers will be given out. SKATING. KING’S RINK. The popularity of the King’s Skating Rink continues to grow, and the floor is usually crowded at every session. The new floor offers an ideal surface for roller skating, and patrons of the rink arc finding that there is unusual exhiliration in gliding over so smooth a surface. The general appointments of the rink are all that could be desired, and the management has left out nothing which could possibly add to the enjoyment of an hour’s skating. The staff's courteous and careful attention is also a decided feature.