AMUSEMENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22352, 28 August 1934, Page 14

AMUSEMENTS

REGENT theatre The action of “ Fugitive Lovers ” at the Regent Theatre takes place on board a bus travelling across America from New York to Los Angeles. Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans make another successful appearance in the principal rbles. They have much to do., perhaps, to imbue a somewhat unlikely plot with an air of probability, but they succeed with distinction. Dramatic values, in which the action is rather rich, always assume their correct perspective and comedy, which gives frequent and delightful relict, is drawn with deft touches, while an everchanging background lends variety, which is secondary in interest only to the undoubted suspense of engrossing incident. Excitement commences when a daring escaped criminal boards a trans-conti-nental char-a-banc on which are travelling a chorus girl and her unwelcome suitor, a bhisque and burly “ gangster, ’ whom she has been endeavouring to elude. It is not hard to guess that convict and chorus girl are destined to supply the romance of the piece, but this is developed to the accompaniment of such tense scenes, as officialdom spreads a gradually tightening net for the recapture of the escapee, that there is no question ot the attention ever straying. The director, Richard Boleslavsky, has a splendid cast with which to work the cosmopohton nature of the company in the char-a-banc. giving him many an opportunity for dramatic and humorous treatment. He keeps the story moving at an exciting pace and, from the plot and personnel at hie command, creates one of the most genuinely entertaining films one could wish to see. A notable supporting programme includes a newsreel, showing graphic scenes of the recent earthquake disaster, a “.travel talk ’ issue on Dutch Guiana, and a comedy. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. . OCTAGON THEATRE “The Night Club Queen,” which is the current attraction at the Octagon Theatre, has a claim to interest : f only by reason of the fact that it is said to have been modelled in a measure on the life of a well-known personality in the night world of Lojidon. The picture is also interesting owing to the fact that one of the leading roles is taken by Lewis Casson, who will be remembered by Dunedin audiences for bis splendid performances at His Majesty’s Theatre less than two years ago. Casson is cast in a part that affords him considerable opportunity, for he is seen as a crippled barrister who with his wife gives his -whole energy to enabling his sou to have the career that was denied himself. The fact that the son would rather be a mechanic than a lawyer does not make his life any easier, and when his wife is found to have been living a double life misfortune piles thickly upon him. Casson rises to re.al height? in the concluding scenes of the picture, when he takes upon himself his wife’s defence, and the story reaches a dramatic conclusion. Playing opposite him is Mary Clare, who is seen as the night club queen, forced to become an unwilling partner in an undertaking of which she does not approve. Jane Carr and Lewis Shaw are also prominentlycast in roles in which they give competent portrayals. The supporting. programme includes a well varied selection of short subjects. The box plans arc ■ at the theatre, M'Cracken and Walls’s, and the D.I.C. “THAT’S A GOOD GIRL.” Jack Buchanan, the most popular stage figure in England, and an artist who is just as highly esteemed on the other side of the Atlantic, will be seen at the Octagon Theatre on Friday next in a comedy which has proved to be on stage and screen his greatest success. In the presentation of this fine entertainment he has the support of Elsie Randolph, Vera Pearce, and a large cast, which includes 55 choristers. The Morning Post, concerning “ That’s a Good Girl,” which ran for 12 months at the London Hippodrome, wrote: —“ It is a film of laughter, the best film Buchanan has made in England. It is a film which moves from the first moment. It consolidates the best improvement which has been made in British films in the last year. • Throughout there is movement —throughout there is excellent acting—and throughout