AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21827, 14 December 1932, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS

STRAND THEATRE i Joe E. Brown baa the featured role in " Fireman, Save My Child,” which heads the current bill at the Strand Theatre. Brown is a fire brigade enthusiast, and he causes great amusement when he drops everything nt the sound of a fire engine siren. He invents a fire extinguishing bomb, and, requiring money to exploit his patent, accepts an offer from a baseball team to pitch for them. When an important game is in progress Smoky Joe” gets into difficulties with the team manager because he drops everything when a fire engine goes by. Several interesting short films are also shown. The box plans are at the theatre and the Bristol. “ SINNERS IN THE SUN.” The romantic flavour of “ Sinners in the Sun,” the new film at the Strand Theatre on Friday of this week, needs only the artistry of the featured players to furnish it with an appeal that audiences will find difficult to resist. Carole Lombard and Chester Morris make a most effective bracket of stars, and interpret the dramatic romance and colourful appeal of a strikingly absorbing and welltold tale in the most pleasing manner. Added to its own attractions of story and sentiment, “ Sinners in the Sun ” has > a lavishness of conception and execution that is at times dazzling. It furnishes the producer with many opportunities for admirable stage setting and magnificent backgrounds, and every ong of these opportunities has been exploited to the full. “ Sinners in the Sun ” is a film that should certainly be seen. OCTAGON THEATRE Tom Brown, H. B. Warner, Slim Summerville, and Richard Cromwell are the principal players in “ Tom Brown of Culver,” which is being screened at the Octagon Theatre this week. As may well be imagined, most of the comedy, action,, and incident centre round the long comedian, Summerville, whose absurdly humorous antics, grimaces, and utterances will prove irresistible to all types of audiences. "Tom Brown of Culver” is a bright and wholesome film that should not be missed on any account. The usual excellent selection of short subjects makes an exceedingly interesting and worthy supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and at the Bristol. "THE BARGAIN.” "The Bargain,” the First National picture which will be shown at the Octagon Theatre on Friday, is the sort of domestic drama which might occur in any home. A father and his son are caught in the same conflict between iharriage and the desire for a career. Those featured are Lewis Stone, Evelyn Knapp, Charles Butterworth, Doris Kenyon, John Harrow, Oscar Apfel, Una Merkel, and Nella Walker. The picture is an adaptation of the Harvard Prize play, “You and I,” written by Philip Barry, and ehjoying a year’s run on- Broadway. Robert Milton directed. Lewis Stone, starring actor of stage and screen, plays a new part in this, his latest picture. Pressed in a smock, and with palette and brushes in hand, he gives a portrayal of a middleaged and reluctant artist. Una IMerkel is the model. ST. JAMES THEATRE The third all-British programme at the St. James Theatre, which is headed by “The House of Unrest,” is proving quite' as popular as the two that have gone before. . There is sufficient of mystery and suspense in its gripping story to hold the attention from start to finish. Malcolm Keen and Dorothy Boyd work together in the most effective manner in the unfolding of this absorbingly interesting tale, and among the more prominent of the supporting players may he mentioned Agnes Mayfren and Leslie Perrins. An unusually generous supporting programme includes an audio review, Pathe news, and "My Old China. The box plans are at the theatre, at the Bristol, and at Jacobs’s shop.

