AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21541, 13 January 1932, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS

STRAND THEATRE The popular stage success, “ The Gorilla,” is the featured item on this week’s programme at the Strand Theatre. Lila Lee has the principal role. Those who saw the play will well recollect the story, the basis of which is that a mysterious menace terrorises a city. Man or beast he strangles his victims, and leaves them with the mark of a gorilla s paw on their chests, and in all his horrible work .he seemed to be directed by a human intelligence. Cyrus Stevens is warned that he is to be the next victim, and he adopts all sorts of precautions to secure the animal and prevent harm to his guests. The sensational happenings that follow are followed by an audience with the closest attention, and the mystery has a startling close and solution in a way that few, if any, suspected. Miss Lee has the remarkable experience of being kidnapped by a gorilla. This is part of the plot. The famous comedy detectives of the piece, Garrity and Mulligan. are played by Joe Frisco and Harry Gribbon, and Walter Pidgeon supports Miss Lee in the love 'affair that winds through the hilarious mirth of the plot. The second picture on the programme_ is “ Divorce Among Friends,” an adaptation of “Two-time Marriages,” a popular magazine story. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. “THE MATRIMONIAL PROBLEM.” “ The Matrimonial Problem ” is the next attraction for the Strand Theatre. This adaptation of the hilarious French farce enjoyed a phenomenal run in Pans, and is being received with loud acclaim in this country. It is an unusual and racy version of the many stories of husbands who left home for one reason or another, returning to find their wives remarried. M. Adolphe Noblet, in the case in hand, is supposed to have been killed in a railroad accident five years before- the story opens. His wife is happily married, and the mother of a child by the second husband. M. Noblet reappears as a hairdresser, pursued by many ladies. He one day is summoned to his former home, which he has completely forgotten. His wife notices his resemblance to her first partner, and husband No. 2 resents the interest which he does not understand. A hypnotist secretly restores Nob.let’s memory to the point where the accident occurred. He now believes himself wed to bis first wife, and fails to recall his own later wife and two sets of Jwins. The final and quite unexpected adjustment comeg after a series of excruciatingly funny haps and mishaps. The cast is composed of Lilyan Tashman, Florence, Eldridge, James Gleeson, Beryl Mercer, Frank Fay, Marion Byron, Vivian Oakland, Arthur Edmund Carewe, and James Bradbury.

ST. JAMES THEATRE A powerful story well told forms the theme of “ Seed,” the current picture at the St. James Theatre. When the story opens Bart Carter is shown as a clerk in a publishing firm, who once possessed an inclination to be a writer, but who had been handicapped by an_ early marriage and parental responsibilities. His wife, Peggy, is a natural, home-loving woman, who delights in the manifold cares of her family. Such is the situation when Mildred, Bart’s sweetheart in the days when he was full of ambition, enters. Under her influence he reawakens his urge to write, and with her assistance he eventually completes < the novel which he could never write in his_ own home With success comes the realisation of a problem that has arisen. Peggy, feeling that Bart places literary success before his family, decides to take the children away so that they wijl not handicap him in his writing. Bart, however, goes to Mildred, whom he marries after obtaining a divorce from Peggy. An interval of 10 years is skipped, and the children are shown as a handsome family awaiting the return of their famous father. Seeing them again, Bart’s old love for his family is awakened, and he offers the children a career, and Peggy has to face the prospect of losing her children. An intensely poignant situation arises, and ( Peggy, through her wonderful mother s love, reaps her reward, long overdue. The supporting programme is also a highly entertaining one. The box plans are at the Bristol, Hall’s fruit shop and the theatre. "TRANSATLANTIC.” One Of the most interesting pictures of the new season will commence at the St. James Theatre on Friday. It is Transatlantic,” a Fox production, which has a long list of screen favourites, headed by Edmund Lowe, in its cast. “ Transatlantic, briefly, 'has to do with the tangled lives of a dozen or so men and women who set out from an American port for Europe aboard a de luxe liner. Unknown to each other before the vessel slips its moorings, they speedily become involved in a tangle which takes the entire voyage across the Atlantic to unravel. Aboard is Edmund Lowe, a high-class gambler of the Robin Hood type, and Lois Moran, daughter of an old German lens grinder, played by Jean Hersholt; John Halliday is seen as a wealthy banker; and Myrna Loy plays the part of his wife. Lowe befriends Miss Moran, and she immediately falls in love with the handsome debonair gambler. Miss Loy enlists his aid in saving her husband from Greta Nissen, and Lowe has plans of his own for taking over some of Halhday’s surplus cash, with which he is fleeing from his tottering bank. Lowe has a splendid role as the light-hearted and light-fingered gentleman who lives by his wits. Miss Moran is appealing, as usual, as the young German-American girl, concerned over the fate of her father, who almost loses his mind at the news or the bank disaster. Hersholt, of course, gives an excellent account of himself in the character role of the old German. William K. Howard, one of Hollywood’s greatest directors, has directed this picture with a real feeling for values. The box plans are at the Bristol. OCTAGON THEATRE The first of the two films on the doublefeature bill at the Octagon Theatre this week is “A Man From Wyoming. It concerns the adventures of a certain company of American engineers in the Great War, Gary Cooper taking the part of. the officer commanding the company. There is in the story a girl who goes from America to France to “do her bit.” She finds the discipline of training quarters in Paris not to her liking, and she sets out for the front line to see what there is to be seen. Cooper takes her prisoner and treats her sternly, but is unable to resist her charms. They are married by an old French padre, and Cooper almost immediately receives orders to return to the front line. He is reported to have been killled in action, and his wife’s endeavours to forget her sorrow give him a bad impression when he returns to the land of the living. _ This situation forms the climax of the picture. The other production is “The Public Defender,” which is a story of the quixotic actions of a wealthy young New York man who takes the law into his own hands in order to clear the name of the father of the girl he loves. It is a story of a type that is always popular, no matter in what form it is presented Richard Dix makes an excellent hero, and Shirley Grey an equally excellent heroine. The work of,the remainder of the cast is in keeping with the high standard set by the principals. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. “ HUCKLEBERRY FINN.” Such was the success of Paramount’s two juvenile comedy-dramas, “ Tom Sawyer ” and “ Skippy,” that the company has brought the bright characters of “ Tom Sawyer ” together again in a second story from Mark Twain, “ Huckleberry Finn,” which will show at the Octagon Theatre for one week, commencing on Friday. This picture brings Jackie Coogan back to the screen in the role ot Tom Sawyer. Junior Durkin continues in his role of. Huck, Mitzi Green is as Becky Thatcher, and impudent Jackie Searl makes more mischief as Sid, Tom’s annoying little brother. The adult east which won such favour in lorn Sawyer is augmented by two popular character actors, Eugene Pallette and Oscar Aptei, for “Huckleberry Finn.” _ These two funny men are seen as a pair of desperadoes from whom Huck and Tom rescue two innocent young girls. Clara Klandick is again seen as Tom’s worried Aunt Polly, and Jane Darwell re-enacts the role of the good-hearted Widow Dougins. “ Huckleberry Finn ” carries on the ad-

