AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21542, 14 January 1932, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

REGENT THEATRE The theme of “The Outsider,” which will receive its final screening at the Regent Theatre to-day, deals with Ragatzy, a Russian Jew, who, although in love with the work of a surgeon, lacks the necessary training to qualify him for such a life. 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 his success, 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 tor 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.” Brazenly labelled as pure nonsense, “ Palmy Days,” the new Eddie Cantor film, will be shown at the Regent Theatre to-night as Samuel Goldwyn’s successor to their inaugural “ Whoopee.” It is a gay, comic kind of a storj/ in which Cantor is seen as the unwilling assistant to a gang of fake spiritualists, who hire him out as an efficiency expert to wreck a modernistic bakery that might have come out of an Arabian nights fantasy. For no bakery in this world could ever have such a collection of over-dressed and under-dressed beauties as disport themselves in “ Palmy Days.” “ Palmy Days seems a logical step forward in pictures from Goldwyn’s “ Whoopee.” That brightly coloured festival of fun, music, song, dance and Eddie Cantor more or less served as the last and greatest of the old order of screen musical comedies, owing most of its style to the legitimate stage. The new Cantor film, “ Palmy Days,” strikes out a new held for itself—one that is certainly to be made large as a new vogue in screen entertainment. For Goldwyn’s chorus girls go through their thrilling dances only when a dance seems to have some rhyme or reason in the story—in a gymnasium, for instance, or at a moonlight party. And Con Conrad’s tuneful songs are heard not to punctuate or stop the story, but as a part of it. The songs and dances become woven into the plot. Cantor is his old self, his beady black eyes still look up at the ever constant menace that threatens to exterminate him. In “ Palmy Days,” Cantor fulfills his promise in “ Whoopee ’’—that he is in pictures to stay, and that the_ screen has a definite place for him. Eddie is aided and abetted by lanky Charlotte Greenwood. Together, they ramble through the blithe nonsense of the story as hosts and leaders to the battalion of Hollywood’s most decorative femininity. Barbara Weeks, one of Samuel Goldwyn’s newest discoveries dissome, is a not inconsiderable attraction. Miss Weeks shares with Eddie Cantor and Charlotte Greenwood the gay burden of the story, which was written by Cantor, Morrie Ryskind and David Freedman. It concerns the adventures of Eddie, who is sent as efficiency expert to wreck the fantastic bakery of Mr Clark. Eddie is in the hands of a gang of crooked spiritualists. By using Eddie as a dupe, they plan to destroy the plant and be able to buy it cheaply for a rival. Cantor pursued by a gymnasium teacher (Charlotte Greenwood), breaks into the president’s office just at the moment when the efficiency expert is really, expected, and is thus unwittingly forced into reorganising the bakery, its staff of salesgirls and factory workers that would outdo any “ Follies.” The story races from the factory to the scented, mystic scene of the spiritualist’s inner sanctum, to a garden party of the .president, to a trick gymnasium. to an ornate sweet shop—on and on The picture was directed by Edward Sutherland. Willy Pogany and Captain Richard Day supei’vised the settings under the supervision of Mr Goldwyn.

