AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22023, 4 August 1933, Page 11

AMUSEMENTS

GRAND THEATRE

No sooner had he stepped off the decks of the City of Delhi at the completion of a world tour which lasted 18 months and covered 100,000 miles than Dale Collins, the well-known novelist, visited Elstree Studios to confer with Alfred Hitchcock, who directed for British International Pictures the screen version of Collins’s “Rich and Strange” which will be presented at the Grand Theatre to-day. Collins was in the Panama canal when the cable announcing the sale of “Rich and Strange” arrived. The news was shouted by the captain down the ventilator of his cabin, where he was shaving. With his wife, the author embarked on a cargo boat for a world tour, and, to comply with necessary regulations, signed on as steward and stewardess with a nominal salary of a shilling each per month. During their trip they travelled from one Continental port to another, then to the Far East, via Singapore, India, Burma, China, and Japan, to Australia, their return via Port Said leading them off to the South Seas and America. It is interesting to note that .the story of “ Rich and - Srange ” tells of an excursion into the world and adventures on a tour similar to the author’s. “Although I wrote the book some years after my first trip along the route described in it,” he said, “ I was glad of an opportunity on this recent tour to check up on my impressions and descriptions. I was astonished when passing through the various locations to find how little I had forgotten them.” Some of- the actual sites in the story were filmed for “ Rich and Strange,” and Paris, Marseilles, and Port Said were visited during the film’s production. To interpret the story of ‘ Rich and Strange,” an exceptionally gifted cast has been chosen. The leading roles are in the hands of Henry Kendall and Joan Barry, while Betty Amann, Elsie Randolph, and Percy Marmont give them invaluable support.

ST. JAMES THEATRE

The manv people who have enjoyed the music of Jack Payne’s Dance Band are provided with an unrivalled .opportunity of hearing it and seeing it in action in “ Say It With Music,” which should draw appreciative audiences to the St. Janies Theatre during its season, which starts to-day. “Love Is the Sweetest Thing,” “Sav It With Music,” and “Good Morning, Mr Sun,” are played with such a wealth of variation that the listener is almost bewildered by the amazing resourcefulness of the orche'stration and the skilfulness of the players. Jack Payne- himself is an engaging personality before the camera, and has a pleasing and natural style. The film does not depend on the playing of the band alone, for the plot is based on an interesting story by William Cooper, concerning the rise to fame of a poor composer. While driving to the theatre, Payne knocks this man down, and finds he is an old war-time friend whom he has not seen for many years. He finds that the composer is almost penniless, so plays one of his friend's compositions. Its skilful interpretation by the. band achieves a great success, and brings recognition that has been long denied. Percy Marmont is excellent as the composer, and he is ably assisted by Joyce Kennedy, Sybil Summerfield, and Evelyn Roberts. The film is skilfully directed and recorded. It further reveals. the wealth of talent on which the British studios are able to draw in their search for pictures of first-class entertainment value. Certain sequences of the film will be seen in colour, and the colour will not bn used merely as a background, but as an essential part of the production.

EMPIRE THEATRE

Following their rise to popularity as a starring team in such successes as “ Bad Girl.” “Over the Hill,” and “Dance Team,” James Dunn and Sally Filers have been cast together again in “ Sailor’s Luck.” the new film opening an engagement at the Empire Theatre today. The picture, directed by Raoul Walsh, tells the story of a sailor with the Atlantic fleet who becomes entangled in a love affair with a girl. The two get along well until Dunn, thinking she has been untrue to him, quai’rels with her and sails away with the fleet. He later learns that it was all a mistake, and ne returns to patch things, up, only to learn that she is not so willing to come hack. Dunn’s love for Sally Ellers carries him through every imaginable sort of excitement, through comedy scenes in a public swimming pool over to a gang right on the street and a grand finale m a dance Marathon, with the navy, as usual, winning the honours. Much of the comedy is supplied by Sammy Cohen, dialect comedian, who is cast as Jimmy s friend, “ Barnacle Bonny.”

