AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21389, 17 July 1931, Page 13

AMUSEMENTS

STRAND THEATRE Particular interest is attached to the screening of the special Pathe productiTTn, “ Her Man," at the Strand Theatre today, as, apart from its great story and outstanding cast, it was recently described by the Photoplay Magazine (regarded in motion picture circles as the most severe of all critics) as one of the three best pictures of the month, ft should do much to enhance the reputation for excellent entertainment that the Strand Theatre has gained. A striking cast of stars is headed by that beautiful actress, Helen Twelvetrees, who has with her Phillips Holmes, Ricardo Cortez, Slim Summerville, Marjorie Rambeau, Thelma Todd, James Gleason, <).ud many others. To quote the Photoplay; “Here is a grand picture, with all the colour, drama, humour, and vivid action of the very best we have seen. The acting is so fine, the direction so clever, and the photography so satisfactory that critics and audiences are sure to agree in praising it. Helen Twelvetrees is brilliant as Frankie, and Phillips Holmes’s appealing Dan and Ricardo Cortez’s sinister Johnnie are admirable. Marjorie Rambeau gives a magnificent performance as the sodden Annie. And the comedy of James Gleason, Harry Sweet, Slim Summerville, and Franklin Pangborn is irreproachable. There are some amazing camera angles, and a fight that is the most exciting and realistic we have witnessed on the screen.” “ Her Man ” will be screened with a full programme of excellent short features, including an hilarious comedy, “ Royal Plush," an HCsop’s fable, a sporting feature, and a sound news reel. The box plans are at the Bristol. “CADBURY GIFT" MATINEE. Children are reminded of the special “ Cadbury Gift ’’ matinee that will be hold at the Strand Theatre to-morrow afternoon, where there will be screened, in addition to the ordinary programme, a striking film, taken at the Cadbury works in the famous Bournville village in England, and depicting the chocolate making industry in all its stages. After seeing the film, every child attending will.receive a gift packet of the finished product. It is pointed out to the children that an essay contest, the prizes for which are being presented by Messrs Cadbury Fry Hudson will be held in conjunction with the screening of the film, and it will be possible for only those children who attend to-morrow’s matinee to participate. PRINCESS THEATRE Those picture patrons—and there must be many hundreds of them—who retain pleasant recollections of that highly entertaining blend of thrills and comedy, “Alias Jimmy Valentine,” will undoubtedly see to it that they do not miss seeing the latest similar type of all-talk-ing attraction, “ Remote Control,” which will be commenced at the Princess Theatre to-day. “Remote Control” has claims to complete originality, in that it is the first farcical thriller written around radio. Those inimitable mirthmakers, William Haines (who played the title role in “Jimmy Valentine”) and Polly Moran, who has so often appeared as Marie Dressler’s partner, arc at their merriest in this story of a radio announcer who finds himself enmeshed in the affairs of a number of bad characters of the underworld. Haines innocently discovers that the underworld radio is used to direct the operations of a gang of bandits, and before he knows where he is, he is suspected by the police of complicity in their unlawful affairs. From that point there is fun a-plenty and thrills in every scene. Haines has never appeared to better advantage, and improves tremendously upon his work in “Jimmy Valentine,” while Polly Moran is at her funniest as the studio fashions announcer. Her talks on the modes of the moment are uproarious. A particularly striking supporting cast includes Charles King, Mary Doran, John Miljan, J C. Nugent, and Wilbur Mack, The photography and reproduction are both excellent, as is usually the case with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s attractions. The supporting programme has been specially