MIDNIGHT MATINEE. Special arrangements have been made for the first presentation of Palmy Days/' to be given at the Regent Theatre at a midnight gala performance to-night. The doors will open at 10.40. ST. JAMES THEATRE “ Seed,” featuring John Boles and Genevieve Tobin, concludes its season at the St. James Theatre this evening. 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 au early marriage and parental responsibilities. His wife, Peggy, is a natural, homeloving 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 will 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 intense.y poignant situation arises, and Peggy through her wonderful mothers 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.” To the discerning picturegoer, the cunning of the director is everywhere apparent in “ Transatlantic in the exceptionally clever camera work from unusual angles that savours more of German than of American film technique, hut without the slow development of the former; in the snspeiiseful weaving together of the threads of intrigue and romance in the various by-plots; in the clear and skilful delineation of the characters; in the smart touches of humour, and in the rapidly-increasing tempo of the action and interest,” says a critic of the new film coming to the St, James Theatre tomorrow. “ Then there is the excellent acting to commend the film. ‘Transatlantic’ is an example of the effort being made by American companies _ to hold their kineraa audiences by providing unusually strong casts. It may be said with real truth that this is an all-star film, for Edmund Lowe has in support of him such well-known players as Lois Moran, Jean Hersholt, Greta Nissen, Myrna Loy, John Halliday, and Earle Fox. The third factor contributing to the success of ‘ Transatlantic ’ is the. story. It contains a real plot; not, as is so often the case, just a hotch-potch of incidents designed mainly for the purpose of showing off the acting ability of the hero and the shapely legs of the heroine. There is novelty in the setting of the story, a palatini liner crossing from America to Europe. Edmund Lowe shows great histrionic skill as the gambler who turns out to lie a gentleman, helping two of the women in distress, proving a match for the scheming of the third and outwitting tlie crooks. Although the setting is a sliip there is uo shipwreck as might have been expected.” There will he a particularly good supporting programme. Tin* box plans arc at the Bristol. OCTAGON THEATRE “The Man from Wyoming” and “The Public Defender,” the two featured films at present being shown at the Octagon Theatre, continue to attract large audiences. The first production 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 unabls 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 killed 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.” “ Huckleberry Finn,” which will show at the Octagon Theatre for one week, commencing to-morrow, brings Jackie Coogan back to the screen in the role of Tom Sawyer. Junior Durkin continues in his role of Huck; Mitzi Green as Becky Thatcher; and impudent Jackie Searl makes more mischief as Sid, Tom’s annoying little brother. The adult cast which won such favour in “ Tom Sawyear ” is augmented by two popular character actors, Eugene Pallette and Oscar Apfel, for “ Huckleberry Finn.” These two funny men are seen as a pair of desperadoes from whom Huck and Tom rescue innocent young girls. Clara Blandick is again seen as Tom’s worried Aunt Polly, and Jane Harwell re-enacts the role of the good-hearted Widow Douglas. The same attention to production detail which made “ Tom Sawyer ” such an interesting trip into the past century, is a feature of “Huckleberry Finn.” A complete village was built and populated. Costumes, customs, _ and speech idioms were faithfully copied. And the story progresses with the whole village going busily about the every-day tasks and pleasures which made up the life of the great-grandfathers and , great-grand-mothers of the present generation. “ Huckleberry Finn ” carries on the adventures 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,” and the picture is said to be one of the most highly entertaining pictures, for youngsters of all ages, the screen has ever presented.

EMPIRE THEATRE Gloria Swanson assumes the principal role in “ Indiscreet/’ the current featured attraction at the Empire Theatre. She hag 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 I 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.” It is difficult to recall offhand a more strikingly graphic and powerful film than “ A Free Soul,” which was p rivately screened at the Empire Theatre yesterday morning, and which will be the feature of the new programme at'that theatre for the week commencing to-morrow. “A Free Soul ’’ will undoubtedly attract a. great deal of attention during the coming week. It is arresting and intelligent m its conception, unsual in the quality of its execution, and remarkable for the fullness of its content. It comprises 8500 feet of full-blooded, courageous drama, enacted by a cast of stars, any single one of whom might be expected to do more than well as the featured player in any average film. Norma Shearer is the feminine star, but in spite of the charm of her manner, the fascination of her personality and the sheer artistry of her handling of a difficult role, she has keen rivals for the honours of the, play in Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, and to a lesser degree, James Gleason. This quintet is responsible for the narration of a story which runs through the whole gamut of emotions, and it will be difficult for the average theatregoer to watch unmoved many of the strangly dramatic and poignant scenes which the story contains. ‘‘ A Free Soul ” is a film which owes a lot to its director, but most of all to the notable cast to whom its presentation has been entrusted. In this respect the producer, Clarence Brown, has exhibited a rare understanding of the requirements of the parts which make up his film, and has chosen players specially suited to the play. Norma Shearer displays her usual skill and keen understanding in her delineation of the role of Jan Asche. She undoubtedly excels herself, and those who see her in “ A Free Soul ” will agree that not even her wonderful showing in “Let Us Be Gay” can compare with the portrait which she draws in this film. Her part is one of great and varied opportunity, and she makes the very most of it, rising to dramatic and romantic heights to which she has never before attained. And further, she wears her clothes as she has always, to the manner born, a feature of her appearance which cannot fail to interest feminine members of the audience. No less worthy of notice, however, is Lionel Barrymore for his acting of the part of Stephen Aeche, the brilliant barrister addicted to drink, and father of Jan. For his performance in this role he was awarded the gold medal for 1931 for the best male character of the year. At a time when really good pictures are more numerous than ever they were the “ blue riband of Hollywood ” is a distinction worth winning, and it may be assumed from the fact that he secured that award that his interpretation of this powerful and absorbingly interestin'! role is something very much out of the ordinary. It is interesting-while on the subject of this award to note that the medal for female stars was won by Marie Dressier for her performance in “Min and Bill,” a film which was also exhibited by the Empire Theatre. Lionel Barrymore takes his audience through an amazing sequence of scenes and incidents, displaying a rare sense of the dramatic, a complete and full appreciation not only of the requirements of his part, but also of the pitfalls and traps that are encountered in such a highly dramatic role. But nothing he does in “ A Free Soul,” and for that matter nothing he has done in any other film, can equal his eloquent appeal to the jury in the final stages of the film. He works up to a climax of unprecedented power and emotion, and by the decorative melodrama of his acting provides an appropriate finale to a story that will hold the attention from start to finish. Leslie Howard has less to do, but what the producer requires of him is scarcely less easily done than what Lionel Barrymore achieves. The audience will undoubtedly like Howard, the quiet and exceedingly polished young Englishman whose star is unquestionably in the ascendant at the present time. Clark Gable, who will be remembered for the life-like vigour and conviction of his showings in such films as “ The Secret Six ” and “ Dance, Fools, Dance,” has a role particularly suited to his abilities in “A Free Soul.” As Ace Wilfong, the unscrupulous racketeer and killer, he captures the imagination at his first appearance, drawing a portrait that is as colourful as it is interesting. Quaintly droll and always amusing, James Gleason finds plenty to do as Eddie, the bodyguard of Jan’s father. He has "a style of humour all his own, and provides welcome flashes of comedy in a film that is a remarkable mixture of all the elements of