there is laughter. Few funnier scenes have been produced in British Films than when Jack Buchanan has to appear in the chorus of grand opera.” EMPIRE THEATRE Walt Disney's universally popular Mickey Mouse cartoons and Silly Symphonies, which comprise the first half of the current programme at the Empire Theatre, and the hilarious farce “ Palooka,” featuring Jimmy (Schnoozle) Durante, combine to create one of the most entertaining programmes ever shown at this picture house. The wit and genius of the famous cartoonist is exemplified in the excellent selection of his works presented, Mickey Mouse being naturally one of the principal heroes of .the animated line drawings. With his little consort Minnie, Mickey is seen in such delightful aggregations of nonsense and scarcely-concealed satire as Mickey s Good Deed” and “Building a Building, While the Silly Symphonies, all of which are particularly diverting, include King Neptune.” “Lullaby Land,” and ‘ Babes in the Wood.” The main feature of the programme is the farcical comedy Palooka,” in which Jimmy Durante has the assistance of Lupe Velez, Robert Armstrong, Thelma Todd, and Marjorie Rambeau. “Palooka” is fast and furious comedy, with all the principals giving very good accounts of themselves, the bright dialogue, and astonishing sequence of complications in which the leading characters are entangled creating entertainment of a most enjoyable variety. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. - “ BOLERO.” Sally Rand, the fan dancer, whose exploits on the American stage were recently featured in the Australian press, has gone through the strange ordeal of standing absolutely, rigid for an hour and 10 minutes while a plaster cast was made ot her body. It happened when she was taken to Hollywood to perform her famous fan dance in Paramount's “ Bolero/ winch will be shown on Friday at the Empire Theatre. Becoming impressed with a particular dressmaker, Miss Rand had a statute of herself made so that- she need not appear in person for a fitting, but merely send her selected materials, to be assured of a perfect fit. Success of the idea, of course, is contingent upon her figure remaining unchanged, but she says her weight, as a result of her dancing, hasn’t varied more than four pounds in the last five years. To make the statue, Paramount sculptors covered . her witn plaster of paris. When the mixture had set. the mould was stripped from her by halves. The two sections were put together and the mould filled with papier mache to make the final image. George Ratt is the star of the picture in which -Miss Rand makes her featured screen debut. Directed bv Wesley Ruggles, the picture also features Carole Lombard and Frances Drake.' ST. JAMES THEATRE Laurel and Hardy, those inimitable foils for each other’s comedy work, are the stars in the current attraction at the 8t James Theatre. Sons of the Desert is admirable holiday fare. Thanks to the vo-nie of a class of popular writers, reference to the “desert” has become practically synonymous with the French Foreign Legion, hut in this instance anyone who makes this surmise will be in error. “ Sons of the Desert is the name of one of those innumerabhs, quaint American fraternities with which the humour of Sinclair Lewis has made devastating play A conference of the members of this society is to be held in Chicago, and Laurel and Hardy are sworn to attend. There are difficulties in the way—both are married men. But, by a cleverly sustained subterfuge, the pair manage to escape from the matrimonial despots and make full use of their liberty in seeing the sights of the city in company with Charlie Chase. They return full of self-satisfac-tion onlv to meet disaster on the dooistep The deception is discovered and full explanation has to be made The film is a joy to behold and to listen to, and Laurel and Hardy are too human in their own way ever to lose their appeal. It is an unenviable person who is not moved to laughter by the blustering Hardy and the wistful simpleton Laurel. There is a good supporting programme

comprising a news reel, a travel film, a comedy ballet, and an entertaining description of American football. The box plans are at the theatre, the D.1.C., M’Cracken and Walls’s, and Jacobs s.

