AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22099, 1 November 1933, Page 14

AMUSEMENTS

GRAND THEATRE The current programme at the Grand Theatre has “ Prestige ” as its chief attraction, and the film has proved unusually popular during the week. The principal player is Ann Harding, who has a role of considerable difficulty, but she tackles it in her usual attractive and competent style, and the result is a highly entertaining and convincing portrayal of a woman who is prepared to face any danger and any hardship for the man she loves. The theme may not be unusual, but its manner of treatment is exceptional, and the wide sweep which the story, takes gives the production a Special merit and attraction. It is so long since Ann Harding appeared on the local screen that her reappearance this week has been doubly welcome. She is one of the few actresses of the sound screen who can take an extended holiday and return to the screen after a long absence and still have a large public at her feet. In " Prestige ” she is supported by two very competent and very excellently-contrasted types. ■■ The first is Adolphe Menjou, suave, polished, and courtly as usual, cast in one of his unattractive semi-villain roles. He acquits himself with his usual distinction and finish, and gives a spice and flavour to the tale which Ann Harding tells in conjunction with Melvyn Douglas, a striking type who has an arrestingly interesting role. The film is- well worth seeing. The supporting programme is a good one, full of variety and covering a wide ranee of interesting subjects. •, It includes comedies and news gazettes, and an exceptionally clever cartoon. The box plans for the season are at the theatre and at Messrs Charles Begg and Co.’s. “THIS SPORTING AGE.” The game that has stirred the ardour of men ever since the days of the Medes and the Persians is the basis of “ This Sporting Age,” which will be screened at the Gfand Theatre on Friday. Jack. Holt has rarely had so sympathetic, so admirable a role as that of Captain John Steele, idol of his cavalry post for his exploits on a polo pony. A. F. Erickson and Andrew Bennison, the co-direc-tors, deserve credit not only for brilliant and colourful direction, but for the selection of a cast that gives Holt able and finished support. Evalyn Knapp, who plays Mickey Steele, Holt’s daughter.and pal, will win new admirers to her spontaneity and charm. Men in the audience will envy Hardie Albright the opportunity to make love to her. Walter Byron and Ruth Weston are the and female heavies respectively. J. Fax’tell MacDonald, the man who made Knute Rockne’s memory indelible with his performance in “ The Spirit of Notre Dame, ’ must be Singled out for especial commendation. The story behind “ This Sporting Age,” prepared for the screen by J. K. M'Guiness, has the kind of dramatic plot that sporting writers are not permitted to include in their columns. Captain Steele and Mickey leave their army post and stake everything on a chance for Steele to gain a position in the United States polo team to play in the International matches. At what is probably Long Island, Byron, as Charles Morrell, another polo player, turns his lady-killing ardour upon Mickey against her protest. She is in love with Albright. . He makes his killing. Enraged when he learns of what happened, Steele, with his reputation as a sportsman at stake, throws away his chances for the team by deliberately fouling Morrell in the open finals, riding him down in one of the most thrilling polo games ever screened. EMPIRE THEATRE Thrilling, spectacularly produced, and, from a technical point of view, decidedly educative, “Hell Below,” a powerful story of submarine warfare, forms the principal attraction on the current bill at the Empire Theatre. The mechanical equipment of the submarine has been represented with superb realism, and not only represented, but woven into the story. The spectator learns in great detail, for instance, the measures which are taken to combat sprung plates, leakages of chlorine gas, and failure of the apparatus which governs the pressure of the air. All the episodes have a superb realism, and some are very grim indeed. There is one, for instance, where a lad has unwittingly been shut into a part ot the submarine which is rapidly filling with chlorine, and the rest of the crew, though they can see him through a porthole, and hear him frantically calling to them, must stand by and let him die because to open the bulkhead would be to destroy them all. The cast features Robert Montgomery and Walter Huston in the leading roles. An unusually varied and interesting supporting programme is shown. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.L. “ RAIN.” Joan, Crawford and Walter Huston are featured in “ Rain,” which comes to the Empire Theatre on Friday. The picture, an adaptation of the famous story by Somerset Maughan, is set against the colourful background of a South Pacific isle, and it is there that an emotional duel is fought out between a man and a girl. Everything centres around the doings of the attractive and seemingly irrepressible Sadie Thompson (J6an Crawford), a girl of American parentage, who cares little for the conventiong of ordinary life. One of the striking features of the film is the sudden change of Joan Crawford from one type of character to another, and back again, and the glimpses she gives of a girl struggling with her deeper feelings. REGENT THEATRE The Regent Theatre has an excellent attraction this week in "Their Night Out,” a British comedy in which Claude Hulbert and Renee Houston have the principal roles. Many evidences have been given lately of the qualities of the comedies that are produced in the British studios, and the standard is in no wav lowered by “ Their Night Out.’ It tells of the adventures of a young Scottish woman who arrives in London with the object of seeing what goes on at some ot the more famous night clubs, bhe meets a young man who gets into the most . ex ' traordinnry scrapes, with the result that the audience is kept interested and amused from beginning to end. There is a good supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. “KISS ME AGAIN.” “Kiss Me Again,” the delightful light opera in colour, comes to the Regent Theatre on Friday. Despite a somewhat misleading title, magnificent'settings, romance, c;.tchy numbers, and a liberal sprinkling of excellent comedy are the qualities which make this film one to be remembered. The story is set in Paris, where thne arc so many subjects responding to'cclcur treatment,in an unforgettable manner. ■ The wonderful dresses of the women are offset by the military blue of French uniforms. Part of the action takes place in a modiste’s shop, where dainty frocks, gorgeously dressed assistants, and becomingly-gowned purchasers combine to form a riot of colour. STRAND THEATRE

