AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21544, 16 January 1932, Page 16

AMUSEMENTS

OCTAGON THEATRE Jackie Coogan and Junior Durkin, in their respective roles of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, score a distinct triumph in their latest production, which, bearing the name of Mark Twain’s immortal creation “ Huckleberry Finn," received its initial screening at the Octagon Theatre yesterday. With characters so well and widely known as the two whom this pair of juveniles is called upon to portray the task of presenting them in a manner which will not immediately arouse criticism from some of their admirers is by no means an easy one. Jackie Coogan and Junior Durkin, however, have come through difficult teste with distinction before now, but it will readily be admitted by most who will see the picture during the coming week that in this picture they have done even better than that. Junior Durkin, in particular, is responsible for a wonderfully fine piece of work. His presentation of the very human but by no means easilymanaged youth, Huckleberry Finn, the despair of his teacher, the laughing stock of the village children, and the incurable dreamer, is something of which a much older actor might well be proud. Perhaps even more than Jackie Coogan he succeeds in lending to the picture that air of complete naturalness without which it would inevitably fail in its appeal to the audience. Briefly, the story has to do with a pair of American boys of the middle of last century, who grow up in a village upon the banks of the Mississippi, the one incurably a dreamer, the other very much concerned with the present, but burning with a thirst for adventure. Huckleberry Finn, the dreamer, has been adopted by a widow, who endeavours to give him the type of training which she imagines will fit him to take his rightful place in life. Her plans for his future and the boy’s own differ rather radically, and when the latter’s father, a villain of the lowest type, appears on the scene and takes him by force from the home of the widow, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are launched upon a series of adventures which satisfy even the restless spirit of Tora. Huckleberry Finn has been an especially good hater of women and girls, his particular aversion being Becky Thatcher, with whom Tora had become more than a little friendly, but in the course of their journey down the great river they meet Mary Jane, whose kindness to the homeless pair makes so strong an impression upon Huckleberry that he resolves to return home and take up again those scholastic studies whose utter dreariness had been largely instrumental in forcing him to come to his resolve to run away. Between their embarking upon the river, in the raft, however, and Huckleberry’s sudden determination to turn his back upon the life of wandering, much that is interesting and amusing and not a little thrilling befalls the pair, and their final escapade when they defeat the attempts of two scoundrels to rob Mary Jane of her inheritance is particularly hilarious. “ Huckleberry Finn" is a picture which will make considerable appeal to all, while it will be particularly attractive to the younger section of the audience. The supporting programme includes a comedy skit entitled “My Wife’s Jewellery,” another of the Secrets of Nature series, a British Paramount news reels, and a Paramount talkartoon, “ Bimbo’s Invitation.” The box plans are at the Bristol.