“FASHION GAIETIES OF 1934.” What is described as one of the most colourful pictures to come from Hollywood in many a day will be presented at the St. James Theatre on Friday next in the First National production, “ Fashion Gaieties of 1934,” with William Powell in the leading role. The picture is said to combine hilarious comedy with glamorous romance and a mammoth spectacle, the latter staged by Bushy Berkeley, the musical comedy director, whose flair for the unique and bizarre is exemplified in the Beautiful specialty numbers in “ Footlight Parade,” “ Gold Diggers of 1933,” “ 42nd Street,” and other pictures. The prize number in “Fashion Gaieties of 1934 ” is a most unusual spectacle in which 200 beautiful girls do a fan dance - in rhythm to music furjyshed by a harp orchestra. One feature calculated to appeal especially to women is a beautiful fashion show. These are hut some of the special numbers seen in a < picture that is basically comedy-drama in which t William Powell as a high-pressure promotor corners the Paris fashion market and sets himself up as the king of fashions. Bette Davis plays opposite Powell as his coconspirator, Yerree Teasdale is seen in the character of an American show girl masquerading as a Russian grand duchess. GRAND THEATRE Photographic studies of animals in their native habitat are always replete with interest, and “Wild Cargo,” Frank Buck’s latest production which is at present being shown at the Grand Theatre is certainly no exception to the general rule, providing an even greater number of thrills than his previous picture “Bring ’Em Back Alive.” Buck himself delivers the dialogue describing the incidents, a pleasing feature of this side of the entertainment being that the talking ig not excessive, allowing the spectator to concentrate on the film itself ami to use his own imagination. The sounds of the jungle beasts, both in the native state aiid in captivity,, are realistic .in the extreme, in particular the crashing herd of stampeding water-buffalo through the rattan and bamboo huts of a native village, and the snarls of leopards and tigers caught in the toils of steel nets. Skilful editing ensures that the .highlights of the 100,000 ft of film originally “shot” are shown, and no details have been scamped. “ Wild Cargo ” takes one first into the hinterland of Ceylon, where two young elephants are sought. The wild herds are located and then tame elephants assist iin building a stockade in which to capture their brethren. The party then goes to the Malayan jungle where golden gibbons are trapped with a bait of bananas. The agility of the monkeys amongst the branches of the tall trees has been recorded with striking fidelity. A king cobra, the most danferous of the jungle denizens, is caught, ollowing which is the accidental discovery of two young leopard cubs, which strongly resemble full-grown tabby cats, but which are bundles of clawing, spitting mischief. Giant bats with an enormous wing-spread are captured in nets on long poles, while Buck demonstrates his skill with the South American bolas, or weighted lasso, in capturing the elusive pasKtiwary. A herd of water buffalo, led by an albino bull, is followed, but stampedes through a native village leaving destruction in its wake, only to be skilfully guided, into a corral. Tiny mouse deer, weighing only five pounds, are shown, and in a native deer trap a black leopard is captured. . “ Wild Cargo ” is an absorbingly interesting film, and will be enjoyed by young and old. There is an entertaining supporting programme. The box plans are at the theatre and Begg’s. “ IF I WERE FREE." Again the screen turns to the stage for a story background. This time it is “If I Were Free,” which will be screened at the Grand Theatre to-morrow, co-starring Irene Dunne and Clive Brook in a gripping dramatisation of the London atage hit, “Behold, We Live,” by John Van Druten. As a play, “If I Were Free” enjoyed a highly successful run of six months, and American movie producers are said to have bid high for the screen rights. Van Druten’s story is a powerful drama of lives wrecked on the rocks of marital unhappiness and then rescued through real love and sacrifice. _'he thrilling climax is bound up with Brook, seeing .the futility of his life with Miss Dunne, as Sarah Cazenove, with society arrayed against them, gambles his life on the operating table. Clive, Brook and Irene Dunne have a strong supporting cast, including Nils Asther, Henry Stephenson, Viviam Tobin, and Laura Hope Crews. STATE THEATRE The English film studios have done one of their best jobs to date with “Evergreen,” the excellent miftical film which is at present having a triumphant season at the State Theatre. One of,its principal attractions is the fact that the leading •, role is occupied by the charming Jessie Matthews, one of the most talented young ladies on the screen to-day, but, apart altogether from the merit of her acting, and that of every other member of the cast, there is plenty of material