“ Best of Enemies,” the feature of the current programme at the Strand Theatre, lives up to its intriguing title and comprises excellent and enjoyable entertainment. It is a film that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all classes of audiences and it should not be missed during the few days that its season has yet to run. The principal players are all popular and competent artists and the plot is ingeniously and amusingly - worked out. There is nothing meretricious or harmful about its delightful comedy and those who see it will not regret an evening spent at the Strand Theatre., The supporting programme of short subjects is an excellent one, and covers an interesting range of topics, including a comedy number that is a genuine delight. The box plans for the season are at the theatre and at the D.T.C. “ DIPLOMANIACS.” “ Diplomaniaes,” a musical burlesque on the recent Pence Conference, and the aggravated pomp of some of the less notable delegates, commences next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, are in their clement ns the delegates to Geneva for the Adoop tribe of Indians, and the hair-raising adventures they go through in dodging the machinations of the representatives of the wicked ammunition manufacturers are

thrilling in the extreme. A - supporting feature will be Charlie Chaplain in "The Rink,” in which the world-renowned comedian doea amazing things on roller skates. ST. JAMES THEATRE Although in the second week of its Dunedin season, “ Yes, Mr Brown,” continues to prove a popular draw at the St. James Theatre. The story deals with the manager of the continental branch of a huge American firm, who, on receiving advice that the proprietor is about to pay the branch a visit, makes elaborate preparations _ tor his reception. Unfortunately for him, the chief executive proves to be a totally different kind of person to what the manager had expected, and as a result, complications ensue which make an amusing and highly entertaining story. Much of the success of the picture' is due to the clever performance of Jack Buchanan, who, in {he leading role, is seen in one of his best portrayals to date. A strong supporting programme is shown. The box plans are at the theatre, Jacobs’s, M'Cracken and Walls's, and the D.I.C. “UP FOR THE DERBY.” When the film patrons of the St. James Theatre see the Sydney Howard comedy, “ Up for the Derby,” on Friday they will see one of the biggest and most impressive “sets” ever built for use in a British picture. It is the set representing the stable yard. It not only took up all the available studio space, but also extended right out into the studio grounds, where genuine trees and hayricks gave a still more authentic “air” to-the scene. The inimitable Sydney Howard is the start of the production, ’and supporting him are Frank Harvey, remembered for hie appearances on the Australian stage, Mark Daly, and beautiful Dorothy Bartlam, who supplies the feminine charm to the production. OCTAGON THEATRE Lowell Sherman has one of his best roles to date in "False Faces,” which heads the current double-feature programme at the Octagon Theatre. This picture tells the story of a brilliant plastic surgeon who has wonderfully successful methods of restoring the beauty of women who have passed their best, but who allows business to interfere with ■ pleasure to such an extent that he becomes involved in intrigues with his patients. The second picture is “ Rackety Rax,” in which Victor M‘Laglen has the principal rtfle. It is an hilarious comedy dealing with the activities of rival parties of gangsters. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. “ THOSE WE LOVE ” AND “ THE WARRIOR’S HUSBAND.” “ Those We Love,” which opens on Friday at the Octagon Theatre, has Mary, Astor, Lilyan Tashman, Kenneth MacKenna in the leading roles. • A remarkably realistic picturisation of how New York went wild on “ Armistice Day ” starts the film. No fewer than 20 notable film names are listed in the cast of “Those We Love.” The other picture will be “The Warrior’s Husband,” in which Elissa Landi, Marjorie Rambeau. and Ernest Truex have the featured roles. It is a comedy of a period when women ruled the roost and men had all they could do to remain clinging vines. KING EDWARD THEATRE Two films of exceptional merit will be offered for the entertainment of patrons of the King Edward Theatre to-night. They are “ The Face at the Window,” in which Claude Hulbert and several other outstanding players are featured, and “ Come on, Danger,” an exciting Western film starring Tom Keene. The story of “The Face at the Window” concerns the efforts of Paul de Gros, famous detective, to discover the killers of bank nightwatchmen. After one such murder, ’most people believe the murderer isr Lumen Cortier, between whom and the bank manager’s daughter is an apparently hopeless love affair. The climax i s all that could be desired.