EMPIRE THEATRE For sheer dramatic force and powerful characterisation it would be extremely difficult to recall a picture that surpasses “ A Free Soul,” which had its initial screening at the Empire Theatre yesterday. Bold in its conception, the picture presents a theme that figuratively ■ speaking hits one between the eyes, but its daring is matched by the polished acting of Norma Shearer in the principal role and Lionel Barrymore, whose work in this picture is one of the high lights in film history. Indeed, one is left with the question as to which of the two is the principal player in the film, although the one is by no means over-shadowed by the other. Actually it is a case of two striking characters commanding equal attention all the way through. Nor has it been left at that. Leslie Howard, the Tom Prior of “Outward Bound,” is another member of the cast who does his work with all that artistry which separates the accomplished English actor from the ordinary stock type, and his clearcut personality makes a vivid impression on the picture. A most likeable fellow, his very appearance is suggestive of the cultured outdoor sportsman while his acting is the essence of all that is natural and sincere. In “A Free Soul" he has added another success to his career, and it will be disappointing if more is not seen of him in the future. Clark Gable, famous for his more robust roles, enacts a difficult part wqll as the gang leader who wins the sympathy of the audience at one time, and arouses its hatred at another, James _ Gleason is also entrusted to an important part and indeed it is clear that the director, Clarence Brown, has taken considerable pains to select the right people for the picture. When all is said and done, however,‘ one is forced to return to Lionel Barrymore, and to ask the question, Where has the man been all these years? The infrequency of his appearances has been a definite loss to the screen. _ When other performances are forgotten his work as the drunken but brilliant barrister Stephen Asche, the father of Jan (Norma Shearer), will be remembered, and his dramatic defence of Dwight Winthrop, played by Leslie Upward, charged with the murder of the gangster, was the piece of'work which undoubtedly won him the gold medal for 1931 for the best male character for the year. Every little gesture —and he is a master of gesticulation —every inflexion of his voice, every pause, has a deeply compelling power that cannot fail to create a vital impression on the minds of the 12 good men and true. No less dramatic than the whole scene is the set of circumstances behind it—a lawyer tearing asunder the secrets of his own daughter’s downfall for the sake, of the man she loves, and condemning himself as her father for failing in his duty towards her —for teaching her false doctrines, for developing in hre a. warped outlook on life. Here in truth is a picture that, full of dramatic interest, swift in action, achieves a genuine climax tnat does not fall into an anti-climax. The audience leaves the theatre with its mind full of that closing trial scene, of the tense, expectant faces, of that single, impassioned figure tearing the truth out of his daughter in the witness box and the heart out of himself, dominating the jury with his marvellous oratory, and fighting a losing fight against outraged nature. Exactly what a British barrister would say of the court proceedings may be a matter for conjecture to the layman, but any criticism in this direction must be futile when the picture is regarded a s a whole. It is sound entertainment through out, and the acting is beyond criticism. One singular incident in the picture is the scene in which Ace Wilfong, the gambler, seated in a motor car with Jau Asche outside a roadhouse, observes a motor car approaching at full speed. With all the intuition of the gangster, he awakens the engine and backs quickly into a side street, where they crouch behind the dashboard. The other car dashes past and a burst of machine gun bullets cuts a string of holes from one side of the screen to the other —a rival gang. The outstanding feature of the supporting programme is the musical offering by Paul Cullen, the young singing organist whose light baritone voice has already become one of the popular attractions at the Empire Theatre. The overture consisted of selections from “H.M.S. Pinafore,” and his principal numbers were “ When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain ” and " The Dear Little Shamrock,” which was played by request. Both of these were very well received, and indeed the audience would willingly have heard more. His entr’acte number was “The Skater’s,Waltz.” The third of the Johnny Farrell gold series showed the famous player demonstrating some of the more difficult shots in ,the rough, and the slow motion camera followed the movements with wonderful accuracy. A Hearst Metrotone news contained some remarkable photographs from the Graf Zeppelin’s tour over the Nortli Pole, and the programme concluded with a delightful “ Our Gang ” comedy entitled “ Shiver My Timbers.” The _ box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol.

“ THESE CHARMING PEOPLE.” Paramount’s first British picture, " These Charming People,” starring Cyril Maude, one of England’s greatest actors, who will be remembered tor his sterling role in “ Grumpy,” will be shown on Friday next at the Empire Theatre. England has produced many fine pictures, but none so great or finer than “ These Charmina People,” according to the critics of the

London papers. This is the first effort of Paramount at production in England since the inception of talking pictures. Some 10 years ago Paramount produced silent pictures in England, but the time was not ripe for such an effort, and the studio was closed after a lot of money had been lost. Since talking pictures have come, however, a vaster field has opened. The beauty of the English countryside forms the ideal background for the stories that are rich in the thoughts of England. The writers, the actors, and the richness of material from the stage, have become available, and we now find that the first of these great stories to reach the screen is from the pen of Michael Arlen. This young playwright took the world by storm with his satire of Mayfair people and society, in 1 The Green Hat ’ and ‘ These Charming people/” writes a critic. "The latter is the first British picture made by Paramount, and as the impecunious Colonel Crawford, Cyril Maude, greatest of all English actors, plays a wonderful part. In addition there is Godfrey Tearle, Nora Swinburne, Ann Todd, Cyril Raymond, and a host of well-known and great English players in support.”