good entertainment. He has lost the knack of being interested and amused who cannot enjoy “A Free Soul.” The supporting programme to-morrow will include further appearances by Mr Raul Cullen, the singing organist, and comedy and news items of the usual general interest and variety. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. STRAND THEATRE “ The Gorilla,” which forms the current attraction at the Strand Theatre, showing there for the last time to-day, tells -the story of a mysterious menace, which 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 result 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. The famous comedy detectives of the piece, Garrity and Mulligan, are played by Joe Frisco and Harry Gribbon, and Walter Pidgeon supports Mies 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 tlio next attraction for the Strand Theatre. This adaptation of the hilarious French farce enjoyed a phenomenal run in Paris, 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 Noblct, in the case in hand, is supposed to have been killed in a railway accident five years before tlie story opens. His wife is happily married, and the mother of a child by tlie second husband. M. Noblet reappears as a hairdresser, pursued by many Indies. 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 Nohlet’s memory to the point where the accident occurred. He now believes himself wed to his first wife, and fails to recall his own later wife and two sets of twins. The final and quite unexpected adjustment comes after a series of excruciatingly funny haps and mishaps. The cast is composed of Lilyan Tashman, Florence Eldridge, James Gleason, Beryl

Mercer, Frank Fay, Marion Byron, Vivian Oakland, Arthur Edmund Carewe, and James Bradbury. A second feature will be “ Sinners’ Holiday.” a thrilling story of the show world, starring Grant Withers and Evelyn Knapp. KING EDWARD THEATRE Featuring Jackie Cooper and several other taented players who have not yet reached the years of maturity, “ Skippy," which was shown on the new programme at the King Edward Theatre last night, proved a popular picture with the audience. The picture is primarily a comedy, and though there are srtnea which are tinged with sadness, there are few moments when the audience is not laughing heartily at the antics of Skippy and his friends. It is a simple story, told in such a manner that it will gain the admiration of all who see it, but it could not have had half of its appeal were it not for the fact that so happy a choice was made for the part of Skippy. For one so young his performance is nothing short of remarkable, and it would be difficult to imagine a picture which would more effectively dispel gloomy thoughts or which would more adequately meet the desires of those who like good comedy without buffoonery. Skippy is the son of a doctor who forbids his son to visit Shanty Town, the poor part of the city m which he lives, but there is so much adventure and so much to interest a boy in the forbidden territory that the fascination proves too strong for Skippy, 'who sets out one day in search of diversion and finds a new pal, Sooky. Skippy, whose father is the health officer in the town, is very much surprised to learn from his new friend that Shanty Town has been condemned, but surprise turns to embarrassment when lie finds that it is his father who lias issued the orders which will deprive Sooky pf his home. Trouble comes when in a children’s brawl the windshield of the dog catcher’s car is broken. In revenge, the dog catcher appropriates an unregistered dog belonging to Sooky, who is broken-hearted at the loss of his pet. The remainder of the picture describes in a manner which provides delightful entertainment the efforts of the lads to recover the dog, and leads up to a very happy conclusion