OCTAGON THEATRE

“ The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, an RKO-Radio English production, comin<' to the Octagon Theatre to-day, lias a 'cast of ail English players, who have been called upon to portray characters of vastly contrasting types. HaroUi Huth, as Nicholas Brophy, portrays an unscrupulous, polished and thoroughly dishonest but clever lawyer. Jim btanger, played by Victor S. Stanley, is a humble but cunning clerk with some goodness in his make-up. Emma btanger, .his mother, portrayed by Sara Allgood, gives a splendid performance as the proprietress of an underworld drinking den. All the others play type parts, such as knights, K.C.’s, detectives, each part calling tor portrayal of distinctive characters and have been excellently handled by competent people, most of whom are newcomers to the screen, but have excellent reputations on the English legitimate stage. Ihe programme also includes “ The Cheyenne Kid.”

REGENT THEATRE

Norma Shearer's finest talkie, “ Smilin Through,” directed for Mctro-Goldwyn-Maver by Sidney Franklin, with a support in<f cast headed by Fredric March, Leslie Howard, 0. P. Heggic, and Ka ph Forbes, will commence screening to-day at the Regent Theatre. In this lavish production Norma Shearer tor the first time in her career plays a dual role. Miss Shearer portrays both the tragic Moonyoen in the Victorian sequences and Kathleen Sheridan in the modern scenes around which the happier romance of the tale centres. It is Miss Shearer’s first venture into the unusual in drama. In the ta King version of “Smibn Through, Miss Shearer has an advantage which was not permitted in the stage production. I'irat as the intended bride and then ns the ward of Sir John Cartaret, the role which Leslie Howard plays, Miss Shearer is able to return in fantasy to the mind ot her brooding lover —in which moments of reverie she appears twice in a single scene. Tims, al though the story covers a 50 years lapse of time, during which Leslie Howard grows from youth to white-haired old age, Miss Shearer remains youthful throughout. It is, the star concedes, her severest dramatic test to date, I'rcdric Maich

and Leslie Howard, as heads of her dramatic cast, also have unusual trials in characterisation. March, like Miss Shearer, has two roles in the story. In the beginning he is Jeremy Wayne, rival oi Leslie Howard for the hand of Moonyeen. Later he portrays the son of Jeremy Wayne, returning to England at the tune the country is preparing to enter the World War. Of the three principals Leslie Howard alone retains a single identity. But his role is no less intricate, for it requires a transition covering three distinct ages. As director of Miss Shearer’s production of _ Bmilin Through,” Sidney Franklin is repeating the service he performed in Norma lalmadge’s silent production. The present cast is one of the finest to reach the screen. In addition to those mentioned above, it includes Beryl Mercer, David Torrence, Margaret Seddori, and Forrester Harvey. STRAND THEATRE “Set a thief to catch a thief” has long been an accepted axiom, but seldom hag it been developed so dramatically and in so unusual a manner as in a Under-cover Man/* the new Paramount film which will begin at the Strand Theatre to-day. Fresh from hie triumph in “Night After Night,” George Katt gives another performance of outstanding merit in the role of Nick Harrow, a high-class confidence man, who offers his services to the police for the sol® pose of finding' the murderer of his father. This Nick Harrow of the steel nerves, a crook who has always worked alone, gives the police inspector to understand that he does not like the police any better than he ever did; but he will work with the department until he accomplishes his revenge. Nancy Carroll has the role of the girl, Lora Madigan, whose motive is alsii revenge, for tine same gang which killed Nick s father murdered her brother; a bank messenger. The entire cast is of exceptional quality, and includes Lew Cody, Gregory Baton:, and Roscoe Karns. KING EDWARD THEATRE “They Just Had to Get Married,” an hilarious comedy featuring the inimitable comedians Slim Summerville and Zasu Pitts, is the current attraction a., the King Edward Theatre. As two servants who suddenly become possessed of considerable wealth as the result of a legacy, the two players are responsible for some extremely clever comedy work, and, with the assistance of a strong east, contrive to present entertainment of an extremely attractive character. ‘ They Just Had to Get Married” is good fun from start to finish, with amusing dialogue and absurd situations in plentiful supply. An excellent programme of short subjects is also shown.