STRAND THEATRE One of the most amusing comedies that has come from Hollywood since the advent of talking pictures is Warner Brothers’ French film, “ The Matrimonial Problem.” The film had its initial screening at the Strand Theatre yesterday before a large audience, which found it immensely amusing. Tempo is one of the vital secrets of good comedy, and in “ The Matrimonial Problem ” things happen fast and furiously. The suppressed expectancy of the players, as well as the jolly humour of the story, and the subtle handling of the delicate situations, won the audience at the very outset. The picture gives an unique twist to the ancient story of the absentee husband who returns only to find that another man has tak«n his place in the affections of his long-deserted wife. The story, however, is all gaiety, except for a few moments at the end, when a note of seriousness enters like an intruder “The Matrimonial Problem” is mature comedy, with never a dull moment. The story concerns the confusion that overcomes a modern French family when a first husband, supposedly dead for five years, returns at an inopportune time as a victim of lost memory. Without any knowledge of the intervening years, he proceeds to take up life where he left off. And, of course, it is here that the really complicated part of the story commences. His wife has married another man and has a child by her second husband. Then comes the astonishing development that the first husband has also been busy-dur-ing his five-year period of lost memory, as he has a wife, two sets of twins, and a multitude of lady friends. He is supposed to have been killed in a railroad accident five years before the opening of the story. His identity is restored by a _ hypnotist. Then he recalls his first wife and forgets his second wife and the two sets of twins. What happens when all the women get together makes the story. Lilyan Tashman and Florence Eldridge acquit themselves with their usual case, and the interpretation of their respective roles is excellent. Beryl Mercer also has a big part in the production, and James Gleason, as the irritable second husband, is almost equal to Frank Fay, as the first husband, in providing the humour of the picture. The second feature attraction on the new programme is “ Sinners' Holiday," and this, too, is an entertainment in itself. The picture is a melodramatic romance, which takes place largely in a Coney Island amusement pane. The parties engaged are showmen in charge of concessions there. “ Sinners’ Holiday” is one of Warner Brothers’ latest productions. Taken from the successful play and adapted to the screen, this human story of amusement park life never once suffers through lack of interest. “Sinners’ Holiday” is undoubtedly one of the most colourful and entertaining pictures of the comedy-dramatic order it has been the good fortune of Strand Theatre patrons to see. Grant Withers plays the role of Angel, a typical Coney Island showman. Evelyn Knapp, who plays the role of Jennie, gives a performance that is vivid and captivating. Lucille La Verne’s portrayal of the mother is one of the finest characterisations seen on the talking screen for some time. James Cagney plays the meek son, who is lured into the net of crime. The new programme should enjoy a successful seasoon during the coming week. The box plans are at the Bristol and the theatre.