venture® of the real boys Mark Twain wrote about in “ Tom Sawyer.” Huck runs away from home to escape from his father, and in the search that follows Tom Sawyer finds him. Together, the boys plan a runaway, fall in with two funny rascals, rescue two innocent girls from the wicked designs of the bad men, and win more honour and renown. The direction of this picture is credited to Norman Taurog, who made such a success of “ Skippy ” and “ Forbidden Adventure.” More than 200 youngsters of all ages add zest to the rollicking romance. The juvenile cast of “ Huckleberry Finn " is larger even than that of “Tom Sawyer ” or “ Skippy.” REGENT THEATRE Telling the story of Anton Ragatzy, a Russian Jew, ■who is in love with the work of a surgeon, 'but it too poor to qualify himself by stiidy for such a life, “ The Outsider ” is this -week’s attraction at the Regent Theatre. Ragatzy takes up the profession of manufacturer of surgical apparatus, and finally evolves a patent of his own which he declares will cure cases of paralysis and deformity which have defied medical skill. Jasper Sturdee, one of London’s greatest surgeons, has a daughter who has been crippled almost from birth, but when Ragatzy announces that he can cure her permanently Sturdee will have none of him, declaring him to be a charlatan and a “quack.” Despite the refusal of the medical world to recognise hi s successes’, Ragatzy persists in his endeavours to convince Lalage Sturdee that he can cure her, and paints a wonderful picture of the change which -will come into her life when she finally casts off the burden of her deformity and becomes as other women. Lalage loves a young man whom she thinks would love her but for her disability, and she consents to place herself in Ragatzy’s hands for a year, despite the strenuous opposition of her father. The year passes in pain and trial, but the time comes when the efficacy ot Ragatzy’s treatment is to be tested. Here it is that the situation becomes tense and engrossing, and in a series of intensely absorbing scenes # a thoroughly satisfactory finale is attained. There is a, strong supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol.