in “Evergreen” to delight the eye and ear. The music is charming, the dancing and ballets are spectacular, and the settings are ps original as one could wish. Above all, there is an interesting story running throughout the production, which was supervised by Charles B. Cochran, one of the foremost theatrical producers of the day. In the first place, the audience is introduced to Harriet Green, a popular music hall star of 30 years ago, who is giving her final performance at the old Tivoli Theatre in London, since .she is shortly to be married. In the midst of all the excitement, however, she disappears, and it is announced for some unknown reason that she has returned to her former home in South Africa. Then, about 20 years later, a young woman applies for work in the chorus of a musical comedy. She is recognised immediately as the daughter of Harriet Green, and, indeed, bears the same name as her mother, and a bright publicity man thinks of a scheme whereby she is foisted off on to an unsuspecting public as her mother, ‘returning to the stage at 60.” Before the opening of the show the promoters give carefully worded announcements to the newspapers in order to stimulate public interest, with the result that the production is an immense success, no one guessing the trick that has been played. Under threat of exposure, however, by a man who had known her mother well and is prepared to make money out of that knowledge, Harriet decides that she will do the exposing herself, and at the opening of another show she dances in a manner that could not possibly leave anj doubt as to her age. She finds herself in the court charged with impersonation, but she emerges triumphantly from the tria., and goes on to greater successes and a happy ending. Although Miss Matthews is the central figure, she does not entirely dominate the action, and receives valuable support from a large and competent cast, including Sonnie Hale, Betty Balfour, and other prominent players. A good supporting programme is shown, and there is a further attraction in the form of a parade of bathing fashions. The box plans are at the theatre and at Messis Chas. Begg and Co.’s. STRAND THEATRE In “ No More. Women.” the Current attraction at the Strand Theatre two old favourites, Victor M'Lagleu and Edmund Lowe arc reunited in a thrilling drama which is replete with vigorous comedy of the type which these partners have made famous. When the picture opens two rival salvage vessels are fighting iQi the loot of a sunken rum-runner. M Laglen is the star diver, of the Pelican and Lowe occupies a similar position on tne Hawke. The Hawke wins and the Pelican changes ownership, the new boss being blonde and'vivacious Sally Blanc, ignorant of all sea matters, but determined to make full use of her new purchase. When. Lowe joins the Pelican and succeeds in winning the favourable attention of the new owner there is a new cause for strife between the two old rivals. The action works up to a climax in a dramatic manner with an underwater battle with oxy-acetoue torches and a rescue. When the rivals return to the surface they are

charmingly received by their .owner,. but in a manner which disposes .of all their romantic hopes. The submarine shots are particularly well photographed, and the whole production is good entertainment. The supporting programme is above Jim average in standard. The box plans are at the theatre and the D.I.C. , ' "LONE COWBOY” After the day’s shooting was finished, members of Paramount’s troupe filming “ Lone Cowboy,” Jackie Cooper’s starring picture, which will be screened. at the Strand Theatre on Friday, decided to search for gold. The scene was the Levitt Meadows Ranch, a few miles from Sonora, California. Located in the very centre of what was once the most productive placer mining region in the country, Sonora is surrounded by hundreds of old mining towns, now merely ghosts of their former financial heydays. And, in the streets ot Strawberry Flats, .utterly deserted except for bats aiid desert reptiles, young Cooper Lila Lee, and other members of the cast could be seen digging into the dust for the precious metal. t r* KING EDWARD THEATRE A film in which the interest and suspense are maintained right until the final sequence is if Midnight Club,”-the screen version of a story by E. Phillips Oppenheim. which is at present being shown at the King Edward Theatre. It deals with the efforts of a clever detective from America to bring to justice a gang, of jewel thieves in Loudon. The principal role is in the hands of Clive Brook, who gives another masterly performance in the role of a master crook, and George .Raft has one of his best parts to date as the detective. The two, pitted against. each other, provide plenty of thrilling moments, and they receive able support from the other members of the cast, headed by Helen Vinson and Alison Skipworth. Midnight Club ” undoubtedly offers entertainment of the most acceptable character. There is also a good supporting programme. " .