REGENT THEATRE “Palmy Days” has entered in its season at the Regent Theatre with the same irresistable swing with which it sets about the amusement of all who see it. Eddie Cantor and Charlotte Greenwood are too much alike in their whirlwind tactics, their uproarious and inimitable comedy to allow the grass to .grow under their feet for one instant. From the first scene of this joyous farce they set a pace which the remainder of the cast must find rather difficult to follow. Right through the production they convert to their own use the talents and abilities of their helpers, and by doing more than tjieir share themselves, contrive to present entertainment on a brisk and attractive scale which cannot fail to prove very popular during the coming week. “ Palmy Days ” is unbridled nonsense from start to finish, and no one should expect anything serious logical or sober in it. It is genuine fun and should not be missed. Eddie Cantor gives an astonishingly good account of himself in the principle role of erstwhile charlatan’s rouseabdut, suddenly turned efficiency expert in a large bakery business. His humour is of a kind which few actors have the ability or the constitution to affect. In speech, in action and by implication he is screamingly funny. He can keep up a running fire of wisecracks and jests the while he performs acrobatic feats of the most amazing kind. He runs, jumps, skips anj frolics like a two-year-old colt, and all the time keeps in touch with what everyone is doing, interpolating a joke here, an action there, and some of his inimitable nonsense somewhere else, all the while contriving to make himself the centre and soul of the film. There is no rhyme or reason about anything beyond that which Cantor and his merry associates manufacture ns they go along. Eddie Cantor appears first ns the unwilling accomplice of a gang of crooks who exhibit a willingness to do anything at all for money, so long as the money is lying about in large enough sums. By a strange chance he finds himself appointed efficiency expert in a large bakery establishment which is remarkable, not so much for the quality of the article it produces, as for the wonderful array of Hollywood beauty to be found in cook-house, storeroom and shop. _ Then, of .course, there is the romantic side of the tale, which is entrusted to very capable performers, at the head of whom are Charlotte Greenwood and charming little Barbara Weeks. Charlotte Greenwood throws her immense bulk about a marvellously equipped gymnasium while she sees to the physical fitness of the bakery employees, maintaining a continual fire of nonsense in her own peculiar style. In the swimming bath scene when a bashful young man shudders at the thought of appearing in the water in exclusively female company she takes part in one of the funniest episodes of the story. Barbara Weeks as the daughter of the head of .the firm does everything very prettily. Among the musical numbers which punctuate the show are “ Bend Down Ladies,” sung by Charlotte Greenwood and chorus, and “I’m Glad She Said, Yes, Yes,” which appears to be Cantor’s particular refrain. Special mention, however, must be made of the incomparable ballets engaged in “Palmy Days.” Such precision and artistry has seldom if ever been seen on the screen in such circumstances. The dancers represent the last word in welltrained artistic performers, _ and the dances themselves are astonishing for the fertility of invention and ingenuity which must have gone to their arrangement. “ Palmy Days ” is excellent entertainment of a kind that will prove especially acceptable at the present time. There is an excellent supporting programme of short subjects which are in keeping with the quality and merit of the featured production. One of the most interesting is another of the John Hix_“ Strange As It May Seem ” series in which the audience is introduced to many curious occurrences and habits culled from many parts of the world, ranging from the American Mayor who has never worn shoes in his life to the ugly cobra plant with insectivorous habits. Then there is a news gazette of wide and varied interest, followed by a British instructional film dealing with the curious but beautiful sundew plant. The programme, which commenced its season with a midnight matinee on Thursday, will be continued throughout the coining week. The box plana are at the Bristol and at the theatre.