selected and embraces a Burton Holmes Talking Travelogue (“ Dublin and Nearby”), a comedy, a Colourtone Revue (“Crazy House”), and a Metrotone News containing many interesting world events. The box plana are at the Bristol. OCTAGON THEATRE The Bridge of Sighs, dark corridor of drama that long has been a New York is used as one of the settings for William Powell’s newest starring Paramount picture, “ For the Defence,” which will be commenced at the Octagon Theatre to-day. The Bridge of Sighs is a covered span of stone that connects Tombs prison with the New York Criminal Courts building. Across it prisoners are led from their cells to the court docks; its name originated from their thoughts and feelings as they were led to trial or brought back again following pronouncement of their sentences. Some of the most notorious criminals in the world have made the trip over the historic “ bridge.” “ For the Defence ” represents William Powell as a brilliant criminal defence lawyer who saves many a client from gaol through his resourceful application of legal technicalities. But the * day comes when he must summon every trick in his power to save the girl he loves from a charge of manslaughter. In attempting to win the case for her he becomes enmeshed in the toils of the law himself, and. faces a life term in gaol. The climax is filled with high-tension drama. Kay Francis is the sweetheart who is threatened with the ominous trip across the Bridge of Sighs into a lifetime of imprisonment. Scott Kolk is the society ne’er-do-well who starts all the villainy in the production. He was one of the featured players in “ All Quiet on the Western Front.” “ For the Defence ” was written by Oliver H. P. Garrett. A thoroughly modern and sophisticated comedy is “ Fast and Loose,” the picturkation of the successful novel, “ The Best People,” which is shown in support of “ For the Defence.” There is a joyous spontaneity about it, a constant sense of freedom that makes an irresistible appeal to a discriminating audience. Long Island is the setting. There the socially established family, represented by Frank Morgan, Winifred Harris, Herbert Yost, Miriam Hopkins, and Henry Wadsworth, carry on the battle of caste. The two youngsters. Miss Miriam Hopkins and Wadsworth, shock their elders immeasurably by becoming involved in affairs of the heart, the former with the family chauffeur, the latter with a pretty chorus girl. Edged with Frank Morgan’s wit, with Miriam Hopkin’s beauty, with Carol Lombards pert prettiness. “ Fast and Loose ” is a joyous festival of mixed situations and laugh-provoking gaiety. Morgan will be particularly remembered for his role in " Laughter,” with Nancy Carroll. THEATRE Unusual interest centres in the new picture, “ Body and Soul,” which will bo commenced at the Empire today, because it stars the new find, Elissa Landi. Talking picture production has developed so much along the lines of screen drama that a search has necessarily set in for actresses of great emotional power—women capable of giving reality and naturalness to the very tense situations ” that screen drama delights in. Some of these “ situations ” have been obviously beyond the capacity of certain old “ silent ” stars, who have either sacrificed restraint in a vain effort to “ shake things up ” or who, erring in the other direction, have fallen into flatness. Of Elissa Landi it can be said (reports a northern critic) that she has the magnetic quality that holds an audience with out effort. There is no labouring to produce an effect, but the effect is there

She is subtle without inviting the accusation of subtlety; at the same time, there is something elusive about her —something clearly felt, but not obtrusive. Passion as presented by Landi cannot tax the credulity—though this is frequently the case when a poor actress and a poorer director come together. The cast is not only headed by players of personality like Landi and Charles Farrrell, but is composed of capable support players. Farrell is a flying officer who, against orders, flies with his nervous chum (Watson) when the latter loses his life in carrying out an order to destroy a German balloon. In Watson’s interest, Farrell seeks out Watson’s mistress in London, and meets Watson’s widow, who poses as the mistress. This lady is played by Landi. Although he wrongly believes her to have been Watson’s paramour, Farrell is fascinated by her, and this is where Landi’s art has its opportunity. Both are accused of spying, but the denouement is that Mrs Watson reveals her identity, and the real spy is the mistress (Myr.ua Loy). The management has been fortu nate in securing as an added attraction Stan Lawson and his versatile troupe of dancers, including Miss Rosetta Powell, late ballet mistress of the Ambassador’s Theatre, .Perth. Arrangements were made to photograph the Capping Procession, and this film will be screened for the first time to-day. The box plans are at the Bristol and the theatre.