“PALMY DAYS.” Eddie Cantor’s memorable entry into the motion picture world by making “ Whoopee ” has been eclipsed, it is said, in “Palmy Days” the famous comics second screen vehicle which will be presented by Samuel Goldwyn at the Regent Theatre, commencing with a gala midnight matinee to-morrow at 11.15 p.m. Suerounded by a wealth of feminine beauty > spectacular settings, an outstanding cast, and a story in which Cantor collaborated with Morrie Rvskind and David Freedman, the star of “ Palmy Days ” projects himself from hilarity to uproariousness in a series of ingenious situations. Edward Sutherland, who rose to distinction after assisting Charlie Chaplin in “A Woman of Paris,” and since directing 25 comedy successes, has inspired a dash and movement in Cantor’s latest endeavour that gathers whirlwind momentum as it approaches the climax. More than 5000 applicants appeared for the “ Palmy Lays chorus when production began. Fifty girls were accepted as the most beautiful, and the gorgeous ensembles in which they appear give unique enhancement to a story continuity through which > Cantor plunges. In a startling swimming pool set designed by Willy Pogany, the chorus engages in frolics led by three _ Olympic mermaids, each an aquatic champion. They are Olive Hatch, Southern California 100 yards champion; Georgia Coleman, national diving champion, and Dorothy Poynton, runner-up to Miss Coleman. Youthful Barbara Weeks sings, dances, and laughs her way through the picture as an accomplice and coadjutor to Cantor and the lofty Charlotte Greenwood. “ Palmy Days ” boasts the presence of three former musical comedy stars. First, of course, is Eddie Cantor, who ended several years as star of musical shows with the Ziegfeld production, “Whoopee”; Charlotte Greenwood, Cantor’s foil, starred in such stage productions as “ So Long Letty,” “ Linger Longer Letty,” “ The Tik Tok Man of Oz,” and the “ Ritz Revue.” Walter Catlett, completing the trio, has been on the stage for several’years. In “ Palmy Days ” Cantor uses the bland nonsense of his newest picture as an attack on the nractice of spiritualism and fortune telling. Eddie appears as the unwilling assistant to a gang of fake mystics, through which is revealed some of the crooked tactics of the craft that annually is said to swindle •the public out of £30,000,000. To get detail and experience and atmosphere for the picture. Eddie visited numerous fortune tellers in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities, gathering together actual instances exposed by the late Houdini. A deviation from spiritualism to the role of bakery efficiency manager provides one of the highlights in successive waves of mirth and excitement experienced by Cantor and hia troupe. Howls of humour are bound to trail Eddie’s bare feet in their scramble for safety when a bevy of beauties pursues him through a house party, a robbery, a jilting, and an anticlimax in which, despite Eddie’s comical and agonised pleadings, he is hailed as a hero and claimed as a mate. First of the gowns designed by the world-renowned Mme, Gabielle Chanel for Samuel Goldwyn’s screen stars is seen in “ Palmy Days.” One of these creations is worn by Barbara Weeks, who was recently signed to a five-year contract by Mr Goldwyn.

EMPIRE THEATRE Au actress who has appeared in innumerable films, Gloria Swanson, gives a distinctive performance in “ Indiscreet ” at the Empire Theatre this week. It is a Swanson that has not previously been seen on the sound screen who makes all the running in "Indiscreet." She has a voice and she uses it to excellent advantage. She has eyes which she can make speak volumes. She has expressive hands, a sense of both comedy and tragedy, and she uses every talent she possesses to make “ Indiscreet ” a film which everyone will understand and enjoy. Her delineation of the role of Geraldine Trent will stand as the greatest achievement of her career to date. She told the absorbingly interesting and intriguing tale completely and to everybody’s satisfaction, and proved herself the equal of the best that the sound screen has produced in the past two years. “ Indiscreet; ” is a type of film that catches the imagination from the first scene —catches it and holds it until the last fade-out. a film that will be universally enjoyed. The story is a good one, cleverly told, and bearing the hall mark of shrewd and calculating direction. There is also a strong supporting programme, a feature of which is the performance of Mr Paul Cullen, the singing organist. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. “A FREE SOUL.” - An engrossing story, brilliant acting, expert directing and lavish settings contrive, it is claimed, to make Norma Shearer’s new screen drama, “ A Free Soul,’’ coming on Friday to the Empire Theatre, one of the outstanding pictures of the year. Miss Shearer, who seems to be turning out one success after another, never acted more convincingly than in this dramatic and fast-mpving story of a modern girl who has been brought up by a brilliant but constantly intoxicated father whose theories on freedom estrange her from those she loves, and eventually make her the central figure of a spectacular murder case. Lionel Barrymore is a dominant figure as the lawyer father who bares his own past in court to save the happiness of the girl whom in his love he has so terribly wronged. Excellent performances .are also offered by Leslie Howard as a millionaire sportsman in love with Miss Shearer, and by Clark Gable, who, as the gambler, eclipses his previous work in “ Dance, Fools, Dance. - ’ James Gleason and Lucy Beaumont do well by smaller roles. But chief honours must go to Miss Shearer, who combines an unusual beauty with a magnificent acting ability and a power to make the most of every dramatic opportunity. In ber new vehicle she proves herself to be even more fascinating, it is said, than in her two earlier successes, “ The Divorcee ” and “Let Us Be Gay.” The direction of Clarence Brown combines an artistic standard with a deft presentation of dramatic values.

KING EDWARD THEATRE A picture which grown-ups as well as children will enjoy to the full is “ Skippy,” which will be presented to-night at the King Edward_ Theatre. “ The thrill of a lifetime,” which comes not many more times than once to most lives, arrived for the children of San Bernardino, California. For a period of two weeks they were called upon to act for a talking, picture. Before Paramount sent a company 65 miles from Hollywood to San Bernardino, to make episodes of Percv Crosby’s “ Skippy,” arrangements _ were made with school officials to permit 100 children of the off-studio city to perform. Children whom it was considered most needed the money were selected and given permission by the board of education to work with Jackie Cooper, as Skippy; Robert Coogan, five-year-old brother of Jackie Coogan, as Sookv: Jackie Searl, and other film players. Although acting in pictures, the children were not allowed to miss school. A schoolroom was erected on location, and several teachers assigned to the task of instructing the- youths while not before the cameras.