ST. JAMES THEATRE

The main picture in the new programme presented at the St. James Theatre yesterday bears the rather intriguing title, “ Transatlantic.” The title is taken from the huge transatlantic steamer on which is worked out a most arresting plot. The producer of the play set himself a very severe task, as it can be well understood that the photography of a play on shipboard must require much preparation and much ingeniously-worked-out detail. That being so, one can only state, without exaggeration, that a fine success has been achieved. In the opening scenes the crowds of passengers are shown boarding the vessel; the “good-byes” are, as it were, presented, and the hoarse sound of the whistles of the vessel to indicate that the time has come when she has to leave the wharf to start on her voyage oversea gives one quite a thrill by its realism. The spectator is then given an idea of the life on a large transatlantic liner, and overshadowing all is the virilq story of villainy defeated and happiness at last brought to those whose prospects of happiness were seemingly becoming very remote, if not indeed hopeless. The story has to do with really two heroines —one the somewhat unhappy wife of a husband infatuated with an adventuress and the other a charming girl whose American father has at last saved sufficient to take his daughter for a grand tour of Europe. There is also the dashing manly gambler who is to check the machinations of the gang who are out to despoil the infatuated husband, manager of the Grahatn Investment Corporation, and also to bring husband and wife together again. They are all on the steamer, and it does not take long before the action begins to move apace. The gambler (splendidly enacted by Mr Edmund Lowe) is übiquitous, and he has an almost uncanny intuition of what is going to happen. He breaks up the intrigue between Graham and the adventuress (Miss Greta Nissen _ gives a striking piece of acting in this part),and enables the husband and wife (Myrna Loy) to be restored to happy married life, and he is also responsible for lifting the charge of attempted murder of Graham from Mr Kramer (Jean Hersholt) and sheeting it home to t the right man. In the scene where the gambler tracks down two members of the gang and shoots them both in the engine room of the vessel some striking scenes are enacted. The huge machinery throbbing out its power with death lurking in the shadows has tested the art of the photographer, and the whole result is most convincing. In the final scene the gambler takes a reluctant farewell of Kramer’s daughter (Lois Moran). The girls makes a last advance, but is told it is too late —the gambler must take the bitter with the sweet (to quote his loquacious steward), and so the story ends. Among the supports are a comedy entitled “ Drumming It In,” and some very fine incidents of general interest. Mahatma Gandhi is shown making a triumphal tour of a town in Lancashire. He is asked to give a speech, and replies that all he will say is “ I love you all as my own children.” The announcer, to make the statement clearer, said that Mr Gandhi “loved all the children of the world,” and the famous Indian laughingly repeated what he had previously stated. Scenes of a pageant in Tokio, daredevil motor cycle racing, some magnificent snapshots of animal life in the huge Kruger Reservation, the transport of lost swallows by aeroplane from Vienna to release them in Italy on their_ southward flight, and other features of interest round off a programme full of interest from start to finish.

, “GUILTY HANDS.” “ From first to last ‘ Guilty Hands ’ is full of thrills, surprising situations, and dramatic climaxes, which carry the audience through the gamut of emotions until the final denouement leaves them _ gasping,” wrote a critic of the film coming to the St. James Theatre next Friday. “The film is a new departure in mystery stories. The audience is taken into confidence right at the beginning, and the murderer is known, but events move so surprisingly and unexpectedly that the ending presents a surprise even greater than the usual revelation in most mystery dramas. Lionel Barrymore ie seen at the height of his art, in a role which gives him ample scope for his talented dramatic ability, and he plays the part of a retired Crown prosecutor, who goes to the length of murder to secure his daughter’s nappiness, with a force which captures the audience from the outset. His daughter has fallen in love with a wealthy midd'eaged man, whom he knows only too well, and rather than see her mar her happiness by marrying a man with such a disreputable character, -the father kills the lover. He makes the crime appear as a suicide, having boasted that, owing to hie long association with murders and murderers, he could construct the perfect crime. As usual, it was the small things that mattered, and his guilt was discovered by a girl, who loved the dead man. The scenes which follow are as powerful as any ever screened, and the dramatic story ends surprisingly and abruptly with the avenging of the dead man. Playing her role as dramatically ns Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis adds anotherto her already long list of successful studies, and the talented cast includes Madge Evans and Alan Mowbray.”

KING EDWARD THEATRE The double-feature programme which will be commenced to-day at the King Edward Theatre comprises “ Free and Easy " and "It Pays to Advertise.” Most of the action of the former, which is a satire of Hollywood activities, takes place within the studio confines, and the moviegoer is given the unexpected treat of seeing his favourite actor portraying emotion before the camera and microphone while a well-known director stands on the sidelines giving orders. Some of the players and directors who appear in the various sequences are Buster Keaton, who, by the way, talks and sings for the first time on the screen, and proves himself doubly funny in doing so; Anita Page, Robert Montgomery, Trixie Friganza,_ Dorothy Sebastian, Karl Dane, John Miljan, Gwen Lee, Lionel Barrymore, Fred Niblq, and Cecil B. De Mille. Then there are William Haines and William Collier, sen. “It Pays To Advertise,” which features Sheets Gallagher, Norman Foster, Eugene Pallette, and Carole Lombard, is a screamingly funny farce of a particularly acceptable kind.