“frail Women." Strongly dramatic in its theme “ Frail Women," the British Radio production which will be shown at the James Theatre on Friday, must be regarded as another triumph for British him enterprise. Mary Newcomb and Owen Nares are the stars. Mary Newcomb brings with her a wealth of experience and success, which has been won not only on the London stage but also on Broadway. “Frail Women” is Miss. Necombs first picture, and it has been highly praised at every appearance. As the woman forced by circumstances to lead . a somewhat irregular life, she gives a performance in a tensely dramatic role that is most impressive. Opposite her is Owen Nares, already, well known to patrons or the kinema. An outstanding characterisation is that given by Edmund Gwen as the bookmaker. The supporting cast includes Margaret Vines, Frederick Peisley, and Jane Welsh. REGENT THEATRE “ Unashamed,” which is the principal attraction at the Regent Theatre at present, is a story of a man who elected to suffer the supreme penalty rather than • expose to the world the story of his sister’s illicit relations with the man he has shot. The principal role is taken by Helen Twelvetrees, and Robert loung is cast as the brother. The subsidiary parts are well handled by Monroe Owsley, Jean Hersholt, Lewis. Stone, and John Miljan. Those two inimitable comedians. Laurel and Hardy, provide a riot of laughter in an hilarious comedy entitled “The County Hospital.” There is not a dull moment- from the time Hardy arrives at the hospital until he is discharged. The box plans are at the theatre and at the Bristol. “BIRD OF PARADISE.” “Bird of Paradise,” the sensational RKO drama, which opens at the Regent Theatre on Friday next, has electrified even blase Hollywood. The fiery Latin .temperament of Dolores Del Rio as the heroine permits her to give one of the most impassioned performances of her career. As an excellent foil for her. Joel M'Crae rises to new heights of virile impressiveness. From the first strange tenderness of love for a god-like white man, the brown-skinned princess of “Bird of Paradise” is seen in the full gamut of infatuation, then develops the pathos of the situation to its fullest . possibilities. How she triumphs in sacrificing herself to the barrier of civilisation forms the climax of this undying romance of the South Seas. With a background of sensuous Hawaii, where the principals of the east went to film the picture, realism is lent to the play by Richard Walton Tally. King Vidor, who wielded the megaphone, made a lavish production.

EMPIRE THEATRE In “Around the World in Eighty Minutes/' this week’s principal attraction at the Empire Theatre, an entertaining description is given by Douglas Fairbanks of the most interesting places touched upon in the film, and he contrives to bring himself into the picture very effectively in a variety of scenes, among which some of the most interesting deal with his vigorous and strenuous exercises, upon which he depends for the maintenance of that athletic prowess which has always been an outstanding feature of his film work. The picture goes into many corners of the world. The supporting programme is a strong one. The box plans are at the [Bristol and at the theatre. “SPEAK EASILY.” Buster Keaton and Jimmy “ Schnozzle ” Durante continue their combination as the most hilarious of all screen comedy teams in “ Speak Easily,” which opens tomorrow at the Empire Theatre. “ Speak Easily ” concerns the adventures of an absent-minded college professor, played by Keaton, who inherits nearly • 1,000,000 dollars and decides to go out and “see life.”, He makes the acquaintance of Jimmy, the piano player of a musical show stranded in a small town, and “ adopts ” the entire troupe for a Broadway run. The many complications they

encounter in their theatrical career provide plenty of comedy. Ruth Selwynmas the feminine lead in Speak Easily as Keaton’s romantic heart interest. Inelraa Todd is cast as a vamping actress who makes things exciting for. Heaton and Durante, and the sophisticated -tledda Hopper plays a nagging mother. KING EDWARD THEATRE George O’Brien has performed many daring feats, both afoot and on horseback, during his colourful screen career, but never has this star attempted such a hazardous one as the acts of expert horsemanship he performs in Iras new picture, “The Rainbow Trail.” which commences at the King Edwatd -Theatre to-day. The exteriors of The Rainbow Trail,” filmed' in the most inaccessible spots of the Grand Canyon, where tbs usual visitors do not dare to go, are said to bring to the screen for the first time the full breath-taking beauty of the world’s most famous scenic spot. Supporting George O’Brien is a fine cast, including Cecilia Parker, Minna Gombell. Roscoe Ates, J. M. Kerri can, James Kirkwood, Robert Frazer. W. L. Thorne. Niles Welch, Ruth Donnelly, Laska WintersLanders Stevens, Alice Ward, and Ed' ward Hearn. It .is the pietnrisation oi Zano Grey’s famous novel, and was adapted for the screen by Barry Connors and Philip Klein.