REGENT THEATRE “ Rango,” a Paramount production, which will be commenced at the Regent Theatre to-day, is by no means another “ wild animal picture,” even though its setting is the jungle of Sumatra, and its east a native tiger-hunter, his son, Tua, an ape, and his son Rango. They are supported by thousands of ourang-outangs, baboons, monkeys, tigers, a wild cat, a panther, and a water buffalo. “ The picture is a story without words,” says a northern writer, “ a drama that is chock full of pathos, comedy, and terror. It is the manner in which the picture unfolds that holds the audience’s interest any sympathy and gives it its compelling power from beginning to end. We follow the hunter and his son in their daily efforts to trap and kill the ferocious tiger. They do. We ‘ move in ’ on the family life of Tua, the ape, and his little son, Rango. We wake with them at dawn, watch their antics, their struggle for existence, see their methods of selfpreservation against their constant enemies, the wild beasts, and go to bed with them at night. The picture contains sequences of terrific force and excitement. Memorable among them are scenes wherein thousands of ourangoutangs take flight before the onslaught of a tiger, some in the tree tops, others in water, screeching in their terror; the battle between two tigers, in which one is killed: the scene wherein Ali, the hunter, kills a black panther as he is about to kill Tua; the fight to death between a tiger and the only animal of the jungle which, though man’s friend and servant, is ferocious and brave enough to fight him, the water buffalo! The buffalo gores the tiger to death. A deadly python, slithering silently through the night. A lithe, black panther lurking in the shadows A pair of marauding tigers stalking the jungle trails, striking fear into the hearts of the jungle folk. Such moments as these sharpen the drama of ‘ Rango.’ And for a climax—a scene no camera has ever caught before. A battle to the death between two maddened beasts.” On the same progamme there will be screened a delightful farcical comedy, with four big stars, “ Social Errors,” starring Leon Errol (the famous comedian), Richard Arlen, Stuart Erwin, and Mary Brian. Erroll, who was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, has the role of a bad man. His attempts to make Arlen wander from the path of righteousness lead to a series of amusing adventures on a modern health farm, where Arlen meets Mary Brian, as the daughter of a big gas and oil man who declines to be in good health. Erwin, who was so good in

"Playboy of Paris/’ has the part of an amateur sleuth. SPECIAL MORNING MATINEE. To-morrow morning,, at 10.30, there will be a special screening of “ Rango ” for the benefit of children. KING EDWARD THEATRE A double-feature programme is being screened at the King Edward Theatre. The new bill provides excellent entertainment, as the.two main pictures are of a very high standard. “ The Last of the Duanes ” is a stirring epic of the West. The film has been adapted from Zane Grey’s famous romance of the same name. The picture, played by an all-star cast, tells a fascinating story of the West in the days before law and order came to the country, and when the oT3 law of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ” was the creed of every man. A charming romance is woven into the plot, and from beginning to end the picture abounds in thrilling incidents. The principal role is taken by George O’Brien as Buck Duane. “ Soup to Nuts ” is the title of the second picture. It is a rollicking comedy, and provides one long laugh from beginning to end. _ The story recounts in hilarious fashion the adventures and misfortunes of Schmidt, the proprietor of a costume shop, whose business is about to be taken over by his creditors. His assistant is told of the trouble, and he is enjoined by Schmidt not to tell Louise, his daughter. The news, however, is overheard by a somewhat indiscreet telephone operator. This person is known as Queenie, whose inability to keep a secret leads to endless trouble. The romance between Schmidt’s assistant and Louise becomes complicated on the arrival of Richard Carlson, who has been appointed by the creditors to take charge of the business, and the triangle thus formed results in a series of humorous sequences which makes the picture a delightful entertainment. The featured players are Ted Healy, Frances M'Cov, and Stanley Smith. An entertaining programme of short subjects is also screened. ROLLER SKATING KING’S RINK. One of the most notable features of the King’s Skating Rink in Dowling street is the excellence of the surface offered by the floor. High-class skates are provided by the management, so that, patrons may reap the full benefit of the best entertainment of this kind obtainable, and learners are given expert help by members of the large and capable staff. The winners of Wednesday night’s competitions were as follow: Potato Race, Miss E. Barton; Gentlemen’s Novelty Race, Mr Foote; most graceful gentleman skater, Mr Eustace; lucky spot, Miss Dowie and M'Gerkinshftw. * TABLE TENNIS A table tennis tournament was held on Tuesday evening at the Civic Golf Course, and proved a geat success. The prize-winners were:-—Master J. Austin (rec. 8), 1; Mr W. B. Thomson (rec. 3), 2; Mr C. 0. Hall (owe 10), 3. The game is proving so popular at the Civic that more tables are being installed, and handicap tournaments will » be held there every Tuesday evening.